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☆ Tesla Pullback Puts Onus on Others to Build Electric Vehicle Chargers
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-04 | by ( Jack Ewing | Ivan Penn | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Elon Musk, the chief executive of Tesla, blindsided competitors, suppliers and his own employees this week by reversing course on his aggressive push to build electric vehicle chargers in the United States, a major priority of the Biden administration. It put the onus on other charging companies, raising questions about whether they can build fast enough to address a shortage that appears to be discouraging some people from buying electric cars. As the owner of the largest charging network in the United States, Tesla has a powerful effect on people’s views of electric cars. “There is certainly a psychological component,” said Robert Zabors, a senior partner at Roland Berger, a consulting firm. “Availability and reliability are critical to overall E.V.

Persons: Elon Musk, Tesla, Biden, ”, Robert Zabors, Roland Berger Locations: United States

☆ When Your Job Is 80 Miles Out at Sea, Getting There Is Half the Battle
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-03 | by ( Ivan Penn | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

After a two-week tour, workers go home for 14 days of rest and time with family and friends whom they’ve communicated with only virtually while on the platform. They trade places with another group that flies in for the next two weeks, regardless of the calendar — including during holidays like Christmas. It’s not always easy. “You’ve got to have a strong home base,” said Todd Coulon, the offshore installation manager at Appomattox.

Persons: they’ve, It’s, You’ve, ”, Todd Coulon Locations: Appomattox

☆ Oil Companies Expand Offshore Drilling, Pointing to Energy Needs
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-03 | by ( Ivan Penn | More About Ivan Penn | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

About 80 miles southeast of Louisiana’s coast, 100,000 metric tons of steel floats in the Gulf of Mexico, an emblem of the hopes of oil and gas companies. This hulk of metal, a deepwater platform called Appomattox and owned by Shell, collects the oil and gas that rigs tap from reservoirs thousands of feet below the seafloor. But oil companies like Shell are betting that the world will need oil and gas for decades to come. To serve that demand, they are expanding offshore oil and gas drilling into deeper and deeper waters, especially here in the Gulf of Mexico. Offshore production, oil executives argue, is not only crucial to power cars, trucks and power plants but also better for the planet than drilling on land.

Organizations: Shell Locations: Louisiana’s, Gulf of Mexico, Appomattox

☆ PG&E Seeks Approval to Sell Stake in Its Power Operations
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-30 | by ( Ivan Penn | More About Ivan Penn | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Pacific Gas & Electric announced plans on Tuesday to sell a minority stake in its power-generation business, part of its strategy to reduce electricity rates, continue wildfire prevention and further develop clean energy. The exclusive deal with the global investment firm KKR is part of PG&E’s plan to transfer its nonnuclear power generation to a newly formed subsidiary, Pacific Generation. The proposals for the subsidiary and the KKR stake require approval by the California Public Utilities Commission and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. KKR, which manages $59 billion in assets, operates a global infrastructure business with expertise in the utility and renewable energy industry. PG&E said in a statement that the investment firm’s access to capital gave it the ability to take a long-term approach in its strategies.

Persons: ” Carolyn Burke Organizations: Gas & Electric, KKR, Pacific, California Public Utilities Commission, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

☆ Key Solar Panel Ingredient Is Made in the U.S.A. Again
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-25 | by ( Ivan Penn | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A factory in Moses Lake, Wash., that shut down in 2019 will soon resume shipping a critical ingredient used in most solar panels that for years has been made almost exclusively in China. REC Silicon reopened the factory, which makes polysilicon, the building block for the large majority of solar panels, in November in partnership with Hanwha Qcells, a South Korean company that is investing billions of dollars in U.S. solar panel production. As part of the deal, Hanwha this month said it has become the largest shareholder in REC Silicon, which is based in Norway. Executives at the companies say they reopened the factory in part because of incentives for domestic manufacturing in the Inflation Reduction Act, President Biden’s signature climate law. They expressed hope that their decision would also encourage other companies to revive production of a technology that was created in the United States about 70 years ago.

Persons: Hanwha Qcells Organizations: REC, South Locations: Moses Lake, China, Southeast Asia, South Korean, Norway, United States

☆ U.S. Approves $1.5 Billion Loan to Restart Michigan Nuclear Plant
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-27 | by ( Ivan Penn | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Biden administration announced on Wednesday that it had agreed to provide a $1.52 billion loan guarantee to help a company restart a nuclear power plant in Michigan — the latest step in the government’s effort to revive the nation’s reactors. The loan guarantee is conditional on the facility receiving regulatory approvals and fulfilling other requirements. But many of the country’s nuclear reactors, including the Palisades plant, are at or near the end of their lives and need major upgrades. And few U.S. companies have built new nuclear plants in recent decades because doing so is incredibly expensive and time consuming. Holtec bought the Palisades plant in 2022 in order to close the facility but later campaigned to reopen the plant with the backing of the Michigan governor, Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat.

