Pacific Gas & Electric’s stock price saw a sharp rebound on Friday, after California’s chief utility regulator told Wall Street analysts that the state would prevent the utility from losing access to funding needed to keep its grid safe and reliable. 

“It’s not good policy to have utilities unable to finance the services and infrastructure the state of California needs,” California Public Utilities Commission President Michael Picker said in a Thursday interview with Bloomberg. “They have to have stability and economic support to get the dollars they need right now.”

Picker’s statements seemed to reassure investors that were selling off PG&E shares since the Camp

Tesla just slashed prices on its residential solar systems by 10 to 20 percent — or $3,000 to $5,000 for the typical home solar roof.
The average price drop will amount to between 10 and 15 percent “depending on the market,” with drops of “more than 20 percent” for large system customers. A Tesla spokesperson attributed the price reduction to “vertical integration” and to shutting down “more expensive sales channels.”  
Sanjay Shah, Tesla’s senior vice president of energy operations, told Reuters the price cuts should make Tesla “highly competitive” and potentially the country’s lowest-cost solar installer. Sales and marketing costs have been cut in half, said Shah.
The “soft” cost for an installer to acquire a residential customer in the U.S. has actually risen

Royal Dutch Shell this week offered more details on a partnership in its New Energies division that draws together subscription energy seller Sparkfund and smart buildings platform Gridpoint. The offering, Shell Energy Inside, offers a bundled energy service for commercial buildings that includes lighting, EV charging and retail power, among other technologies. 

The venture comes as another indication that the European energy company, while not dumping large percentages of its spending into clean energy, will continue to deploy strategic capital to maintain an edge in the evolving energy industry.  

“Shell has made acquisitions or investments right along the power market value chain

The worlds of power markets and renewables are colliding, and nobody seems quite sure what to do about it.

Though still a miniscule fraction of grid power in many places, renewable energy resources have momentum on their side. As they grow, they alter the functioning of the markets in ways that look different from traditional generation.

Wood Mackenzie launched its Power & Renewables Summit last year to unpack these changes, and in the intervening time, the signs of change have grown clearer. Deployment queues in every U.S. region show a dramatic turn toward wind and solar; proving this

Indoor growers are looking to cut spiraling electricity consumption with custom-built microgrids in U.S. states where cannabis cultivation is legal.

The firms are considering solar, cogeneration and battery systems as a way to cut the cost of energy, which is the second biggest overhead for many growers, said Duncan Campbell, vice president of project development at Scale Microgrid Solutions, which targets the sector.

Legal cannabis cultivation in the U.S. consumes an estimated 1.1 terawatt-hours of electricity a year, according to the 2018 Cannabis Energy Report, published by Scale Microgrid Solutions along with New Frontier Data and the Resource Innovation Institute. 

That’s enough to

Tesla just slashed prices on its residential solar systems by 10 to 20 percent — or $3,000 to $5,000 for the typical home solar roof.
The average price drop will amount to between 10 and 15 percent “depending on the market” with drops of “more than 20 percent” for large system customers. A Tesla spokesperson attributed the price reduction to “vertical integration” and to shutting down “more expensive sales channels.”  
Sanjay Shah, Tesla’ senior vice president of energy operations told Reuters the price cuts should make Tesla “highly competitive” and potentially the country’s lowest cost solar installer. Sales and marketing costs have been cut in half, said Shah.
The “soft” cost for an installer to acquire a residential customer in the U.S. has actually

California is already diving into electric vehicle charging infrastructure in a big way, with nearly a billion dollars of utility funding going toward EV chargers at workplaces, apartment buildings and public venues. But the state is also eager to electrify the trucks, forklifts and other heavy-duty vehicles that pollute the air — much of it in low-income and disadvantaged communities.

Last week, major truck manufacturer Volvo unveiled more details on a Southern California pilot project meant to test how electric trucks could fit into these goals. Funded with a $44.8 million state grant and matching funds from Volvo and 16 partners, including freight companies DHE and