Volume 7, Issue 7 Welcome
Thank you for reading our seventh issue of Currents for the year.
We hope you enjoy this issue, and, as always, thank you for reading.
● Domestic Nuclear Power Advancement: Barriers to Entry and the Need for a National Strategy
As previously reported on this site, nuclear generation development has taken hold as a potential promise for a long-term, genuinely carbon-free power supply. The momentum of this potential is rapidly gaining steam (no pun intended) both internationally and domestically, posing the domestic energy policy question of whether the U.S. is sufficiently poised to capitalize on this momentum. A number of current articles draw attention to significant barriers to entry our nation faces, but also provide insight into potential solutions for overcoming those barriers in pursuit of a much-needed national strategy.
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“Norway’s government said it has given approval for oil companies to develop 19 oil and gas fields with investments exceeding $18.5 billion, part of the country’s strategy to extend production for decades to come.”
Why this is important: The article addresses Norway’s approach to continued reliance on fossil fuels and fossil fuel production in the present, notwithstanding its long-term goal to phase out fossil fuels. Specifically, the article describes the government’s approval of over $18 billion in investments in oil and gas production. Unsurprisingly, various environmental groups and others have expressed “fierce” opposition, portending various legal challenges. On the other hand, Norway’s government emphasizes as common sense the reality that oil and gas resources will continue to be essential for at least the next few decades in large measure as a necessity for Europe’s energy security. --- Derrick Price Williamson
“The pipeline’s developers, in response, cited the possibility that the case might now go to the Supreme Court.”
Why this is important: Predictably, the inclusion of a requirement that the Mountain Valley Pipeline be completed in the Fiscal Responsibility Act has created a legal firestorm. This sort of abbreviated Congressional rider thumbtacked onto the debt ceiling legislation predictably falls into the gray area of the separation of powers between the legislative and judicial branches of the federal government. This controversy highlights the need for Congress to take long-term steps to comprehensively overhaul environmental laws and regulations to increase the efficiency of permitting all sorts of infrastructure projects vital to our national economic wellbeing. --- William M. Herlihy
“Buying those credits, it turns out, doesn’t mean you are actually running on renewables.”
Why this is important: Electricity renewable energy credits are, in effect, a private subsidy some people are willing to pay to support renewable generation. However, it is questionable how much those private subsidies encourage wind and solar development, and the consumers paying for the credits seldom use the actual electricity they are subsidizing. Renewable energy developers are looking at how to change that. --- David L. Yaussy
“Forced by Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 to find an alternative for the Russian natural gas it used to import, Italy increased its production of electricity from coal to 7.5% of the total last year, from 4.6% in 2021.”
Why this is important: Italy, with its natural gas supplies refreshed after shortages from Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, has decided to speed up its efforts to decarbonize its energy production. It has ordered a halt to heavy fuel oil electric power generation and wants any use of coal-fired electric generation at a minimum. It believes a drop in electrical demand and increased hydropower generation will allow it to further slow the burning of fossil fuels. In the Ukraine crisis, coal-fired electric generation increased from 4.6 percent to 7.5 percent of the country’s power generation in 2021. --- Mark E. Heath
“The growing mismatch between EV supply and demand is a sign that even though consumers are showing more interest in EVs, they're still wary about purchasing one because of price or charging concerns.”
Why this is important: The article highlights the reality that the policy push for electrification and “electric vehicles” has outpaced both the cost and consumer demand. Although the article states that consumer interest in EVs is growing, wariness about price and concerns about charging and other practicalities have translated into fewer purchases than anticipated. As a result, EV inventories are more than double the industry average. The article notes that demand for hybrid vehicles is better, but that EV parity with combustion-turbine vehicles will not occur until at least 2025. The article omits, however, that such parity may likely be caused by increased prices for gasoline vehicles resulting from decreased supply of the same, which would harm low income and middle class family consumers. ---
Derrick Price Williamson
“The advantages of beaming solar power from space instead of simply collecting it with solar panels here on Earth, the way we currently do, are vast.”
Why this is important: This breakthrough involved significant expense to beam enough power from space to illuminate two light emitting diodes. The cost of scaling up this sort of energy transfer would be enormous, if it is technically feasible. --- David L. Yaussy
“The LNG boom that followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is accelerating the transformation of global gas markets.”
Why this is important: The Russia-Ukraine war caused a shift of supply and demand of natural gas and highlighted the role of liquified natural gas in maintaining worldwide supplies of natural gas. The war drove natural gas prices to historic highs with an annual increase of 640 percent. A year later, however, prices returned to their 2019 average and 92 percent lower than their peak in 2022. Although the war curtailed Russia’s supply of gas to Europe, shipments of liquified gas increased from the three largest suppliers, including the United States. Russia, in turn, moved its shipments of natural gas away from Europe and toward Asia. As it turns out, liquified natural gas sales increased four times as fast as pipeline gas and the actual sales surpassed pipeline trade. The growth in LNG provides countries with alternative supplies of natural gas, allowing countries to diversify its supplies and decrease dependence on a single source. --- Bryan S. Neft
“According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s Quarterly Coal Report, the 100.3 million tons consumed in the first quarter, mostly to produce electricity, was the lowest since the COVID-19 onset in April to June 2020.”
Why this is important: U.S. coal consumption in the first quarter of 2023 dropped 25 percent compared to 2022. However, reflecting the rapid closure of coal-fired electrical generation plants, the 2022 first quarter production was half of the production in the July to September quarters of 2017 and 2018. West Virginia now ranks second to Montana in U.S. production and saw its production increase 7.2 percent, including a 15.4 percent increase in southern West Virginia. Kentucky production increased 7.1 percent and Pennsylvania was up 3.9 percent, but Ohio dropped 30.7 percent and Montana saw a 3.6 percent decline. --- Mark E. Heath
“The company touts the $1.7 billion Guernsey facility as the latest gas-fired plant replacing coal-fired generation in the PJM regional transmission organization territory, which covers all or part of 13 states, including Ohio, and the District of Columbia.”
Why this is important: The article highlights that yet another natural gas-fired electric power plant has entered commercial operation in Ohio. The $1.7 billion, 1,875 MW facility should help address potential concern within the 13-state PJM region about meeting increased demand for power at a time when old, uneconomic coal-fired power plants continue to be retired. The article also touts the hundreds of jobs and over $100 million in ongoing economic impact that the plant will have on southeastern Ohio. Situated in the heart of the Marcellus region, the competitive gas-fired plant is yet another among over a dozen that have been developed in Ohio and Pennsylvania since the shale play took root. --- Derrick Price Williamson
“Only two other states, Wyoming and North Dakota, added none.”
Why this is important: West Virginia was one of the few states that did not add renewable energy projects last year. That statistic fails to take into account that West Virginia already outpaces several neighboring states on the percentage of renewable power it generates. It also doesn’t account for the fact that West Virginia has relatively poor solar and wind resources, and has done a good job of building out its available and profitable wind sites. --- David L. Yaussy
Here is a round-up of the latest statistics concerning the energy industry.
PETROLEUM
NATURAL GAS
COAL
RENEWABLES
