Welcome to the fifth 2024 issue of Currents - our e-newsletter focused on energy topics.
Thank you for reading!
[co-author: Schenley N. Kent]
Impact of EPA's New Limits on Greenhouse Gas Emissions
On April 25, 2024, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a set of rules aimed at cutting air, water, and land pollution from fossil fuel-fired plants. The rules would require existing coal-fired and new gas-fired power plants to reduce climate pollution significantly, with compliance deadlines beginning in 2030 and extending through 2039, to sharply cut emissions of toxic metals such as mercury, and to clean up fly ash and wastewater from coal plants.
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“A pair of new regulations are expected to require cleanup of coal ash pollution at all known locations where the toxic byproduct has been dumped.”
Why this is important: A pair of new environmental rules finalized in April are expected to require massive cleanups of coal ash, which is a residual from coal-burning for electricity generation around the country. Effluent Limitation Guidelines (ELGs) and a new Coal Combustion Residuals Rule are designed to clean up active disposal sites and require the cleanup of nearby sites no longer operating. Under the new rules, operators will no longer be able to claim ash-contaminated water came from unregulated disposal sites. It will have to clean them up. Expect heavy litigation of these costly new rules. --- Mark E. Heath
“A bill that would set up a bank to better position the state to receive federal clean energy loans was sent to Governor Glenn Youngkin’s desk."
Why this is important: This article discusses a recent proposal by Virginia State Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell to establish the Virginia Clean Energy Innovation Bank (CEIB), which would be funded with an initial $10 million by the state. This bank aims to leverage more than $300 million in federal loans from the Inflation Reduction Act for various clean energy projects in Virginia, such as solar panels, methane capture, electric transmission upgrades, offshore wind, and hydrogen repurposing.
Governor Youngkin amended the bill in March by adding a re-enactment clause for reconsideration in 2025. Surovell argued this delay would cause Virginia to miss out on federal funds because those funds would go to other states.
The CEIB, structured as a State Energy Financing Institution, would be governed by a 12-person board, including appointees from the Senate, House, the governor, and state energy officials.
The proposed bank would support projects reducing greenhouse gas emissions, increasing renewable energy deployment, developing electric vehicle infrastructure, and protecting water resources. Lawmakers will reconvene to finalize the state budget, including the CEIB's funding, before the federal loan deadline in 2026. --- Schenley N. Kent
“PECO Energy and Duquesne Light urged the commission to allow utilities to own energy storage assets, while the Solar Energy Industries Association and others sought a path for third-party ownership.”
Why this is important: As battery storage technology becomes more prevalent and commercially feasible, it is also emerging as an important option for electricity distribution grids as a potential bulwark to system reliability in a modern context of increasing dispatch of renewable energy as opposed to traditional, non-renewable baseload resources. This also presents new questions as to how these energy storage assets should be treated (i.e., whether as generation, distribution, transmission, or some aspect of all three) and who should be able to own these resources as they function on the electricity system. Particularly in deregulated utility markets such as Pennsylvania, where utilities have divested the generation function, these questions entail important considerations of competition where both utilities and third parties may seek to install such technology. The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission recently issued a non-binding Final Policy Statement after considering numerous stakeholder comments, determining that energy storage assets share characteristics of all three phases of electricity service and should be classified based on their specific function. As such, the Policy Statement provides for the use, and ownership, of such resources by utilities as a distribution reliability function, but importantly does not restrict such ownership solely to utilities, thus leaving third-party ownership as a viable option going forward. --- Barry A. Naum
“Only months remain until the last coal power plant in Britain is shut down, nearly 60 years after it was first opened.”
Why this is important: The last coal-fired electrical generation plant will close in Great Britain in September 2024. When the Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station opened in 1968, the plant was forecast to run for 25 to 30 years. It operated for 57 years and, at one time, provided power to approximately two million homes. But, Great Britain has been focused on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and last year it only generated one percent of its electricity from coal-fired plants. Plans are being made to repurpose the plant site into a zero-carbon technology center with the likely addition of wind and solar at the site. --- Mark E. Heath
“Congress approved $3.5 billion for carbon capture and storage projects last year, with some of those projects happening in West Virginia.”
Why this is important: This article discusses a new rule proposed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency requiring coal and natural gas power plants to significantly reduce or capture almost all carbon dioxide emissions by 2038. Congress allocated $3.5 billion for carbon capture and storage projects last year, with some of this funding being directed to West Virginia.
Researchers at West Virginia University (WVU), such as Dr. Xingbo Liu, are leading efforts in carbon capture technology, aiming to sequester CO2 deep underground or repurpose it for new uses, such as creating nanomaterials for cancer treatment.
Critics argue that carbon capture technology prolongs the use of fossil fuels, potentially hindering the transition to renewable energy sources such as wind and solar. Despite this, WVU researchers are exploring small-scale carbon capture applications for everyday use in cars and homes. The main challenge remains the high cost of implementing these technologies and who ultimately would pay for them. --- Schenley N. Kent
“The proposed corridors, which total more than 3,500 miles across targeted regions, could unlock federal financing.”
Why this is important: This article discusses the role the Department of Energy and federal government have taken with respect to transmission issues, which has been a hot topic of late. Specifically, the article notes the DOE has identified 10 “national interest transmission lines,” and the DOE is now seeking feedback on these lines to unlock substantial funding from the federal government for upgrades of some or all of these areas. One of these areas is an approximately 180-mile area in PJM stretching across the Mid-Atlantic footprint: Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia.
The DOE is not the only entity focusing on the transmission system. As reflected in rising electric bills, transmission costs are an ever-growing component of the overall bill. This trend is unlikely to slow, at least in the near term. Not only are many transmission lines decades old, but they often are not appropriately suited for the changing energy mix (favoring intermittent and on-site resources, which cause two-way power flows) or the increasing load growth, much of which is being driven by, among other factors, electrification policies and data centers. Recognizing these issues, the FERC issued Order 1920 in mid-May to address transmission planning and cost allocation associated with the investment in and build-out of the transmission system.
While investment in the transmission system is a foregone conclusion, who ultimately pays for these investments and how much will depend on decisions from the FERC and policy decisions from the federal government. --- Carrie H. Grundmann
“As extreme weather increases in severity and frequency, the U.S. is looking to other ways to produce reliable forms of clean energy to help secure power grids and provide electricity during natural disasters and extreme weather conditions.”
Why this is important: This article discusses how Rye Development is transforming a former coal mine in Bell County, Kentucky, into a pumped storage hydropower facility known as the Lewis Ridge Pumped Storage Project. This facility will be the first in the U.S. in more than 30 years and the first on mine land. The Department of Energy is providing $81 million for this $1.3 billion project with construction set to begin in 2027.
The project will function like a giant battery by moving water between two reservoirs at different elevations to generate electricity during high-demand periods and store energy when it's plentiful. This closed-loop system is environmentally friendly and can last up to 100 years. The facility will generate 287 megawatts, sufficient to power 67,000 homes and store electricity for up to eight hours. This article claims the project will take four to five years to build and will create 1,500 construction jobs during that timeframe. Once construction is completed, 24 permanent positions will be at the site. --- Schenley N. Kent
Here is a round-up of the latest statistics concerning the energy industry.
ELECTRICITY
PETROLEUM
NATURAL GAS
COAL
RENEWABLES
