Source: East County Today
Sacramento, CA – Today, Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan (D-Orinda) introduced the first two bills of her environmental legislative package for the 2021 session, continuing her commitment to addressing our climate crisis.
In August 2020, over 800,000 homes and businesses in California lost power. During a record heat wave and in the midst of a pandemic, communities, vulnerable residents, and even hospitals were left without electricity. This was the result of serious underestimation of what California’s power grid could provide.
At the same time, thousands of Californians had excess clean energy stored in solar-powered home batteries and electric cars. This energy could have filled gaps in supply, during these times of high demand for power, by being aggregated and sold to the grid – helping to prevent devastating outages. The only thing standing in the way is our own regulations.
This untapped energy source can help mitigate blackouts, reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and incentivize consumers to run clean-powered homes. AB 427 requires the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to develop the guidelines necessary for the State to purchase the excess energy stored in consumer’s home batteries and electric cars.