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Illinois legislation promises a renewable energy revolution. But who would pay?
PJM capacity market prices are expected to increase significantly because of a recent Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ruling meant to level the playing field by requiring minimum price bids for generators that receive state subsidies. Under CEJA, the Illinois Power Agency would would directly procure capacity guarantees for northern Illinois, including specifically from renewables. Carbon-free sources — renewables and nuclear — would be procured separately from fossil fuels. [ read more … ]
Wind Energy
Study: Offshore wind could power China’s entire coast
The gusts of wind cascading across China’s seas have the potential to power its populous coastal provinces many times over, a study from Harvard University shows. Wind farms along the coast could potentially supply 5.4 times more electricity than the current coastal demand, researchers said in a report. Falling costs for offshore wind mean some of that can now be harnessed at costs competitive to existing power plants, with prospects for reductions in greenhouse emissions.
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State Gives Go-Ahead to Share of Massive Wind Farm Project, Hearings Set in Texas and Louisiana
An Oklahoma electric utility now has approval from the state for a share of a massive wind farm project proposed for seven counties in north-central Oklahoma. Public Service Co. of Oklahoma’s 675-megawatt share of the four-state project was approved last week by the Oklahoma Corporation Commission. [ read more … ]
Solar Energy
California OKs first community solar program under new building standard, troubling rooftop advocates
California solar advocates are concerned that a new community solar program pitched by the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) could hinder the deployment of more rooftop solar. The program, approved by the California Energy Commission last week, is the first community solar project under California’s 2019 Energy Code, which took effect on Jan. 1. The code requires new single-family and low-rise residential homes to have a solar photovoltaic system, or participate in community solar as an alternative. [ read more … ]
Storage
The Key to New York’s Green Dreams May Be Turning Quebec Into a Mega-Battery
Dotted within the sparsely populated forests and tundra of northern Quebec is an existing technology that could hold the key to slashing greenhouse-gas emissions created by powering the dense cities and suburbs between Boston and New York, at the lowest possible price. All that’s needed is a handful of new transmission lines, according to researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the existing network of hydroelectric dams from the Hudson Bay to the St. Lawrence River could serve as a giant battery for the U.S. Northeast. [ read more … ]
EVs
Tesla rival aims to banish 160-year-old lead tech from cars
Your sleek new Tesla Model S or electronic BMW has a distinctly 19th century feature that you may not be aware of, among its batteries. A company in Estonia wants to change that. Skeleton Technologies Group OÜ is working on supercapacitors, lightweight and long-life components that can distribute intensive bursts of power. These may help eliminate lead-acid batteries, a piece of technology invented in 1859 that still lurks under the hoods of Teslas in addition to the main lithium-ion power source. [ read more … ]
2020
Energy executives respond to Democrats’ prosecution threats
Dozens of oil and natural gas company executives are pushing back against Democratic presidential candidates’ proposals to prosecute them, saying the real “criminal” act would be not to produce fossil fuels. In an open letter organized by the Western Energy Alliance and printed today as an advertisement in The New York Times, the executives of mainly small Western oil and gas drillers are taking aim at Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and former Vice President Joe Biden. [ read more … ]
Policy & Politics
Clean energy mandate fares best among voters
More than half (51%) of those polled by Data for Progress backed a 100% clean energy standard, the most popular of all the climate policies tested by the group. Such a standard would require the U.S. power sector to produce electricity from all zero-carbon sources by a certain date. The clean energy standard did even better than the progressive wing’s sweeping proposal for overhauling the economy to reduce emissions, the Green New Deal, which 45% of those polled said they supported, 35% opposed, and 20% were unsure what to think, according to results released Monday by the progressive group. [ read more … ]
Falling Fuel Costs Buoy U.S. Consumers
Gasoline has dropped about 50 cents a gallon from last year near her home in the 6,000-person town of Raton, N.M.—lowering the cost of trips to restaurants, movie theaters or the closest Walmart, in neighboring Colorado. And even though cold weather has blanketed the area since October, falling natural-gas prices have helped the 63-year old retiree keep her three-bedroom home comfortably warm. [ read more … ]
In liberal Takoma Park, a bold new climate proposal: Banning fossil fuels
Takoma Park, the liberal enclave just outside Washington known as the “Berkeley of the East,” is debating whether to outlaw gas stoves, leaf blowers and water heaters. The Maryland city of 17,000 that voted nearly four decades ago to become a “nuclear-free zone” is considering a total ban on fossil fuels, part of a nationwide effort by local governments to address what they see as a lack of federal action on climate change.
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Note: News clips provided do not necessarily reflect the views of coalition or its member governors.