The California State Senate has confirmed Commissioner Patty Monahan to the California Energy Commission (CEC).

The Governor appoints, with Senate confirmation, five commissioners to staggered five-year terms. The commissioners must come from and represent specific areas of expertise: law, environment, economics, science and engineering, and the public at large.

Governor Gavin Newsom appointed Monahan in March 2019 to fill the remainder of the science and engineering position vacated when former Chair Robert B. Weisenmiller retired. In January 2020, Newsom reappointed her to a five-year term for the science and engineering spot, which is the position that the Senate voted on February 24.

As the state's primary energy policy and planning agency, the CEC plays a critical role in creating the energy system of the future - one that is clean, is modern, and ensures the fifth largest economy in the world continues to thrive.

Before joining the CEC, Monahan was the transportation program director at the Energy Foundation, where she funded campaigns across the United States to advance electric transportation and cleaner, more efficient vehicles.

She also worked in a variety of positions with the Union of Concerned Scientists and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 9, which covers the Pacific Southwest. Monahan also worked at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory International Studies Program.

Monahan’s primary goal as a commissioner is advancing clean, safe, affordable energy. Her priorities include: advancing energy equity, supporting the state’s emerging electric vehicle manufacturing industry, diversifying the state’s suite of transportation fuels beyond oil, accelerating the deployment of electric vehicle infrastructure statewide, and interagency coordination on transportation policy and planning.

Her confirmation hearing can be found here. Follow @patty_cec on Twitter.

Information about the CEC commissioners is available, including high-resolution photos.

The California Energy Commission (CEC) and the consulting firm Navigant will hold a public workshop on March 4 to present the results of a study examining research and development opportunities for offshore wind energy in California.

Offshore wind could play a key role in helping California meet its renewable energy goals by contributing to California's total system electric generation, according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

The workshop begins at 10 a.m. in Sacramento.

The CEC contracted with Navigant though its Electric Program Investment Charge (EPIC) program to identify opportunities to remove technological, manufacturing, logistics, and supply chain barriers that could hinder the progress of offshore wind deployment.

The EPIC program drives clean energy innovation and entrepreneurship by investing more than $130 million annually in research that accelerates achieving California’s goal of a 100 percent clean energy generation system by 2045.

Offshore wind farms would likely be sited in federal waters far from the coast, which begins three miles from shore and extends to 200 nautical miles. California wind farms would likely use floating wind platforms given the depth of the ocean past the Continental Shelf.

Public comments will be accepted during the workshop, however, there may not be adequate time to review written comments before the workshop ends. Comments can also be submitted electronically before 5 p.m., March 20.

Information on how to participate remotely is in the workshop notice. Workshop documents will be posted in the docket log.

The California Energy Commission (CEC) will conduct a workshop webinar on February 5 to discuss the research roadmap on renewable energy generation technologies for utility-scale applications.

In 2017, the CEC contracted with Energetics Incorporated to develop a roadmap that would prioritize investment opportunities to increase the cost competitiveness, flexibility, and reliability of renewable energy generation in California.

Topics scheduled for discussion during the webinar, which begins at 10 a.m., will be research priorities for solar energy, land-based wind energy, offshore wind energy, bioenergy, small hydropower, geothermal energy, grid infrastructure, and energy storage.

The roadmap will strategically target future Electric Program Investment Charge (EPIC) program investments to optimize benefits to investor-owned electric utility ratepayers and maximize public research and development investments.

The EPIC program drives clean energy innovation and entrepreneurship by funding research that accelerates achieving California’s goal of a 100 percent clean energy generation system by 2045.

The program invests more than $130 million annually in scientific and technological research to accelerate the transformation of the electricity sector to meet California’s energy and climate goals.

The EPIC program benefits electricity ratepayers from the state’s three largest investor-owned utilities – Pacific Gas and Electric Company, Southern California Edison, and San Diego Gas & Electric Company.

Information about how to attend by WebEx is in the workshop notice. The draft research roadmap will posted before the workshop at the docket log.

Former State Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León considered the California Energy Commission (CEC) a longtime partner in the efforts to champion California’s global leadership in combating climate change and building a 100 percent clean energy economy.

De León recognized that effort at a December 3 talk at the CEC.

“Regardless of who occupies the White House, no one is ever going to outdo California and the Energy Commission, and everything that we do here in California that is cutting-edge,” he said.

