Energize Weekly, November 28, 2018 Heavy industry carbon emissions—less of a focus and harder to curb than the power sector’s—could be reduced to zero by 2060 at cost of just a fraction of global Gross Domestic Product (GDP), according to a new study by the nonprofit Energy Transitions Commission. The challenge in reducing industrial and…
Energize Weekly, November 28, 2018 The demand response programs of the major U.S. utilities, designed to reduce peak demand, tallied 18.3 gigawatts (GW) of capacity in 2017, with more than half of it dispatchable, according to an industry survey. The 2018 Utility Demand Response Market Snapshot, which covers 155 utilities, with about 62 percent of…
Energize Weekly, November 28, 2018 New York State plans to spend $250 million by 2025 on electric vehicle (EV) charging stations—the first step broad program to promote EVs as part of a plan to cut carbon emissions. The New York Power Authority announced it would install 200 charging stations under the plan’s first phase and…
Energize Weekly, November 28, 2018 Carbon capture technologies, after 15 years of research and development, remain expensive and technologically challenged and are rapidly being priced-out by renewable energy generation and natural gas, according to an Institute of Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) report. “Billions of dollars have been spent for carbon capture research and…
Energize Weekly, November 21, 2018 Natural gas underground storage in the U.S. began November at the lowest levels in 13 years, 3,208 billion cubic feet (Bcf), according to the federal Energy Information Administration (EIA). The data released Nov. 8 covers storage levels in the lower 48 states. Each of seven storage regions were at their…
Energize Weekly, November 21, 2018 American Electric Power (AEP) is planning to invest $33 billion in capital projects between 2019 and 2023 with three-quarters of the money focused on transmission and distribution, the company said. The company will also spend $2.7 billion on renewable generation and another $2.2 billion on competitively bid contracted renewable projects.…
Energize Weekly, November 21, 2018 Oil supplies are up and prices down—despite flagging output from Venezuela and sanctions on Iranian oil—as result of increased production from key countries and a softening demand from developing countries, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said. In August, the IEA warned that losses of Venezuelan and Iranian supplies could be…
Energize Weekly, November 21, 2018 Texas—the nation’s leader in wind generation—set an output record of 17,920 megawatts (MW) the afternoon of Nov. 12, according to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT). Driven by sustained winds of 18 miles per hour (mph) with gusts up to 36 mph, measured at San Angelo, the state’s 12,500…
Energize Weekly, November 21, 2018 Silicon solar cells account for 95 percent of the global market, but there are potentially multi-billion dollar markets for flexible, thin-film cells, according to an analysis by researchers at the federal National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). “Multiple markets are emerging for renewable, low-cost power generation including aerospace and unmanned aerial…
Energize Weekly, November 14, 2018 The Midwest is heading into the winter home-heating season with above average inventories, modest price increases and a forecast of a mild winter, while the Northeast is facing a decline in inventories, a sharp price hike and colder temperatures. Propane prices were up nationally 4 percent compared to prices at…
Energize Weekly, November 14, 2018 Sunrun, the country’s largest solar installer in 2017, set a record in the third quarter of 2018 with 100 megawatts of installations, but a $2.9 million loss for the period sent its stock plunging. The 100 MW—13,000 solar arrays—surpassed the previous record of 91 MW, set in the second quarter…
Energize Weekly, November 14, 2018 The cost of building and running wind and utility-scale solar projects is now beginning to undercut the major forms of baseload generation—natural gas, coal and nuclear, according to analysis by the financial consulting firm Lazard Ltd. Lazard’s 12th annual “levelized cost of energy” (LCOE) analysis, released Nov. 8, for the…