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A historic climate bill passed. Now comes the hard part.
New transmission lines will need to be strung to connect wind and solar projects in disparate parts of the country. Batteries need to be installed to backup renewable projects. Emerging technologies like clean hydrogen and advanced nuclear, along with seldom-used ones like carbon capture and sequestration, have to be installed to ensure the grid can run round-the-clock without pumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. And that’s just in the power sector. Cleaning up transportation and industry will likely be even more challenging, due to relatively limited technological options and the long lifetimes associated with cars and large industrial equipment [ read more … ]
Wind Energy
Virginia regulators approve Dominion Energy’s 2.6-GW, $9.8B offshore wind farm
The Virginia State Corporation Commission, or SCC, on Friday approved Dominion Energy Virginia’s plans to build its proposed Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind Project. The 2.6-GW project has an expected capital cost of $9.8 billion and will include 176 wind turbines located about 27 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach. Dominion Energy plans to complete construction in 2026.
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Solar Energy
The US Climate Bill Could Make Now the Best Time to Go Solar
If signed into law as written, the climate bill before the US Congress would change the calculus for American households thinking about going solar. The legislation stands to make that transition more affordable while also subsidizing purchases of electric cars, heat pumps, high-tech water heaters and battery-storage systems — clean-energy upgrades that will spur more household demand for electricity. There are so many incentives to install solar that the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 might be more aptly titled the “Electrify Your Life Act.” [ read more … ]
Inflation Reduction Act
Electric Cars Too Costly for Many, Even With Aid in Climate Bill
Policymakers in Washington are promoting electric vehicles as a solution to climate change. But an uncomfortable truth remains: Battery-powered cars are much too expensive for a vast majority of Americans. Congress has begun trying to address that problem. The climate and energy package passed on Sunday by the Senate, the Inflation Reduction Act, would give buyers of used electric cars a tax credit. But automakers have complained that the credit would apply to only a narrow slice of vehicles, at least initially, largely because of domestic sourcing requirements. And experts say broader steps are needed to make electric cars more affordable and to get enough of them on the road to put a serious dent in greenhouse gas emissions. [ read more … ]
How the climate bill could strengthen EPA regulations
The $369 billion spending package that the Senate passed yesterday and Democrats in the House hope to pass this week before August recess would extend a popular tax credit for CCS and make it more generous. Instead of expiring in 2026, the section 45Q tax credit would cover CCS projects that come online through 2033. Projects that permanently sequester carbon dioxide would receive $85 per ton, up from $50 a ton. And projects that utilize the CO2 — such as for enhanced oil recovery, where CO2 is used to boost production of depleted oil wells — would receive a tax credit of $60 a ton, up from $35. [ read more … ]
Historic climate bill faces state schism on clean energy
According to a new report from Princeton University, the pace of yearly wind power installations could double and solar generation could increase fivefold by 2025-2026 from 2020 levels, fueled by decadelong tax incentives in the act. The measure would have the greatest impact on investment in wind and solar power, which nearly doubles to $321 billion in 2030 versus $177 billion without the legislation, the analysis released last week from the Princeton ZERO Lab’s REPEAT project said. “This is going to drive a lot of investment [in] all of the country, particularly in wind- and solar-rich areas,” if the bill is enacted, said Jesse Jenkins, who leads the ZERO Lab. Eyeing MISO, Gramlich said, “That is a very diverse region. Its states’ views on climate are all over the map.” If other regions’ grid planners do what MISO’s leadership did, aligning transmission projects with utilities’ targets, the transition will go ahead regardless of what state political leaders say about climate, he predicted. [ read more … ]
Carbon Capture
Time has all but run out for world’s ‘largest carbon capture project’
In less than 60 days, the San Juan Generating Station is scheduled to produce its final kilowatt-hour of power and release its last pound of CO2 into the atmosphere. Proponents of a $1.4 billion-plus carbon capture project at the New Mexico coal-fired plant hope the facility will be transferred to new owners and keep operating past its Sept. 30 retirement date. Retaining high-paying jobs and much-needed local tax revenue are priorities for labor unions and the City of Farmington, which owns 5% of the plant. [ read more … ]
States
Why the Midwest worries about future blackouts
Tightening electricity supplies across the Midwest are a problem a decade in the making. And it may take nearly that long to solve it. In the meantime, the possibility of widespread, Texas-style outages caused by a lack of adequate generating reserves — however remote — has state regulators asking questions of the region’s grid operator, the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO). [ read more … ]
EVs
California becomes first state to roll out submetering technology to spur EV adoption
Sub-metering basically allows EV customers to avoid having to install a separate meter to measure the electricity use of their car, CPUC Commissioner Clifford Rechtschaffen said at an agency voting meeting Thursday. This is significant because in California, EVs are subject to special rate structures, which make it less costly to charge during off-peak hours. [ read more … ]
Automakers say U.S. Senate bill will jeopardize 2030 EV targets
A group representing General Motors (GM.N), Toyota Motor (7203.T), Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) and other major automakers said a $430 billion bill approved Sunday by the U.S. Senate will put achieving U.S. electric-vehicle adoption targets for 2030 in jeopardy. “Unfortunately, the EV tax credit requirements will make most vehicles immediately ineligible for the incentive,” said the Alliance for Automotive Innovation’s chief executive, John Bozzella, adding the bill “will also jeopardize our collective target of 40-50% electric vehicle sales by 2030.” [ read more … ]
How Manchin kneecapped the climate bill’s EV tax credit
The West Virginia Democrat has repeatedly groused that minerals crucial to electric car batteries — like lithium, cobalt, nickel and graphite — are currently produced into a global supply line primarily controlled by China. “I just can’t believe we’re even thinking about going down that path, and I’m going to do everything I can to stop it,” he said. “Because I think it’s stupid.” Manchin ultimately won. [ read more … ]
Note: News clips provided do not necessarily reflect the views of coalition or its member governors.