Morning Brief: Role of gas as a bridge fuel in US ‘just got shorter and narrower’
Also in the brief: Trina Solar completed its acquisition of Spanish solar tracker company Nclave, Plus — A Florida county board denies a zoning exemption for a 650-acre solar project in a predominantly Black community after some residents said the proposal constituted environmental racism.
How does the US retire 236 GW of coal and 1,000 gas peaker plants?
Victory in the economic realm (increasingly the case with solar, solar-plus-storage and wind) is no guarantee of market victory if the regulations are stacked against renewables.
Morning Brief: PV plant providing grid ancillary services in Chile, Capital Dynamics to develop nine batteries
Also in the brief: Global Energy Generation’ proposed 4,500-acre Mammoth Solar project in Pulaski County, Indiana, may have a role to play in Winamac’s revitalization efforts, Dominion Energy acquired a solar power project in Orange County, the laws that prevent carbon cutting and more.
More utilities bypassing natural gas bridge and going straight to renewables
Utilities that are transitioning away from coal are starting to view the creation of a natural gas “bridge” to renewable energy as an unnecessary step.
Even FERC can’t deny the energy transition
The latest projections from the federal agency show no growth in fossil fuel capacity over the next three years, while new solar and wind more than make up for nuclear retirements. This is likely an overly conservative assessment.
From the editor: EIA versus the future
EIA’s long-term projections remain stubbornly immune to reality. And the biggest problem is the potential collapse of civilization if we extract and burn anywhere near as much coal, gas and oil as the agency forecasts.
Will gas outpace wind and solar installations this year?
The latest analyses by both IHS Markit and Wood Mackenzie suggest that the capacity of new gas plants coming online this year will be slightly larger than the combination of wind and solar, for the first time in five years.
Coal decline is good news, but solar will fight for its share against gas
10 GW of coal plants have already retired this year, and this is expected to hit 15.4 GW by the year’s end. But solar will have to compete with the “rush to gas” to replace this capacity.
New renewables, nuclear bring down U.S. electricity emissions by ~13%
A recent analysis by the U.S. Department of Energy puts some numbers on how zero-carbon energy has brought down power sector emissions since 2005 – and it is almost all wind and solar.
Clean energy versus gas
Solar and energy storage, either on their own or as part of clean energy portfolios, are showing that they can compete with natural gas in the United States. But will regulators wake up to this reality before half a trillion dollars worth of future stranded assets are built?
