Bay Briefing: Solar firms see opportunity after year of wildfires, power shutoffs - San Francisco Chronicle

“The grapes are ready when they’re ready,” Côme Lague, a vineyard owner in the Sierra Nevada, says. Last summer, PG&E informed him the electricity around his vineyard could be subject to power shutoffs during times of high wildfire risk.

“If you’re in the middle of crushing them, and the power is shut off for days — you’re not exactly gonna be manually processing all that fruit.”

Lague decided he was going to expand his solar panel system so he could provide the electricity needed for a fall harvest — PG&E or not.

It’s a small example of how solar power — already a significant part of the state’s electricity supply — could become a backup source when there’s a loss of power during wildfires.

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Power generated across decentralized sources like small solar installations, as opposed to a traditional power plant, hydroelectric dam or large-scale solar farm, can help balance energy demand and serve as backup power.

Solar companies want lawmakers to make it easier for residents to connect new solar projects to the grid, and now some are getting directly involved, keeping a close eye on state regulators’ efforts to craft new rules about planned power outages.

Top of the News

•Shutdown woes: As the federal government shutdown enters its 13th day, national parks in the Bay Area and beyond are struggling to keep up as caretakers are furloughed.

•Cop killing charges: Prosecutors have charged Gustavo Perez Arriaga with murder in the killing of a Stanislaus County police officer Cpl. Ronil Singh. The charges carry a special circumstance because Singh was an officer, making Arriaga eligible for the death penalty if convicted, but prosecutors have not said if they would seek it.

•Welcome back?: She’s widely expected to win a vote to become Speaker of the House on Thursday. But as soon as she strikes the first gavel, San Francisco Democrat Rep. Nancy Pelosi will have to contend with the ongoing federal government shutdown, with no obvious solution in sight and President Trump not budging on his demand for $5 billion in funding for a border wall.

•Six years and counting: Marie Mckinzie and Greg Dunston thought 2018 was the year they’d stop living on the streets for good. In his latest column, Otis R. Taylor Jr. describes what happened to the homeless couple’s hopes last year and how two fellow (homed) Oaklanders provided a crucial intervention.

•A homemade sticking point: The widest-reaching law in the nation allowing California home cooks to apply for permits to sell food made in their own kitchen has come into effect — but nobody can use it. A quirk in the law’s wording means individual counties have to opt-in to the process, and no health department has done so — yet.

•Laughs directly into your ear: More than 30 percent of the 150 acts scheduled for the 18th annual Sketchfest are related to podcasts. It’s a reflection of both changing tastes in comedy and the lack of sketch comedy shows on television.

•Don’t break out the Harper jerseys yet: Giants fans are restless — with spring training in less than six weeks, the team roster hardly looks different than the one that endured a second straight losing season in 2018. In an interview with Chronicle reporter Henry Schulman, GM Farhan Zaidi insists he’s not sitting on his hands.

•Who’s charging who?: Alameda County prosecutors in the Ghost Ship trial are not impressed with defense attorneys’ call for a citizen’s arrest and prosecution of 14 people not charged in connection with the deadly fire, including the warehouse’s landlord. Prosecutors called the demand “unprecedented” and “wholly unsupported by law,” adding the charges came after two years and thousands of hours investigating the fire.

•Summer work: 18-year-old Carolina Orozco says she usually works with her mom cleaning houses on school vacations — but this summer she’d like a different work experience. She was among the students eager to hear Mayor London Breed talk about about a new initiative to provide paid internships and job-training programs for all San Francisco high school students by summer — an opportunity Breed credits as life-changing in her own teen years.

•New beginnings in food: Expansions, women-led ventures and a suddenly hot SFO — here’s what to expect in 2019 from Bay Area restaurant openings.

The Kicker

If you’ve noticed something missing as you drive or walk by AT&T Park, just wait. By the time the first pitch is thrown this season, the Giants will have replaced their scoreboard in center field.

The new scoreboard will cover 10,700 square feet, more than three times the surface area of the one it replaces, and will have a clearer resolution. Why the upgrade? It’s part of an effort to keep fans in the park after a faltering performance in 2018 and “a new neighbor building one heck of a house” — the Warriors — says one sports consultant.

Bay Briefing is written by Taylor Kate Brown and sent to readers’ email inboxes on weekday mornings. Sign up for the newsletter here and contact Brown at taylor.brown@sfchronicle.com

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