Energize Weekly, September 4, 2019 Sixteen mines in the Powder River Basin (PRB), which covers northeast Wyoming and southeast Montana, supply more than 40 percent of the coal produced in the U.S., and the bulk of that production is controlled by four companies, according to an analysis by the federal Energy Information Administration (EIA). The…
Energize Weekly, August 28, 2019 The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) board of directors at their August meeting approved a $10.6 billion budget for 2020 and a resource plan that could include up to 14 gigawatts (GW) of new solar capacity by 2038. The TVA, a federal agency, provides electricity to business customers and local power…
Energize Weekly, August 28, 2019 The U.S. had one the largest absolute increases in oil and natural gas production for a single country in history in 2018, according to the federal Energy Information Administration (EIA). In 2011, the U.S. had already surpassed Russia as the world’s largest producer of natural gas, and in 2018, it…
Energize Weekly, August 28, 2019 The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), in cooperation with university researchers and major auto manufacturers, has launched a $50 million program to develop electric and alternative-fuel technologies for trucks and off-road vehicles. The research projects will focus on gaseous fuels – including natural gas, bio-power and hydrogen – heavy-duty truck…
Energize Weekly, August 28, 2019 Vistra Energy said it will close four Illinois coal-fired plants, with 2,000 megawatts (MW) of capacity and 300 employees, by the end of the year to meet new state pollution rules. The Illinois Multi-Pollutant Standard (MPS) sets caps on emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, and required the shutdown…
Energize Weekly, August 28, 2019 Major U.S. shale operators, thanks to strong oil prices and more efficient operations, posted a sharp turnaround in the second quarter of 2019, showing positive cash flow for the first time on record, according to Rystad Energy, an Oslo-based energy consultant. In the second quarter, 35 percent of the 40…
Energize Weekly, August 21, 2019 Imports of silicon solar cells and modules rebounded in the first quarter of 2019 after a sharp drop when the Trump administration announced it would impose tariffs on them in January 2018. Photovoltaic (PV) module imports averaged 644,000 kilowatts (kW) a month in the first quarter of 2019, about 16…
Energize Weekly, August 21, 2019 World energy production – spurred by coal and natural gas – was up 2.2 percent in 2017 to 14,035 million tons oil equivalent (Mtoe) when compared to 2016, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). Coal and natural gas output were each up by more than 120 Mtoe in 2017.…
Energize Weekly, August 21, 2019 Portugal’s first photovoltaic (PV) solar auction has led to a record low-cost contract of $16.54 a megawatt-hour (MWh), narrowly besting the previous record, a recent Brazilian power purchase agreement (PPA) for $16.95 a MWh. “With the levelized cost of utility-scale PV in Southern Europe now well below current wholesale power…
Energize Weekly, August 21, 2019 Xcel Energy has received approval from the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission to turn its Renewable Connect pilot into a full-time program and merge it with another of the company’s renewable programs, Windsource. Xcel plans to add 180 megawatts (MW) of wind generation and 50 MW of solar for the program…
Energize Weekly, August 21, 2019 The Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has filed an unprecedented protest with federal regulators seeking to block the bid by Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association to move from state to federal rate regulation. Tri-State, which wants to shift rate regulation to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), provides wholesale power…
Energize Weekly, August 14, 2019 The U.S. wind industry hit a record for construction and project development in the second quarter of 2019 with nearly 42,000 megawatts (MW) of projects being built or in advance development, according to an American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) market report. The 20,908 MW of wind farms under construction and…