Persons: Holtec, Gretchen Whitmer Organizations: Biden, Energy Department, Holtec, Michigan, Democrat Locations: Michigan, Covert Township, Mich, Lake Michigan, Kalamazoo

☆ Why the Solar Eclipse Will Not Leave People Without Power
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-27 | by ( Ivan Penn | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

When the sky darkens during next month’s solar eclipse, electricity production in some parts of the country will drop so sharply that it could theoretically leave tens of millions of homes in the dark. Electric utilities say they expect to see significant decreases in solar power production during the eclipse but have already lined up alternate sources of electricity, including large battery installations and natural gas power plants. Homeowners who rely on rooftop solar panels should also experience no loss of electricity because home batteries or the electric grid will kick in automatically as needed. At 12:10 p.m. on April 8, the solar eclipse will begin over southwestern Texas, the regional electrical system perhaps most affected by the event, and last three hours. “I don’t think anything is as predictable as an eclipse,” said Pedro Pizarro, president and chief of executive of Edison International, a California power company, and the chairman of the Edison Electric Institute, a utility trade organization.

Persons: ”, Pedro Pizarro Organizations: Edison International, Edison Electric Institute Locations: Texas, California

☆ Are You Getting Sticker Shock From Your Electric Bills? We Want to Hear About It.
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-13 | by ( Ivan Penn | More About Ivan Penn | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Upgrades to aging utility equipment and efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions have combined to drive up electricity costs across the country, with the national average increasing from one year to the next. As a New York Times business reporter, I have been looking into the impact of the rising costs of electricity on consumer bills. We are planning more stories about the rising cost of energy and how it’s affecting people around the country. What impact are electricity rates having on household budgets? What steps are people taking to lower their bills?

Persons: Madeleine Ngo Organizations: New York Times

☆ Summer Has Long Stressed Electric Grids. Now Winter Does, Too.
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-05 | by ( Ivan Penn | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

For decades, managers of electric grids feared that surging energy demand on hot summer days would force blackouts. Largely because of growing demand from homes and businesses, and supply constraints due to aging utility equipment, many grids are under greater strain in winter. Just 10 years ago, winter electricity use ran about 11 percent less than in summer, according to the group. And by 2050, winter demand could surpass electricity use in the summer. “We’re seeing both summer and winter peaks growing, but we’re seeing winter peaks growing faster,” said Jim Robb, chief executive of the reliability corporation.

Persons: ”, Jim Robb Organizations: North American Electric Reliability Corporation

☆ California Has Dealt a Blow to Renewable Energy, Some Businesses Say
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-14 | by ( Ivan Penn | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

California has long championed renewable energy, but a change in the state’s policies last year has led to a sharp decline in the installation of residential rooftop solar in the state. Thousands of companies — including installers, manufacturers and distributors — are reeling from the new policy, which took effect in April and greatly reduced incentives that had encouraged homeowners to install solar panels. Since the change, sales of rooftop solar installations in California dropped as much as 85 percent in some months of 2023 from a year earlier, according to a report by Ohm Analytics, a research firm that tracks the solar marketplace. Industry groups project that installations in the state will drop more than 40 percent this year and continue to decline through 2028. “The solar installations are off a ton,” said Michael Wara, a senior research scholar at Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment.

Persons: ”, Michael Wara Organizations: Ohm Analytics, Industry, Stanford Woods Institute for, Environment Locations: California, Reno, Nev, Florida , North Carolina, Ohio

Alaska Airlines on Sunday announced plans to acquire Hawaiian Airlines in a $1.9 billion deal. The combined airline will maintain the Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines brands but with a single operating platform, Alaska Airlines said in a news release. The company would provide service to 138 destinations, including nonstop flights to airports in the Americas, Asia, Australia and the South Pacific. For residents in Hawaii, the company would offer three times the current number of destinations from the state to destinations throughout North America, either nonstop or with one connection. “In Alaska Airlines, we are joining an airline that has long served Hawaii, and has a complementary network and a shared culture of service,” Peter Ingram, president and chief executive of Hawaiian Airlines, was quoted as saying in the news release.

