Morning Brief: FERC denies MOPR review, Tesla’s longest-range Model S now goes 402 miles

Also in the brief: Community solar for Covid recovery, flaring wasted $750 million of natural gas, and coal’s descent.

June 16, 2020 Eric Wesoff

All of Tesla's North American Model S Long Range Plus vehicles now have an official range of 402 miles.

Automobile Italia, Flickr cc

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission denied the request of the Clean Energy Associations (made up of the American Wind Energy Association, the Solar Energy Industries Association, Advanced Energy Economy, and the American Council on Renewable Energy) for a rehearing of a number of orders regarding Calpine, Dynegy, et al. v. PJM Interconnection. This is the MOPR ruling — and as we’ve reported, electricity consumers would pay at least $1.1 billion more per year in the 13-state PJM grid region, according to a new report, while 8.5 GW of capacity sales from new solar developments would be excluded from the capacity market under this order. Source: ACORE

The Clean Coalition has joined with Vote Solar, the Center for Sustainable Energy, The Climate Center and the Coalition for Clean Air in urging state policymakers to emphasize community energy resilience as part of state strategy to address Covid-19 recovery and prepare for future power shutoffs. Source: Clean Coalition

All of Tesla’s North American Model S Long Range Plus vehicles now have an official EPA-rated range of 402 miles, a nearly 20% increase in range when compared to a 2019 Model S 100D with the same battery pack design. Tesla attributes the gains to mass reduction, new wheels and tires, increased drive unit efficiency and maximizing regenerative braking. Source: Tesla blog

A new report estimates that flaring wasted $750 million of natural gas in the Permian Basin in 2018 — in a “a gratuitous display of oversupply.” (Source: Houston Chronicle)

No sector of the economy received more love from candidate Trump than “beautiful, clean coal.” Yet, the stock prices of the top producers have cratered. Peabody is the largest coal producer in the U.S., according to EIA. By June 2018, Peabody’s stock sold for nearly $47 per share. Now, Peabody is hemorrhaging, and its share price has plunged to less than $3.50. Arch Coal, with 13% of the U.S. market in 2018 has lost more than 60% of its share value during Trump’s time in office. The No. 3 and No. 4 producers, Cloud Peak Energy and Murray Energy, are both in bankruptcy. Source: Washington Post

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