Morning Brief: Cheap solar-powered hydrogen, methane leaks at LA gas plant

Also in the brief: EEI used anti-clean energy campaigns as role models in political boot camp for utility execs.

August 28, 2020 Eric Wesoff

Solar-powered hydrogen under $2/kg by 2030: Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have identified sites where hydrogen could be produced via PV electrolysis at prices ranging from $1.90/kg to $4.20/kg in the United States by the end of the decade Source: pv magazine global

EEI used anti-clean energy campaigns as role models in political boot camp for utility execs: EEI’s boot camp held up two companies as case studies – FirstEnergy and APS – despite both having become paragons of utility corruption. The trade association for investor-owned electric utilities ran a training camp last December to teach lobbyists and executives from the nation’s utilities how to run winning political campaigns, using as case studies some of the most controversial efforts by utilities to defeat clean energy policies in recent years. Dozens of high-ranking government affairs and communications executives attended the training camp from companies like Alliant Energy, ConEdison, Dominion Energy, Duke Energy, DTE Energy, Entergy, Evergy, NationalGrid, NextEra Energy, PG&E, PNM, PPL, Xcel and their subsidiaries. Materials from the week-long event obtained by the Energy and Policy Institute give the impression of an industry that perceives itself to be under siege from activists who are seeking a host of policy changes, many of them intended to force utilities to decarbonize in order to address climate change. Read more at Energy and Policy Institute

Los Angeles natural gas plant has been leaking methane for years: A Los Angeles-area natural gas plant has been leaking large amounts of planet-warming gas methane for years, and the city has been aware of the urgency since at least March but has not scheduled repairs until later this year, according to a recording made public on Wednesday. Faulty natural gas compressors at the 690-megawatt Valley Generating Station have been leaking more than 10,000 cubic feet of methane per hour “for the last couple years,” Norm Cahill, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power’s director of power supply operations, told the utility’s board of commissioners on Tuesday.The leak adds to mounting evidence that accidental releases of natural gas from energy infrastructure is a significant contributor to global climate change. Source: Reuters

The Maine Public Service Commission just deemed their distributed energy generation procurement non-competitive and will be starting the process over. You can hear the PUC’s deliberation and decision here. This will obviously have major implications on how quickly community solar projects will be up and running in Maine. A joint statement from Jeremy Payne from Maine Renewable Energy Association and Erika Niedowski from Coalition for Community Solar Access: While we are disappointed in the outcome of Block 1 of the distributed generation procurement, we fully support the efforts of the Public Utilities Commission to ensure a competitive, fair process that is as transparent as possible. Source: Coalition for Community Solar Access (CCSA)

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