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The Rapid Maturation Of The U.S. Energy Storage Market

/in , /by /PV Magazineby Amish Shah, Madeleine Tan, Kyle Hayes and Alyssa Walker

The U.S. energy storage market is primed to grow at a rapid pace. A study by IHS Markit forecasts that the U.S. grid-tied energy storage market will nearly double in 2019 – from 367 MW in 2018 to 712 MW this year – which does not include behind-the-meter energy storage that would add several hundred MW of deployed energy storage to the forecast for 2019. This significant expansion is poised to occur against a backdrop of regulatory changes in federal and state incentive programs, cost improvements and advances in monetization of energy storage. These current and anticipated trends affecting the U.S. energy storage market will have a significant influence on how industry participants choose when, where and how to invest in and develop energy storage technology.

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Is Hetch Hetchy Worth $100 billion?

/in , , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Gregory Thomas

Yosemite’s Hetch Hetchy Valley was dammed and flooded nearly 100 years ago, but the prospect of draining the reservoir continues to inspire romantic imaginings about unlocking a brand-new outdoor-recreation mecca in one of the country’s most popular national parks. If we could return Hetch Hetchy to a more natural state — of the variety that stirred John Muir’s soul a century ago — would we be clearing a path for the emergence of Yosemite Valley 2.0?

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Dam Spillway Near SLO County Has Significant Cracks, Is ‘Unsafe For Use,’ State Says

/in , , /by /The Tribune by Monica Vaughan

Remember when the concrete spillway of the nation’s tallest dam developed a giant hole, and downstream communities were evacuated out of fear that a wall of water would charge down the river?

It turns out that the same structural problems that caused the failure at Oroville Dam in February 2017 also exist at the spillway of San Antonio Dam, just two miles north of Lake Nacimiento and above the community of Bradley.

Those problems have been known “for quite sometime,” according to the current manager of the dam operator. But the state didn’t take notice or downgrade the dam’s safety condition until after it revamped its oversight process following the massive failure in Northern California.

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Water Systems Must Notify Californians About These Cancer-Linked Chemicals Under New Law

/in , , /by /The Sacramento Beeby Sophia Bollag

Starting next year, California water systems must notify residents if their water sources contain potentially toxic levels of cancer-linked chemicals called PFAS under a law Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Wednesday.

The new law, AB 756, will also expand state regulators’ ability to test for per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known as PFAS. The compounds can be found in everyday plastics and products like floss and are concentrated in firefighting foam that the military and commercial aviation industry has used for decades.

That foam has seeped into groundwater and wells surrounding military installations and commercial airports, and has been found in drinking water sources at more than 712 locations in 49 states, according to the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit organization.

 

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Opinion: Sites Reservoir Needed For Reliable Water Future

/in , , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Andrew Meredith

A flexible, reliable water supply is essential to California’s economy and to the job creation and job security goals of California’s working families. Reliability and flexibility in our water supply has become elusive in drought-prone California, thanks in large part to a changing climate and an obsolete water storage system that was designed to utilize a steady and massive Sierra snowpack. It’s well past time to make critical investments in water infrastructure — particularly water storage — to sustain us through future droughts and help us adapt to our new normal, one which includes extended droughts, diminished snowpack, warmer winter storms and a need for a more flexible water storage portfolio.

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Foreign Hackers Impersonated Professional Licensing Board In Attack On Utilities

/in , , /by /Utility Dive (Washington, D.C.)by Robert Walton

Security firm Proofpoint on Thursday said it uncovered an “advanced phishing campaign” that specifically targeted U.S. utility companies by impersonating an engineering licensing board. The firm said emails sent between July 19 and July 25 went to three utilities, which it declined to name. Messages purporting to be from the U.S. National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying contained a malicious attachment that utilized macros to install and run malware named “LookBack.” The attempts highlight the “continuing global risk from nation-state actors,” according to Proopoint. In June, the United States’ chief energy regulator warned the electric grid is “increasingly under attack by foreign adversaries.”

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Judge Orders Westlands To Stop Work On Shasta Dam Raise

/in , /by / Redding Record Searchlightby Damon Arthur

A judge has ordered a Fresno-based water district to stop working on plans to raise the height of Shasta Dam.

The Westlands Water District, which provides irrigation water to farmers on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley, was working on a report assessing the environmental impacts of raising the height of the dam.

But a judge ruled that Westlands’ work violated a state law that prohibited local and state agencies from participating in any projects that would have an adverse impact on the McCloud River.

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$50 Billion Worth Of Bay Area Homes At Risk Of Rising Seas By 2050, Says Report

/in , /by /The Mercury Newsby Karen D'souza

ens of thousands of Bay Area homes worth about $50 billion are at grave risk of chronic coastal flooding by 2050, according to a new analysis by Zillow and Climate Central.

By 2100, the crisis deepens. As the ice caps continue to melt in the wake of global warming, experts project that 81,152 Bay Area homes with a current value of more than $96 billion, may be swamped. If greenhouse gas emissions go unchecked and seas continue to rise as expected, a wide swath of Bay Area real estate will be endangered. Coveted beach houses may well turn into disasters.

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Alaska’s Sweltering Summer Is ‘Basically Off The Charts’

/in , , /by /The Washington Post by Matthew Cappucci , Juliet Eilperin , Andrew Freedman and Brady Dennis

Steve Perrins didn’t see the lightning, but he couldn’t miss the smoke that followed.

It was around dinnertime on July 23 at Alaska’s oldest hunting lodge, nestled in the wilderness more than 100 miles northwest of Anchorage. What began as a quiet evening at the Rainy Pass Lodge soon turned frantic as Alaska’s latest wildfire spread fast.

The Alaska National Guard soon evacuated 26 people and two dogs by helicopter from the lodge, which serves as a checkpoint for the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

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California 1st State To Require Notification Of Toxic ‘Forever’ Chemicals in Water

/in , , /by /Desert Sun (Palm Springs)by Janet Wilson

California on Wednesday became the first state in the nation to require water suppliers who monitor a broad class of toxic “forever chemicals” to notify customers if they’re present in drinking water. That could include sites from Los Angeles International Airport to military bases across the desert to refineries and other industry in low income neighborhoods.

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed AB 756, authored by Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia, D-Bell Gardens, late Wednesday with no fanfare.

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