New NARUC-DOE reports highlight economic implications of energy transition, means to negate fossil fuel retirement effects November 01, 2021 Two reports issued by the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) Center for Partnerships & Innovation (CPI) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage Partnership…
Clean tech investment soars in 2021, IEA says it has to go much higher to curb emissions
Clean tech investment soars in 2021, IEA says it has to go much higher to curb emissions Energize Weekly, November 3, 2021 Clean tech investment, from both the public and private sectors, has been growing rapidly in 2021, but it still may not be fast enough to alter global emissions…
Southern California Edison to add 535MW of battery energy storage
Southern California Edison to add 535MW of battery energy storage October 25, 2021 Southern California Edison (SCE) will add 535 megawatts of battery energy storage at three of its substations to increase grid reliability for next summer. Read more
Congress eyes $235B in clean energy subsidies. Here they are
Congress eyes $235B in clean energy subsidies. Here they are 10/26/2021 Congress has a long-standing aversion to climate policy. Cap and trade saw a spectacular death in 2010. A plan to pay utilities for selling more clean electricity was axed this month. And proposals to tax carbon dioxide emissions never…
DOE Invests $61 Million for Smart Buildings that Accelerate Renewable Energy Adoption and Grid Resilience
DOE Invests $61 Million for Smart Buildings that Accelerate Renewable Energy Adoption and Grid Resilience October 14, 2021 The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has announced $61 million for 10 pilot projects that will deploy new technology to transform thousands of homes and workplaces into state-of-the-art, energy-efficient buildings. These Connected…
Climate-driven weather disasters threaten global energy infrastructure, IEA says
Climate-driven weather disasters threaten global energy infrastructure, IEA says Energize Weekly, October 20, 2021 Energy and infrastructure systems built over the last century are becoming more vulnerable to the ravages of climate change-driven extreme weather events, according to a series of reports. “Extreme weather events over the past year have…
World energy consumption to rise 50 percent by 2050 with fossil fuels still dominant, EIA says
World energy consumption to rise 50 percent by 2050 with fossil fuels still dominant, EIA says Energize Weekly, October 13, 2021 Global energy consumption is forecast to increase 50 percent over the next 30 years if no policies or new technologies are introduced to curb demand, according to the U.S.…
Lynn Good projects $100B in spending on ‘clean energy transition’ at Duke Energy in the next 10 years
Lynn Good projects $100B in spending on ‘clean energy transition’ at Duke Energy in the next 10 years Sep 30, 2021 Touting Duke Energy Corp.’s sustainability goals at a presentation an S&P Global Inc. conference, CEO Lynn Good said the company will spend close to $100 billion on its transition to clean…
Solar trade woes cast a pall over Biden’s climate goals
Solar trade woes cast a pall over Biden’s climate goals 09/28/2021 President Joe Biden’s climate goals are conflicting with his aim to bolster American manufacturing of solar panels — an industry the U.S. largely lost to China when he was vice president and one that can’t be rebuilt quickly. Read…
State, federal actions show growing push for a nuclear role in reaching net zero emissions
State, federal actions show growing push for a nuclear role in reaching net zero emissions Sept. 28, 2021 Nuclear power advocates are increasingly emphasizing the value of existing but financially struggling U.S. nuclear plants in curbing carbon emissions and addressing climate change. Read more
Utilities face greatest threat as climate risks intensify
Utilities face greatest threat as climate risks intensify 20 Sep, 2021 Climate change is pushing power, gas and water companies to the frontlines of an intensifying battle against natural disasters that is set to increasingly hit the profits of businesses around the world. Utilities face the highest combined physical risk…
Los Angeles City Council approves transition to clean, carbon-free energy by 2035
