News
Solar met 2.7% of U.S. electric demand during the first half of 2019
PV Magazine - August 27
The share of solar in the country’s overall electricity mix continues to rise, according to new data from the U.S. Department of Energy. Solar represented 2.7 percent of all electricity generation in the United States during the first half of 2019, up from 2.4 percent in the first half of 2018. The output of the nation’s rooftop and large-scale solar plants rose only 9 percent over this period; however electricity use as measured by sales to end-customers fell 1.9 percent. In-state solar met 17.4 percent of California’s electric demand in the first half of 2019, cementing its position as the leading state for integration of higher levels of solar.
New Mexico’s new energy law prompts legal challenge
Associated Press - August 26
New Mexico’s new landmark energy law is facing its first legal challenge as a coalition of environmental and consumer advocacy groups filed a petition Monday with the state Supreme Court over concerns that certain provisions are unconstitutional. The groups contend language within the law signed by Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham earlier this year erodes the state’s ability to regulate utilities and puts electric customers at risk of having to pay unchecked costs. Aside from mandating that utilities provide emissions-free electricity by 2045, the law charts a course for the closure of the coal-fired San Juan Generating Station by 2022. It includes a financing mechanism aimed at easing the economic consequences of closing the power plant.
Clean energy groups urge FERC to support transmission investment incentives
Utility Dive – August 27
A coalition of 18 groups dubbed the Grid Advancement Coalition told federal regulators that they support new policies to increase investment in the transmission grid, specifically to improve operational efficiency and expand access to "low-cost remote resources." The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in March launched a proceeding to consider changes to its transmission policy, including how incentives could improve grid resilience and whether they should be based on potential benefits.
Ten additional jurisdictions joining Monterey Bay Community Power
Monterey County Weekly – August 21
Monterey Bay Community Power (MBCP) is fast outgrowing its name. The agency was founded two years ago to pool together the buying power of ratepayers in Monterey, Santa Cruz, and San Benito Counties. Since then the cost savings and MBCP’s emphasis on emission-free sources of electricity have proven attractive to communities throughout California's central coast. The governments of 10 jurisdictions are in the process of joining. The list includes six cities in San Luis Obispo County and two cities in Santa Barbara County.
California’s carbon offset program could extend the life of coal mines
MIT Technology Review – August 26
A California program to curb climate emissions, the state’s carbon offset program, could have the unintended effect of extending the life of coal mines or encouraging farmers to switch to crops that produce far more greenhouse gases, according to a new paper from researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, Stanford, and other institutions. Take the case of coal mining. The process of digging up coal also releases methane. Mine operators have a few choices for dealing with the gas: releasing it into the atmosphere; capturing it and injecting it into a pipeline so that it can be put to use to produce energy; oxidizing it in ventilation systems; or flaring it. The latter three are all improvements over a straight release from a climate perspective, since each process converts the gas into carbon dioxide, which again has less of a warming effect than methane. The carbon offset program allows polluters to buy credits from coal companies for taking any of these steps.
|