Persons: ” Peter Ingram, Biden Organizations: Alaska Airlines, Sunday, Hawaiian Airlines, Department Locations: Americas, Asia, Australia, Hawaii, North America, “

☆ Los Angeles Will Offer More Energy Incentives to Low-Income Residents
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-16 | by ( Ivan Penn | More About Ivan Penn | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Los Angeles said on Thursday that it would build electric vehicle chargers and offer bigger rebates for the purchase of battery-powered cars in response to a new report that concluded that low-income people were being left behind in the transition to clean energy. City officials said they would offer qualified residents up to $4,000 to buy used electric vehicles, up from $2,500, and build a network of fast chargers in underserved neighborhoods where few private companies have built such stations. Los Angeles’s effort comes as government officials are struggling to make electric vehicles and clean energy more affordable. Sales of new battery-powered cars have slowed in recent months partly because many of the models are too expensive for most car buyers. Some of these challenges were highlighted in the report, released on Thursday by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, a city-owned utility; the National Renewable Energy Laboratory; and the University of California, Los Angeles.

Organizations: Los Angeles Department of Water, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, University of California Locations: Angeles, Los Angeles

Steam feeding into the Unit 3 turbine generator of the Vogtle nuclear power plant in Waynesboro, Ga. “The United States is now committed to trying to accelerate the deployment of nuclear energy,” John Kerry, President Biden’s climate envoy, said in September. One recent Pew survey found that 57 percent of Americans favor more nuclear plants, up from 43 percent in 2016. A NuScale engineer gave a tour of a control room simulator, modeling the company’s plans for new nuclear reactors, in 2013. “The demand for clean energy is almost unprecedented,” said Maria Korsnick, president of the Nuclear Energy Institute, an industry group.

Persons: Biden, ” John Kerry, Biden’s, “, ”, Jacopo Buongiorno, Jimmy Carter, Rosalyn Carter, Bruce Springsteen, Dan Reicher, Gavin Newsom, Reicher, Clinton, Jeffrey Collins, Arnie Gundersen, John Williams, “ It’s, Patty Durand, Julie Kozeracki, Kendrick Brinson, Jay Wileman, Bill Gates, Dow, Roger Blomquist, NuScale Power, Jose Reyes, Adam Stein, it’s, they’re, Ahmed Abdulla, Robert Taylor, Leah Nash, NuScale, David Schlissel, Joshua Freed, didn’t, Maria Korsnick Organizations: Unit, Republicans, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Associated Press, Madison, Natural Resources Defense, California Gov, Democrat, Associated, Fairewinds Associates, Components, Workers, Georgia, Southern Company, Georgia Power, Georgia Public Service Commission, Energy Department, The New York Times, GE, Hitachi Nuclear Energy, Vogtle . Ontario, Tennessee Valley Authority, Argonne, National Laboratory, Energy, Nuclear Regulatory, NuScale, ”, Breakthrough Institute, Carleton University, Soaring, Institute for Energy Economics, United, Nuclear Energy Institute Locations: U.S, Waynesboro, Ga, Savannah, Georgia, United States, ”, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, Jenkinsville, Vogtle, South Carolina, South, Canada, Tennessee, Argonne, Chicago, Idaho, Wyoming, California, Alaska, Maryland, Pueblo County, Colo

A developer of small nuclear reactors announced on Wednesday that it was canceling a project that had been widely expected to usher in a new wave of power plants. NuScale Power, a company in Portland, Ore., said it lacked enough subscribers to advance the Carbon-Free Power Project, which had been expected to deliver six of the company’s 77-megawatt reactors. The Carbon-Free Power Project was the result of an agreement between NuScale and Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems, which supplies electricity to public power providers in seven Western states, including California. “This decision is very disappointing given the years of pioneering hard work,” said Mason Baker, chief executive of Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems. “We are working closely with NuScale and the U.S. Department of Energy on next steps to wind the project down.”

Persons: NuScale, ”, Mason Baker Organizations: Power, Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems, U.S . Department of Energy Locations: Portland ,, Idaho, NuScale, Utah, California

In South Burlington, the school district leases the electric buses from Highland, which also supplies equipment to recharge them and pays the electricity bills. Those bills are lower than normal because of a deal that lets Green Mountain Power, the utility serving most of Vermont, draw power from the bus batteries when demand surges. They are part of a network that also includes batteries that homeowners install to provide backup power during blackouts. In total, Green Mountain Power has access to 50 megawatts of battery storage from school buses, home batteries and other sources, said Mari McClure, the utility’s chief executive. Over time, Ms. McClure said, enough electric school buses and home batteries may be connected to the grid to stop her utility from needing to buy electricity from out-of-state power plants.

