Morning Brief: Texas bill would tax wind and solar but not natural gas, Covid speeds up peak oil

Also in the brief: 100-MW Mustang Two Whirlaway Solar Farm comes online in California, Arizona utility APS offering $144M to tribes in coal-country, Q CELLS to build a 41-MW floating PV power plant.

image: Solarcentury

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Texas bill would tax wind, solar generation but not natural gas: A Texas legislator filed a bill this week that would impose a new tax on electricity produced from wind, solar, coal and nuclear power. Electricity generated from natural gas would be exempt from the tax. The bill from state Rep. Ken King would add 1 cent to every kWh of energy generated. The tax would be passed on to consumers, adding about $12 a month to bills for households that use 1,200 kilowatt hours of renewable power sources each month. Power generated from natural gas would be exempt from the tax. Source: Houston Chronicle

100-MW Mustang Two Whirlaway Solar Farm comes online: Mustang Two Whirlaway, a 100-MW solar project in Kings County, officially started operating and will generate clean and affordable power exclusively for Peninsula Clean Energy customers. The 100-MW Mustang Two Whirlaway project was developed by Idemitsu Renewables. The project employed 560 peak workers onsite, including half from Kings County, and nearly 223,000 working hours. The construction of the Mustang project is governed by a five-party Project Labor Agreement involving the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Ironworkers, Carpenters, Laborers, and Operating Engineers. Source: Peninsula Clean Energy

Rystad Energy: Covid To Accelerate Peak Oil Demand To 2028: Global oil demand will peak at 102 million barrels per day in 2028, Rystad Energy said on Monday, noting that the push to low-carbon energy and the coronavirus pandemic will speed up the peak oil demand timeline to 2028 from 2030 previously expected. Before the pandemic upended forecasts for oil demand for both the short and long term, Rystad Energy had expected the maximum world oil demand to hit 106 million bpd in 2030. Source: Oil Price

Jigar Shah: “We hit peak oil in 2019 at 99.6 million barrels per day. It will take us until 2023 to get back to that level — if we ever do. Countries around the world are racing to transition because the conversion will be the largest wealth creation opportunity of our lifetime.”

Q CELLS will build a 41 MW floating PV power plant, which once complete will become the world’s largest floating PV constructed on a dam, as well as the largest floating PV plant permitted in Korea. Source: Q CELLS

Arizona utility APS offering $144M to Arizona tribes to help the three coal-country and tribal communities where the company eventually will close its remaining coal-burning power plants. The plan would not only provide large investments in the Navajo Nation, Hopi tribe and Joseph City area, but also includes plans to retain workers, electrify regions of the Navajo reservation that are off the power grid, and develop renewable energy projects. Source: AZ Central

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