Operators of the natural gas wells in Aliso Canyon are warning California regulators they have concerns about meeting energy and electricity demands this summer and for the upcoming winter.
SB 700 would require utility companies to collect even more funds from ratepayers to help establish an Energy Storage Initiative, an ESI. This ESI would work in conjunction with the existing Self Generation Incentive Program that has been so successful in California. The ESI would need to be funded through 2027.
What’s the upshot for consumers and the economy? Gasoline prices, already among the highest in the nation, would increase as much as 24 cents a gallon in the short run to reflect higher carbon-emission costs. Lawmakers proposed issuing “climate dividend” checks to Californians to offset the higher cost of carbon. The financial impact of an all-renewable electricity grid is uncertain.
Oregon takes the No. 1 spot when it comes to renewable energy use, and also for the overall Best States for energy rnaking. Nearly 80 percent of the state’s renewable energy comes from hydropower, according to the National Hydropower Association.
The primary cost for an electric car is its battery, responsible for almost half the pricetag of a mid-sized plugin. If you take that away, electric cars are much cheaper to produce and maintain than internal combustion vehicles. (That’s why French carmaker Renault sells its popular Zoe without a battery, which customers pay a monthly fee to lease.
For true mass-market appeal, the up-front sticker price is what matters most, and battery prices must come down further. Fortunately, prices are falling fast—by roughly 20 percent a year. The manufacturing cost of electric cars will fall below their gasoline counterparts across the board around 2026, according to a recent analysis by Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
Economic conditions might be another factor. Even though the recovery has been stronger in California than in the rest of the country, Borenstein said business activities – and the resulting carbon emissions – are lower than regulators assumed when they started pulling together regulations a decade ago.
On March 11, utility-scale solar generation in the territory of the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) accounted for almost 40% of net grid power produced during the hours of 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. This is the first time CAISO has achieved these levels, reflecting an almost 50% growth in utility-scale solar photovoltaic installed capacity in 2016. The large and growing amount of solar generation has occasionally driven power prices on the CAISO power exchange during late winter and early spring daylight hours to very low, and sometimes negative, prices. However, consumers in California continue to pay average retail electricity prices that are among the highest in the nation.
Altogether, these and other merchant-transmission projects could cost upward of $17 billion, plus at least a further $20 billion in wind, solar and hydro projects to fill these lines. There are no federal subsidies available for building transmission lines, though wind farm developers are eligible to tap a U.S. tax credit for building new production.
But economists and business groups warn that China’s industrial ambitions have entered a new, far-reaching phase. With its deep government pockets, growing technical sophistication and a comprehensive plan to free itself from dependence on foreign companies, China aims to become dominant in industries of the future like renewable energy, big data and self-driving cars.
With solar, it has already happened. China is now home to two-thirds of the world’s solar-production capacity. The efficiency with which its products convert sunlight into electricity is increasingly close to that of panels made by American, German and South Korean companies. Because China also buys half of the world’s new solar panels, it now effectively controls the market.
The financial losses by Germany’s two energy giants raise fundamental questions about who will pay for the country’s ambitious renewable energy program. To date, German households and small businesses have borne the burden in the form of high electricity prices. Now the shareholders of E.ON and RWE are being asked to step up. If they continue to face losses and cut dividends, they will not be able to attract the capital necessary for Germany’s electricity grid to survive. At that point, Germany’s tax payers will be invited to the payments window to keep companies like E.ON and RWE in business.
California’s power-grid operators are dealing with a glut of daytime electricity produced by household, government, business and industrial solar installations. This forces the electricity prices on state’s real-time marketplace to plummet, leading some power-plant operators to shut down until demand catches up with supply later in the day. And increasing amounts of wind and solar energy are being wasted or “curtailed,” as they call it, because no one can use it, according to data obtained from the California Independent System Operator ( Cal ISO).
“Germany’s greenhouse gas emissions rose last year, according to a new report. CO2 levels rose by 4 million tons in 2016 (0.7 percent), which means Berlin will have to reduce those levels by 40 million tons over the next three years in order to meet the country’s 2020 climate targets. As the FT reports, the country’s opposition Green party (who sponsored the study) is blaming an increase in vehicle miles traveled for the emissions increase . . . The Greens also blamed a pick-up in oil consumption, driven by an expanding economy: German gross domestic product rose 1.9 per cent last year, its fastest pace in five years. They said higher consumption of diesel was also a factor. Imagine that, Greens inveighing against economic progress. If you need a reminder of how politically toxic and counterproductive environmental dogma can be, look no further than this example.”
With GDP growth of 2.6% and the overall carbon intensity of the economy (CO2/GDP) declining by about 5.2%, energy-related CO2 declined by 2.7%.
The U.S. Department of Transportation and Environmental Protection Agency issued a notice saying it plans to review greenhouse gas standards for cars and light trucks sold between 2022 and 2025. President Donald Trump has signaled he wants to roll back the regulations amid complaints from U.S. automakers that the standards are too costly and cumbersome, and was expected to announce the review in Detroit on Wednesday.
Regional cap-and-trade schemes are always going to struggle for viability, but California’s might be the worst of the lot. It’s been gasping for air since its inception, and there’s no sign that the state is capable of turning this green policy disaster around.