Persons: Mari McClure, McClure Organizations: Power, Electric Power Research Institute Locations: South Burlington, Highland, Vermont

☆ Clean Energy’s Powerful Momentum
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-24 | by ( Manuela Andreoni | More About Manuela Andreoni | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

For the past few months, we’ve been telling you all about the U.S. energy transition that’s arriving faster than you think. But the move toward solar is global: the study’s authors expect solar to be the cheapest source of electricity in almost all countries by 2027. “The transition to clean energy is happening worldwide and it’s unstoppable,” Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency, told Brad. Between 2010 and 2020, the study found, the cost of solar cells fell by 15 percent each year. “The pace of decline in price initially surprised many people,” my colleague Ivan Penn, who covers the energy sector, told me.

Persons: we’ve, Fatih Birol, Brad, Ivan Penn Organizations: International Energy Agency

☆ Can the U.S. Make Solar Panels? This Company Thinks So.
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-26 | by ( Ivan Penn | More About Ivan Penn | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

For more than two decades, workers at a factory in Perrysburg, Ohio, near Toledo, have been making something that other businesses stopped producing in the United States long ago: solar panels. How the company that owns the factory, First Solar, managed to hang on when most solar panel manufacturing left the United States for China is critical to understanding the viability of President Biden’s efforts to establish a large domestic green energy industry. Mr. Biden and Democrats in Congress last year authorized hundreds of billions of dollars in federal incentives for manufacturing solar panels, wind turbines, batteries, electric cars and semiconductors. The efforts amount to one of the most expansive uses of industrial policy ever attempted in the United States. But nobody is entirely sure whether these investments will be durable, especially in businesses, like battery or solar panel manufacturing, where China’s domination is deep and strong.

Persons: Biden’s, Biden Locations: Perrysburg , Ohio, Toledo, United States, China

☆ Hawaii’s Big Utility Pushes Back on Blame for Deadly Wildfire
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-28 | by ( Ivan Penn | More About Ivan Penn | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Even before the inferno that engulfed the Maui resort of Lahaina is fully contained, local officials and Hawaii’s leading utility are at odds over a fundamental question: Did a single fire break out in the hills overlooking the town on the fateful day, or were there two? The answer may be crucial to establishing the cause of the disaster and the liability for it. The utility, Hawaiian Electric, acknowledged for the first time late Sunday that its power lines, buffeted by uncommonly high winds, fell and ignited a fire early on the morning of Aug. 8. But the company said that by 6:40 a.m. — minutes after the first reports of a fire — the windstorm had caused its lines in the area to shut off automatically. The cause of that fire, the utility said, “has not been determined.”

Persons: “, ” Organizations: Electric, Maui County Department of Fire Locations: Lahaina, Maui County, midafternoon

Hawaiian Electric has known for years that extreme weather was becoming a bigger danger, but the company did little to strengthen its equipment and failed to adopt emergency plans used elsewhere, like being prepared to cut off power to prevent fires. Before the wildfire on Maui erupted on Aug. 8, killing more than 100 people, many parts of Hawaiian Electric’s operations were showing signs of stress — and state lawmakers, consumer groups and county officials were saying that the company needed to make big changes. In 2019, Hawaiian Electric itself started citing the risk of fires. The company said that year that it was studying how utilities in California were dealing with similar threats. Two years later, in a report about Hurricane Lane in 2018, the Maui County government warned of the potential that “aboveground power lines that fail, short or are low-hanging can cause fire ignition (sparks) that could start a wildfire, particularly in windy or stormy conditions.”

Organizations: Electric, Hurricane Locations: Maui, California

First Solar, a leading U.S. solar panel manufacturer, said on Tuesday that an audit had found that migrant workers in its operations in Malaysia were victims of forced labor. The independent audit, which was included in a corporate sustainability report, found that four subcontractors in Malaysia had charged the workers recruitment fees in their home countries and withheld their pay and passports. U.S. officials and human rights activists have become increasingly concerned about the use of forced labor in the manufacture of solar panels, most of which takes place in Asia. Global supply chains for solar panels have for years relied on China, in particular for polysilicon, a crucial component in most solar panels made around the world. But a recent ban on products from Xinjiang, a region where the U.S. government and United Nations accuse the Chinese government of committing human rights violations, including forced labor, has led to a shift away from China.

Organizations: United Nations Locations: U.S, Malaysia, Asia, Global, China, Xinjiang

In the hunt to determine what caused the fire that consumed Lahaina, the focus has increasingly turned to Hawaii’s biggest power utility — and whether the company did enough to prevent a wildfire in the high winds that swept over Maui last week. Lawyers for Lahaina residents suing the utility, Hawaiian Electric, contend that its power equipment was not strong enough to withstand strong winds, and that the company should have shut down power before the winds came. Wildfire experts who have studied the catastrophic fires in California over the past two decades also see shortcomings in Hawaiian Electric’s actions. Nearly a week after the wildfire tore through the island town of Lahaina, state and local officials have not determined a cause for the blaze that killed at least 99 people. That is why utilities in California and other states have at times shut down power in recent years before strong winds arrive.

