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Wind developers rush to get project in the pipeline before federal tax credits end in 2020

Energize Weekly, May 22, 2019 Wind farm projects are forecast to swell in 2019 as developers look to get their projects in the pipeline before federal tax credits vanish, according to the federal Energy Information Administration (EIA). The EIA is projecting that wind projects will double over 2017 to 12.7 gigawatts (GW) of capacity in…

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Oil market hit by uncertainties and slow growth, LNG global market faces an imbalance

Energize Weekly, May 22, 2019 The oil market is being roiled by production cuts, political sanctions, slow economic growth and political uncertainty, leading to a market of “mixed signals,” according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). The global market for another key petroleum product, liquefied natural gas (LNG), also looks to be out of balance…

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Global renewable energy generation additions stalled in 2018 for the first time in 17 years

Energize Weekly, May 15, 2019 The nearly two-decade, year-on-year growth in global renewable energy generating capacity stalled in 2018, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). The 180 gigawatts (GW) of generating capacity—in wind, photovoltaic (PV) solar, hydro, bioenergy and other renewable sources—added in 2018 was about the same as in 2017. It was the…

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Oil demand will see a shift with transportation using less and petrochemicals using more, Barclays says

Energize Weekly, May 15, 2019 Global oil demand—under current economic and energy development trends—is projected to peak between 2030 and 2035 and then plateau through 2050, according to a new analysis by the London-based investment bank, Barclays. That peak could come as early as 2025 if more aggressive energy policies highlighting renewable power and energy…

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Electricity demand to be down this summer, coal’s share expected to drop, EIA says

Energize Weekly, May 15, 2019 Summer electricity generation in 2019 is forecast to be down 2 percent from last summer to 1,168 million megawatt-hours (MWh) with a sharp drop in how much of that power is provided by coal-fired plants. The energy mix for the summer highlights the ongoing shift in the generating portfolio with…

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Global utility M&A lags in Q1 of 2019 with renewable energy deals a bright spot

Energize Weekly, May 15, 2019 Power and utility sector mergers and acquisitions worldwide dropped to their lowest level since 2012 in the first quarter of 2019, but industry executives remain positive about deals for the year, according to a survey by Ernst & Young (E&Y). The value of first-quarter deals was $20.6 billion, down 80…

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Biodiesel fuels claiming a bigger share of U.S. soybean oil production

Energize Weekly, May 15, 2019 As the soybean market is roiled by trade disputes between the U.S. and China, the domestic biodiesel fuel industry is taking an increasing share of the country’s soybean oil production, according to federal Energy Information Administration (EIA) data. Biodiesel production absorbed 30 percent of domestic soybean oil, or 7.1 billion…

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Renewable generation set to surpass coal-fired generation for April and May

Energize Weekly, May 8, 2019 Renewable energy generation in April and May will put more electricity on the gird than coal-fired power plants, according to the federal Energy Information Administration (EIA). It is the first time on record that renewable power sources—hydro, biomass, wind, solar and geothermal—have surpassed coal-fired generation, the Institute for Energy Economics…

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The crossover point when EVs are cheaper than ICE cars is getting closer, BNEF says

Energize Weekly, May 8, 2019 The “crossover point” when electric vehicles (EVs) are cheaper than their internal-combustion-engine (ICE) counterparts continues to get closer with falling battery costs, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF). In a 2017 BNEF analysis, the crossover point was forecast as 2026. In 2018, the crossover point had moved two years…

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Texas Renewable Energy Co-op gets wholesale bids at less than 3 cents a kilowatt-hour

Energize Weekly, May 8, 2019 The Texas Renewable Energy Co-op (TREC) has received wholesale electricity bids for less than 3 cents a kilowatt-hour on 12-year contracts for its public non-profit participants, such as municipal and state agencies. The bidding process was managed by the Texas Energy Aggregation (TEA), which was created in 2002 to improve…

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Montana legislative effort to prop up the coal-fired Colstrip power plant stalls

Energize Weekly, May 8, 2019 Last-minute efforts to bail out the Colstrip coal-fired power plant and keep it running stalled in the Montana legislature as the session ended April 26. The Colstrip bill was defeated in the Montana House of Representatives April 16 on a 60-to-37 vote. The Republican sponsors then tried to find a…

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MidAmerican Energy sets one-day record for wind energy, covers all of retail demand

Energize Weekly, May 8, 2019 MidAmerican Energy hit a one-day record for wind generation in April, producing enough electricity to serve 100 percent of its retail customers’ needs with renewable energy. The Des Moines-based utility—which serves 783,000 electric customers in Iowa, South Dakota and Illinois—generated 11,500 megawatt-hours (MWh) on April 10, 8.5 percent better than…

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