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☆ Exclusive: EV charging firms oppose Texas' 'premature' plan to mandate Tesla standard -letter
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-01 | by ( Abhirup Roy | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Reuters reported last week that Texas would require charging companies to include both Tesla's North American Charging Standard (NACS) as well as the nationally recognized rival Combined Charging Standard (CCS) technology to be eligible for a state program to electrify highways using federal dollars. Tesla, the dominant EV maker in the United States, has scored a string of victories for its charging technology in recent weeks, starting with Ford Motor (F.N) saying it would adopt NACS. General Motors (GM.N), Rivian Automotive (RIVN.O) and a raft of auto and charging companies did the same, on concerns of losing out on customers if they offer only CCS. But concerns remain about how smoothly the two charging standards would talk to each other and whether having both standards in the market would raise costs for vendors and customers. Charging companies have to re-work several aspects of NACS connectors, including extending the cable length and ensuring adequate temperature ranges, as well as get certifications for specific parts, the companies said in the letter.

Persons: Elon Musk's, FLO, Tesla, Abhirup Roy, Sayantani Ghosh, Leslie Adler Organizations: FRANCISCO, Reuters, Washington, SAE, ChargePoint Holdings, ABB, Texas Transportation Commission, The Texas Department of Transportation, ChargePoint, Affordable Clean Energy, Ford Motor, General Motors, Rivian Automotive, Tesla's, U.S . Department of Energy, Thomson Locations: Texas, United States, San Francisco

☆ Exclusive: EV charging firms oppose Texas' 'premature' plan to mandate Tesla standard, letter shows
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-30 | by ( Abhirup Roy | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

☆ White House to invest nearly $11 billion for renewable energy in rural areas
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Emma Newburger | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Tom Vilsack, US agriculture secretary, speaks during the SelectUSA Investment Summit in National Harbor, Maryland, on Monday, June 27, 2022. The Biden administration on Tuesday announced nearly $11 billion in grants and loans to help rural energy and utility providers bring affordable clean energy to their communities across the U.S.Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said during a media briefing the funding will provide rural areas with a more dependable power grid and help lower future energy costs. Rural electric cooperatives, renewable energy firms and electric utilities can apply for funding through two programs under President Biden's Inflation Reduction Act signed into law in August. The Empowering Rural America program makes $9.7 billion available to eligible rural electric cooperatives to deploy renewable energy systems, zero-emission and carbon-capture systems. Rural electric cooperatives, which serve 42 million people across the country, will be eligible to apply for grants starting July 31, the USDA said.

☆ EU's planned reforms aim to better protect power bills from market swings
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( Kate Abnett | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Christian CharisiusBRUSSELS, Jan 23 (Reuters) - European Union proposals to overhaul its electricity market will attempt to better protect consumer energy bills from short-term swings in fossil fuel prices, the European Commission said on Monday. "We need to make the electricity market design fit for the future, allowing it to deliver the benefits of affordable clean energy to everyone," EU energy commissioner Kadri Simson said. The EU proposal will aim to expand Europe's use of long-term contracts that provide power plants with a fixed price for their electricity - "contracts for difference" (CfD) and power purchase agreements (PPA), the Commission said. Expanding these types of contracts would create a buffer between energy consumers and volatile prices in short-term energy markets, yielding more stable energy bills for households and companies, it said. EU countries and lawmakers will negotiate the final power market reforms.

☆ Sun Cable project: Billionaires' feud over Australia-Singapore cable escalates
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Hilary Whiteman | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

The proposed Sun Cable project would see a subsea cable stretch from Darwin to Singapore. A statement from Cannon-Brookes’ private investment arm, Grok Ventures, suggested all investors except Forrest’s investment arm Squadron Energy remain committed to the cable. Tim Buckley, director of Climate Energy Finance, says the export of green hydrogen (hydrogen generated from renewable energy) is at least a decade away. “The market for green hydrogen exports has sort of deflated quite dramatically when people realize there’ll be a decade or two before you can actually ship green hydrogen anywhere overseas,” he said. For example, Xlinks plans to run a cable almost as long and powerful from Morocco to the United Kingdom.

☆ California to vote on hotly debated change in rooftop solar policy
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Nichola Groom | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/3] Solar installers from Baker Electric place solar panels on the roof of a residential home in Scripps Ranch, San Diego, California, U.S. October 14, 2016. For decades, Californians with rooftop panels have been credited for excess power at or near the full retail electricity rate. Solar companies counter that the changes would slow new installations and threaten California's clean energy and climate change goals. California's three investor-owned utilities are Pacific Gas & Electric (PCG.N), Southern California Edison (EIX.N) and San Diego Gas & Electric (SRE.N). Customers installing solar with a battery, for example, would save about $136 a month under the plan, compared with $100 a month with just solar.

☆ The private sector is in a position to make a sustainable future possible. IBM has the resources to help.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( Sponsor Post | Created Ibm With Insider Studios | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

As a tech company dedicated to using innovative technologies to address environmental challenges, IBM is working to provide this support to local and regional organizations across the globe. The model that IBM is developing helps invest in equitable and long-term solutions to environmental injustice. IBM has consistently tackled the most pressing challenges of the day by building technologies to help operationalize sustainability — including solutions designed to support developing economies transitioning to a clean energy future. That's why IBM is now working to give these local and regional organizations support from engineers, technology, and climate experts to help scale these projects and reach their environmental goals. This is a model that all companies — and particularly those that have tech solutions and vast resources — should consider employing.

In a 250-page proposed decision, regulators outlined reforms to the so-called "net energy metering", a state policy that issues credits to solar energy customers for generating excess electricity and feeding it back to the grid. The proposal will not affect current home solar owners and will maintain their current compensation, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) said. Shares of rooftop solar system providers, including Sunrun Inc (RUN.O), SunPower Corp (SPWR.O) and Sunnova Energy International Inc (NOVA.N), closed 20% to 27% higher on Thursday. "This has been an overhang for rooftop solar stocks that would be alleviated if passed similar to today's proposal," said Morningstar analyst Brett Castelli. "The CPUC's new proposed decision would really hurt.

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