De León, who is a candidate for the Los Angeles City Council in the 14th District, is a distinguished policymaker-in-residence and senior analyst at the University of California, Los Angeles Luskin School of Public Affairs.

During his talk, he spoke about his personal history, political beginnings, and dedication to sponsoring environmental legislation.

“I grew up in a neighborhood that had a dearth of trees, no parks, no open space. Just cement, concrete, and asphalt,” he said. “And I think that’s where people begin to realize that political representation matters, whether you’re an elected official, or on the regulatory side.”

After attending UC Santa Barbara, de León became involved in local political activism in Los Angeles focusing primarily on immigrant rights, and organizing for the California Teachers Association. He served four years in the California State Assembly before being elected to represent the State Senate District 24 in 2010.

While serving in the Senate, de León authored key legislation on a wide range of environmental issues, including Senate Bill 350 and SB 100.

“We moved Senate Bill 350 and it was not easy, but we did get it across the finish line,” he said.

Following the passage of SB 350, he said he was inspired to further boost California’s clean energy targets after the 2016 election, and subsequent federal rollbacks on clean energy regulations.

SB 350 and SB 100 are part of California’s ambitious clean energy and climate policies that the CEC is working with other state agencies to implement.

SB 350, which was signed into law in 2015, established clean energy, clean air, and greenhouse gas reduction goals. SB 350 increases California's renewable electricity procurement goal from 33 percent by 2020 to 50 percent by 2030. It also requires the state to double statewide energy efficiency savings in electricity and natural gas end uses by 2030.

SB 100, signed into law in 2018, established a landmark policy that requires the state to get 100 percent of its electricity from zero-carbon resources by 2045.

For more than 30 years, the California Energy Commission (CEC) has managed research programs that make the energy system safer, cleaner, and more reliable.

This legacy of investing in innovation built the Electric Program Investment Charge program (EPIC). Launched in 2012, EPIC drives clean energy innovation and entrepreneurship by funding research that accelerates achieving California’s goal of a 100 percent clean energy generation system by 2045.

“The EPIC program is not only producing solutions for a new era of sustainability, but it’s helping to grow the nation’s top clean energy economy,” said CEC Vice Chair Janea A. Scott.

Over the past several months, the CEC has organized an energy innovation tour to visit projects using EPIC funds including the Sun-Maid raisin plant in Kingsburg, West Biofuels in Woodland, and the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science at the University of California, Davis.

The EPIC program advances research that benefits ratepayers from the state’s three largest investor-owned utilities – the Pacific Gas and Electric Company, Southern California Edison, and the San Diego Gas and Electric Company.

Each year, the CEC invests more than $120 million in innovations that:
• Decarbonize the electricity sector.
• Expand the use of renewable energy.
• Advance electric technologies for buildings, businesses, and transportation.
• Make the electrical grid safer and more reliable.
• Increase the resiliency of the electric system to the impacts of climate change.

To help foster the development of new clean energy ideas, the CEC has established an Energy Innovation Ecosystem to connect clean energy entrepreneurs with the funding, training, resources, and expertise needed to help turn concepts into products that benefit consumers, companies, and utilities.

The Ecosystem’s programs:
• Fund early-stage clean energy concepts.
• Support entrepreneurs who have previously received state or federal funding.
• Help accelerate the time it takes to move new energy technologies from the prototype stage to the pilot demonstration stage or to the initial production line.

The Ecosystem includes four Energy Innovation Clusters located throughout the state, which provide mentoring, networking, business development and other services to entrepreneurs.

To help ensure all Californians have the opportunity to participate in, and benefit from, the state’s transition to a low carbon energy future, the CEC encourages women-owned, minority, disabled veteran and LGBTQ businesses to apply for its funding opportunities.

In addition, a minimum of 25 percent of EPIC program technology demonstration and deployment funding is reserved for projects in disadvantaged communities. An additional 10 percent is set aside for projects located in, and benefiting, low-income communities.

Visit the Energy Innovation Showcase to learn more about EPIC research projects.

Promoting climate resiliency and public engagement while safeguarding intact habitat are goals for California Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot.

Crowfoot outlined his four goals for the agency at the California Energy Commission’s speaker series.

Governor Gavin Newsom appointed Crowfoot secretary of the agency in January. Crowfoot oversees an agency of 19,000 employees who protect and manage California’s diverse resources. As a member of the Governor’s cabinet, he advises the Governor on natural resources and environmental issues.

Prior to the appointment, Crowfoot was chief executive officer of the Water Foundation. He was a deputy cabinet secretary and senior advisor to Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr.