Los Angeles City Council approves transition to clean, carbon-free energy by 2035 September 3rd, 2021 In a unanimous vote, the Los Angeles City Council yesterday (September 1) approved a motion introduced by Councilmembers Paul Krekorian and Mitch O’Farrelll requiring that 100 percent of the city’s electricity come from clean, zero carbon energy by 2035. Read…
Clean power capacity surges in second quarter marked by a record rise in energy storage
Clean power capacity surges in second quarter marked by a record rise in energy storage Energize Weekly, September 1, 2021 A record-breaking 5,620 megawatts (MW) of clean power capacity was installed in the second quarter of 2021 with battery storage becoming a bigger portion of the mix, according to an…
Duke Energy keeping its promise on solar power in Florida
Duke Energy keeping its promise on solar power in Florida Aug 19, 2021 Duke Energy is keeping its promises. From 2018 to 2022, the company, which has 1.9 million customers in 35 Florida counties, has completed 70% of its solar power plant plan, including the DeBary plant at 176 Highbanks…
NM could get billions in new federal funding
NM could get billions in new federal funding August 23, 2021 Congress is gearing up to approve the largest federal investments in infrastructure and social programs since the Great Depression in the 1930s, and New Mexico could reap huge benefits. Read more
New Mexico customers sound alarm over major utility merger
New Mexico customers sound alarm over major utility merger Aug 10, 2021 New Mexico customers are sounding the alarm over a proposed multibillion-dollar merger of the state’s largest electric utility provider with a U.S. subsidiary of Spanish energy giant Iberdrola, citing a sordid track record of reliability and customer service.…
Global clean energy technology investment reached a record $500 billion in 2020
Global clean energy technology investment reached a record $500 billion in 2020 Energize Weekly, August 11, 2021 Global investment in clean energy technologies reached a record $501.3 billion in 2020, with renewable energy generation accounting for 60 percent of the total, according to a BloombergNEF analysis. The 2020 figure represents…
Bipartisan $1T Senate infrastructure bill focuses on nuclear, carbon capture, transmission
Bipartisan $1T Senate infrastructure bill focuses on nuclear, carbon capture, transmission Aug. 3, 2021 A bipartisan group of senators on Sunday unveiled its nearly $1 trillion infrastructure bill, formalized into text following a 67-32 consensus to advance the legislation. The vote to advance the bill included the support of 17 Republicans. Read…
Incentives, reliability concerns spur adoption of home solar+storage, but not economics
Incentives, reliability concerns spur adoption of home solar+storage, but not economics Energize Weekly, August 4, 2021 The twinning of residential solar arrays and batteries, which rose from near zero in 2016 to about 550 megawatts (MW) of combined storage by 2020, is being driven by government and utility incentives and…
U.S. Power Sector Sees Biggest One-Year Drop in Emissions in More Than Two Decades
U.S. Power Sector Sees Biggest One-Year Drop in Emissions in More Than Two Decades JULY 23, 2021 U.S. power sector emissions dropped 10 percent between 2019 and 2020, owing to greater energy efficiency, less reliance on coal, and the coronavirus pandemic suppressing demand for electricity, according to a new report. This…
More than half the U.S. faces electricity supply problems in the face of a long, hot summer
More than half the U.S. faces electricity supply problems in the face of a long, hot summer Energize Weekly, July 7, 2021 More than half the U.S. – primarily in the West, Texas, Midwest and to a lesser extent, New England – is at risk of energy emergencies this summer,…
Oklo has a plan to make tiny nuclear reactors that run off nuclear waste
Oklo has a plan to make tiny nuclear reactors that run off nuclear waste JUN 28 2021 The face of nuclear energy is changing, and one of the companies working to redefine what nuclear energy looks like is Oklo. The 22-person Silicon Valley start-up has a plan to build mini-nuclear reactors,…
Xcel Energy Cuts Emission, Set to Attain Carbon Neutrality
Xcel Energy Cuts Emission, Set to Attain Carbon Neutrality June 8, 2021 Xcel Energy announced that it has achieved more than 50% of the carbon neutrality target and is among the few utilities that have pledged to cut emissions from the electricity generation process by 100%. Read more
Queue for electric generation and storage projects is growing across the U.S.
