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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Energize Weekly, May 1, 2019 Massachusetts’s first offshore in project, two 400-megawatt (MW) installations in an area south of Martha’s Vineyard, has been given a green light by state regulators. The project by Vineyard Wind, which will sell its electricity to four distribution utilities, was approved by the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities (DPU). The…
Energize Weekly, May 1, 2019 The battle over coal-fired power plants and renewable energy is moving west, according to analyses by BTU Analytics, a Lakewood, Colo.-based energy consultant. About 81 gigawatts of coal-fired capacity has been closed at 696 units at 360 plants since 2008. In the early years, most of the closures were in…
Energize Weekly, May 1, 2019 Small wind turbines—at homes, farms and businesses—have increasingly been plugging into the grid and getting paid for the electricity they put on the wires—with the fastest growth in the Northeast. Net metering, which enables homeowners and commercial customers to be credited for electricity they put on the gird, has been…
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