During the Oct. 15 talk held at the Natural Resources building, Crowfoot said he wants California to be the “tip of the spear” when it comes to climate resiliency.

“California is an international expert on combating climate change, but we’re less of a leader on protecting people and nature from the impacts of climate change,” he said.

A focus will be to create a compelling and galvanizing plan on how the state will spend $220 billion to build resiliency, Crowfoot said.

Crowfoot expressed a passion for increasing the public’s access to its vast array of natural resources.

“The reality is that statistics show that most Californians don’t get to enjoy a state park,” he said. “We need to change that. As a state we can do a much better job of providing access to all Californians.”

Addressing mass extinctions will also be a focus. The issue is relevant to California given its status as one of 33 biodiverse hotspots globally. The state is home to more endemic plants than the total of endemic plants found in all other states -- by a factor of three.

Crowfoot believes that safeguarding intact habitat will be crucial to that biodiversity, especially as habitats become increasingly impacted by California’s growing economy.

“I don't think we’re doing enough to actually protect that biodiversity,” he said. “We have to demonstrate to the world that we can grow in a way that benefits all Californians but not at the continued expense of the environment.”

Crowfoot also is interested in streamlining California’s permitting process and wants to foster a culture of transparency at the agency.

The California Energy Commission (CEC) will hold a workshop on Nov. 19 to examine innovations in water treatment, delivery, and energy recovery and to identify pathways to commercialize emerging technologies.

The workshop, which will run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Sacramento, is supported by the CEC’s Electric Program Investment Charge (EPIC) program, which drives clean energy innovation and entrepreneurship. Participants include CEC staff and representatives from other government agencies, California water and wastewater agencies, engineers, universities, and industry.

The workshop opens with a panel discussion examining advances in wastewater treatment that reduce energy consumption, opportunities to deploy innovative technologies at treatment plants, and future research needs. Later panels will examine energy efficiency and water efficiency advancements, energy recovery projects, opportunities for water agencies to implement new technologies, and future research needs.

The workshop supports the state’s energy and greenhouse gas reduction goals. Energy used to extract, treat, convey water and dispose of wastewater accounts for nearly 20 percent of California’s electricity consumption. Since 1996, there has been a 74 percent increase in energy use in municipal wastewater treatment and a 39 percent increase in energy usage for public drinking water systems.

More information can be found at the workshop webpage.

Photo courtesy of the city of San Francisco.

A company supported by the California Energy Commission (CEC) has launched a prototype production line for its new power producing windows technology.

In October, Ubiquitous Energy began producing its ClearView Power technology at a new production facility located at its Redwood City offices. The company celebrated its new production line during an Oct. 15 event.

The microscopically thin coating is transparent and selectively absorbs ultraviolet and infrared light to both reduce heat gain in buildings and generate electricity for onsite use, a first for the industry. The company has been able to obtain an aesthetically-pleasing neutral color, something that other companies are struggling to do but is highly desirable by building designers. The coating is applied directly to glass windows and can transmit up to 90 percent of visible light.

The project was aided by a $3 million grant from the CEC’s Bringing Rapid Innovation Development to Green Energy (BRIDGE) program, which allows start-up companies that have previously received CEC or federal funding to continue working on their technology without waiting for a new public funding opportunity or pausing to raise private funding, a process that can sometimes take years.

“The California Energy Commission is investing in clean energy entrepreneurs by helping them move their innovations to market,” said CEC Vice Chair Janea A. Scott. “Each unique concept has the potential to move California closer to its goal of a carbon-free future.”

With support from the BRIDGE grant, Ubiquitous Energy is scaling up its prototype to meet standard window testing size requirements and will demonstrate that its coating application could be cost-effectively integrated into the traditional glass manufacturing process.

The company is working with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to conduct testing and ensure the bigger prototypes meet commercially viable levels of energy efficiency, electrical generation, aesthetics, and durability. By the conclusion of the project, Ubiquitous Energy hopes to have the ClearView Power prototype windows installed in various pilot demonstration projects, including one at its own office.

The BRIDGE program is funded through CEC’s Electric Program Investment Charge (EPIC) program, which helps drive clean energy innovation and entrepreneurship.

Ubiquitous Energy was one of the eight start-up companies that participated in the CEC’s Breakthrough Technology Showcase, which was held Oct. 25 at the CEC. The showcase featured EPIC-funded projects focused on low-carbon energy solutions for buildings.