Organizations: Wildfire Locations: Lahaina, Maui, California, United States

Many opponents of renewable energy, she added, “are worried about the impacts to their very way of life.”Roadside opposition to renewable energy projects near Baldwin City, Kan. “We see offshore wind as a critical technology,” said Dan Burgess, the director of the Maine Governor’s Energy Office. Across the country, clean energy projects of all types are tied up in lengthy permitting processes. By then, India had not completed any offshore wind projects. Since 2000, the United States has barely built any major transmission lines that connect different regions of the country.

Persons: Scott Dickerson, ”, Biden, Alison Bates, “, Columbia University’s, Dan Burgess, Habib Dagher, Janet Mills, Gregory Wetstone, Mack, James Gillway, SunZia, ” Hunter Armistead, Broussard, There’s, Vaughan Woodruff, Tucker Carlson, Teslas, ” Ali Zaidi, Dagher, Rolf Olsen, who’s Organizations: University of Maine, Sears, Officials, Federal, International Energy Agency, Colby College, White, Columbia, Climate, The University of, Maine Governor’s Energy, Environmental, University of Maine’s, Composites Center, Gov, American Clean Power Association, American Council, Renewable Energy, Environmental Protection Agency, Army Corps of Engineers, . Clean, Union United, China India European Union United States, China European Union United, China India United States European, China United States European Union, China United States European Union India, Energy, The New York Times, United, Pattern Energy, New York State Energy Research, Development Authority, Toyota Prius Locations: Penobscot Bay, Maine, , Maine, United States, Europe, China, Australia, India, Los Angeles, Ohio, Jersey Shore, Waterville , Maine, Baldwin City, Kan, Massachusetts, Ukraine, Gulf, Searsport , Maine, Searsport, Bangor, Mack, West, Union United States, U.S, China United States European Union India, Great, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Riesel , Texas, Energy, San Bernardino County, In Kansas, Atlantic City, N.J, New York, Manhattan, Sears

Vattenfall, a Swedish energy company, has for years been doing preliminary work for what would be one of the world’s largest offshore wind complexes, in the North Sea off eastern England. Last month, Vattenfall said it would halt the first of three phases of the wind farm complex, the Norfolk Offshore Wind Zone, which is projected to provide power for about four million homes in Britain. The estimated price tag for the three phases has risen to 13 billion pounds, or about $16.6 billion, from £10 billion. “With the new market conditions, it simply doesn’t make sense to continue the project,” Helene Bistrom, head of business area wind at Vattenfall, said during a video presentation. The decision led Vattenfall, which is owned by the Swedish government, to write-down more than $500 million.

Persons: Vattenfall, ” Helene Bistrom Locations: Swedish, North, England, Norfolk, Britain, Vattenfall

☆ Solar Power’s China Problem
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-01 | by ( David Gelles | More About David Gelles | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Economies of scale and government subsidies, especially in China, have helped to drive down solar energy prices by 85 percent since 2010, supercharging a global boom in new hookups. This year, for the first time, investors are expected to put more money into solar than oil. But the solar energy supply chain is still dominated by China, an authoritarian regime engaged in a trade war with the U.S. And many of the industry’s key materials and components are made with forced labor from the Xinjiang region in western China. In recent years, other countries, led by the U.S., have finally gotten serious about trying to challenge China’s dominance. The report, produced by human rights and solar industry experts, found that the vast majority of solar panels still have significant exposure to the Xinjiang region, where the U.S. and the U.N. say the Chinese government is committing numerous human rights violations.

Persons: It’s, Ana Swanson, Ivan Penn Organizations: U.S Locations: China, Xinjiang, U.S

The region produces roughly a third of both the world’s polysilicon and its metallurgical-grade silicon, the material from which polysilicon is made. As a result, many firms have promised to scrutinize their supply chains, and several have set up factories in the United States or Southeast Asia to supply Western markets. The Solar Energy Industries Association, the industry’s biggest trade association, has been calling on companies to shift their supply chains and cut ties with Xinjiang. More than 340 companies have signed a pledge to keep their supply chains free of forced labor. Some Chinese companies, like LONGi Solar and JA Solar, have clear ties to suppliers operating in Xinjiang, the report said.

Persons: China —, Murphy Organizations: Solar Energy Industries Association Locations: Xinjiang, United States, Southeast Asia, China, Europe

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