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Senate to vote on WRDA; spending and energy talks continue
Also this week, efforts to reconcile the House and Senate energy bills will continue, as lawmakers race the clock to see if they can find common ground. House and Senate conferees detailed their own priorities for the conference last week, signaling a desire to work toward consensus but also highlighting vast policy divides (Greenwire, Sept. 8). House Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) told E&E Daily that efforts will intensify this week. “Now that the opening statements are out of the way, we’ll have member-to-member discussions,” he said. [ read more … ]
U.S. Plans Offshore Wind Expansion That Could Supply Entire U.K.
The U.S. just completed its first offshore wind farm, with 30 megawatts of capacity off the coast of Rhode Island, and has laid out a plan to reach 86,000 megawatts by 2050, almost enough to power the U.K The departments of Energy and Interior are planning a joint effort to support offshore wind farms over the next five years, a move aimed at reducing cost and development risks and easing the regulatory constraints that have hindered construction to date, according to a statement Friday. [ read more … ]
Policy shifts could spur lagging U.S. offshore wind development — report
There are many challenges to overcome in the United States, including bringing down costs and developing a viable supply chain. The regulatory process “could be further optimized, and data gaps associated with environmental impacts need to be addressed,” the report says. Last year, DOE’s “Wind Vision” study concluded that 86 GW of offshore wind deployment by midcentury could reduce greenhouse gas emissions enough to avoid $50 billion in “global damages.” [ read more … ]
Energy Dept., Interior Announce Plan to Advance Offshore Wind Development
A plan published by the Energy Department and the Interior Department could help enable 86 gigawatts of offshore wind energy production and support 160,000 jobs in the U.S. by 2050, the departments announced Friday. According to the plan, almost 80 percent of U.S. electricity demand is located in coastal states and offshore wind energy technical potential is equal to about two times the U.S.’s electricity demand. In order to tap into the benefits of offshore energy, the plan says the U.S. must reduce the costs and technical risks associated with offshore wind development, provide regulatory certainty and mitigate the environmental risks of offshore wind development, and increase the understanding of the costs and benefits of offshore wind energy. [ read more … ]
Can the U.S. develop a supergrid before China?
It was that a “supergrid,” a national network of 30,000 miles of high-voltage direct current (HVDC) electricity lines, might cut electricity generating emissions by as much as 80 percent by rapidly moving surplus power generated by wind, solar, hydroelectric and natural gas around the nation. The system, he thinks, could be built in 15 years. The resulting power, most of it coming from the weather, he asserts, would not lift energy bills much above traditional levels. [ read more … ]
Can America’s first farm help resurrect manufacturing?
“Over time, I think we’d like to see elements of the turbines made and assembled here in the U.S. more and more,” said Jeffrey Grybowski, CEO of Deepwater Wind, which is the developer of the project. “It’s not an all-or-nothing thing. We’ll increasingly see more and more of the components made closer and closer to these projects. And that is almost entirely driven by the size of the market that the manufacturers see. [ read more … ]
Sunshine State’ or Not, Florida Badly Behind on Solar Power
Residents of the Sunshine State are finding that harnessing Florida’s abundant solar power is no simple task. With its bounty of sunny days, Florida ranks third in the nation in rooftop solar energy potential but 13th in the amount of solar energy generated, according to industry estimates. The industry views Florida as a sleeping giant that could rival California in solar potential, but renewable energy experts say the state lags behind because old laws favor utilities over private enterprise. [ read more … ]
Note: News clips provided do not necessarily reflect the views of coalition or its member governors.