PG&E Commits $73 Million to Community Microgrids in New Funding Phase
PG&E announced a new phase of its community microgrid program backed by US$73 million in funding commitments, disclosing fresh grant agreements and a second round of awards for local clean energy resilience projects. The new funding extends the utility's community microgrid efforts into additional regions that have faced recurring outage and reliability concerns. PG&E operates a large regulated utility through Pacific Gas and Electric Company, supplying electricity and natural gas across northern and central California, and expanding community microgrids ties directly into how this US$29.5b operator manages reliability for its service territory. The clearest early signal to track is how many of the funded microgrid projects actually reach construction and successful operation on schedule, with PG&E securing timely cost recovery approvals from regulators for the roughly US$73 million already authorized and future tranches that could follow this template.
Trump signs Russia sanctions bill, granting tariff authority over countries buying Russian oil
US President Trump signed the Russia sanctions bill into law on the 18th. The law grants the president the authority to impose tariffs on countries that purchase Russian oil products. It allows the president to impose a 500% tariff on Russian goods imported into the United States, and to impose an additional 100% tariff on the top five energy-importing countries, countries importing Russian crude oil and natural gas, and countries that help evade sanctions. This tariff authority expires after five years. The top five buyers of Russian oil products include China, India, and US ally Turkey, and they could be subject to a broad range of new tariffs. The law also extends the application deadline of the 1996 Iran Sanctions Act to 2031, imposing secondary economic sanctions on non-US companies that trade with Iran; it had been due to expire this year. The Russian presidential administration said on the 17th that the US Congress's passage of the bill was an "unfriendly" move and warned it could affect negotiations aimed at ending the war.
Trump Signs Russia-Iran Sanctions Law, Authorizing Tariffs of Up to 100%
US President Donald Trump signed into law a Russia sanctions bill on Friday, September 18. The law grants authority to expand sanctions, impose customs duties and various prohibitions against Russia, while renewing existing sanctions on Iran. The law, named the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026, imposes sanctions on Russian officials, Russian banks and vessels used to transport energy from Russia, and gives Trump the authority to levy tariffs of up to 100% on goods from the five countries that import the most oil or natural gas from Russia. It also extends the Iran Sanctions Act for another five years to maintain sanctions targeting Iran's energy and weapons sectors. The US House of Representatives passed the bill on Wednesday, September 16, after the Senate approved it on August 7. The law is a major achievement carrying on the legacy of Lindsey Graham, the former senator who championed the bill and died in July after a sudden illness. However, the bill faced more division in the House than in the Senate, with three Democratic members of the House saying in a joint statement recently that the law may do more harm than good because it greatly increases Trump's power to set tariffs but does not compel him to impose sanctions on Russia.
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