Queue for electric generation and storage projects is growing across the U.S. Energize Weekly, June 2, 2021 The queue of electricity generation and storage projects is growing year-on-year, reaching a total of 950 gigawatts (GW) of capacity by the end of 2020, according to a survey by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.…
New strategy for greener TVA will close coal plants, add solar and nuclear
New strategy for greener TVA will close coal plants, add solar and nuclear Thu, May 6, 2021 Nearly a century after the Tennessee Valley Authority was created to harness the power of the Tennessee River, America’s biggest public utility is planning to turn more to the sun, splitting atoms and…
New York advisory panel recommendations to include gas-fired plant moratorium
New York advisory panel recommendations to include gas-fired plant moratorium 03 May 2021 New York’s Power Generation Advisory Panel will recommend a moratorium against new fossil fuel-fired plant construction to the state’s Climate Action Council, the panel’s chair said May 3. Read more
U.S. cities and towns made deals for a record 3.7 gigawatts of renewables in 2020
Energize Weekly, April 7, 2021 Cities and towns across the U.S. installed or purchased a record 3.7 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity in 2020, a 23 percent increase over 2019, according to the clean energy consultant, RMI. The RMI analysis was based on data from the Local Government Renewables Action…
The U.S. Grid Isn’t Ready For A Major Shift To Renewables
By Irina Slav – Mar 03, 2021 The blame game for the massive power outages in Texas last month continues. The dominant argument is that renewables had an ignorable part to play in the crisis, with natural gas and coal the indirect culprits due to their reduced availability resulting from infrastructure freezing…
European oil companies changing names and shifting their focus to alternative energy
Energize Weekly, February 17, 2021 European oil companies are continuing their push to reorient and rebrand themselves as comprehensive energy companies and not just producers of oil and natural gas. On Feb. 9, French oil company Total announced it was changing its name to TotalEnergies to reflect a broader strategy…
U.S. energy consumption will take years to rebound from pandemic, EIA says
Energize Weekly, February 10, 2021 It will take years for U.S. energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions to return to 2019 levels after the severe impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the country’s economy and the global energy sector, according to the federal Energy Information Administration (EIA). Energy consumption in…
A Biden plan would speed a clean energy transition, but have limited impact on oil
Energize Weekly, October 28, 2020 As Election Day nears, analysts are starting to focus on what the administration of front-running Joe Biden will mean for energy and find it could accelerate the decline of coal, stabilize near-term oil markets, as well as boost renewables and new jobs. A Biden administration,…
Fossil fuel demand drops in 2020 with a limited rebound in 2021, IEA says
Energize Weekly, October 21, 2020 The global pandemic will cut worldwide energy demand 5 percent in 2020 and result in an 18 percent decline in energy investment, according to International Energy Agency (IEA) forecasts. If the novel coronavirus is brought under control in 2021, energy demand will return to its…
New England must increase renewables deployment almost eightfold to meet 2050 target
Energize Weekly, October 16, 2019 New England will have to increase the pace of renewable energy generation installations by four to eight times to meet 2050 goals to cut carbon emissions, according to a study by the Brattle Group, an economic and regulatory consultant. The region has a goal, as…
EIA forecasts a 50 percent increase in energy demand by 2050 driven by Asian economies
Energize Weekly, October 2, 2019 World energy consumption is projected to grow by 50 percent by 2050, with most of that demand coming from growing Asian economies, according to the federal Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) International Energy Outlook. “Energy consumption was greater in Asia than in any other region in…
Battery storage market to soar by 2040, but could face short-term supply chain challenges
Energize Weekly, August 7, 2019 Energy storage worldwide will grow 122-fold, to nearly 1,110 gigawatts (GW) by 2040 as battery prices fall and their use expands – but growth may also create supply chain challenges. These are the views of two recent analyses, one by Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF)…
Many clean generating technologies lagging in their deployment rates, the IEA says
Energize Weekly, June 12, 2019 While the deployment of carbon-free electricity generation advanced in 2018, many key technologies are lagging in the pace needed to reach international goals, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). “The world is currently not on track to meet the main energy-related components of the…
