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Most new gas plants currently do not pay for emitting carbon, so the rules could make it harder for them to compete with solar and wind power. Second, the Inflation Reduction Act created tax credits making carbon capture and hydrogen more affordable and affirmed EPA's authority to regulate power plants. Existing technology can capture and store approximately 90% of carbon emissions, Lynch said. The EIA projected that this year, 54% of new generation (21GW) will be solar and 14% will be natural gas (7.5GW). Southern, which also runs the National Carbon Capture Center with the Department of Energy, said commercial deployment of carbon capture technology "is many years away" despite the cost-reduction potential of the Inflation Reduction Act.

☆ From GE to Siemens, the wind energy industry hopes billions in losses are about to end
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-17 | by ( Bob Woods | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

The wind farm includes 132 2-megawatt Gamesa G80 wind turbines along 12 miles of the Allegheny Front. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) Chip Somodevilla | Getty Images News | Getty ImagesIt's been a tough couple of years for the U.S. wind energy industry. Although 2023 is expected to remain sluggish, GE Renewable Energy, Siemens Energy and Vestas Wind Systems, the leading makers of wind turbines — outside of China, which has built the world's largest wind energy infrastructure — and their suppliers are banking on growth over the next decade, particularly in the nascent offshore wind niche. "The wind energy market is stuck in this very strange paradox right now," said Aaron Barr, an industry analyst at Wood Mackenzie. Comparatively, the U.S. offshore wind industry is just ramping up after years of delays in permitting, environmental approvals and power purchasing agreements with utilities that buy wind energy.

Obrador's decision to roll back reforms aimed at opening Mexico's power and oil markets to outside competitors sparked the trade dispute. If not, the U.S. will request an independent dispute settlement panel under the Unites States Mexico Canada Agreement, or USCMA, they said. The United States and Canada demanded dispute settlement talks with Mexico in July - 250 days ago. Under USMCA rules, after 75 days without a resolution, they were free to request a dispute settlement panel, a third party that rules on the case. In my view, it’s long past time to say enough is enough and escalate this into a real dispute settlement case," Wyden said.

☆ A subsidy arms race is kicking off between Europe and America
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( Julia Horowitz | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

This premium is expected to shrink as clean energy technologies become more advanced and infrastructure to produce them is scaled up. Most of the money the IRA has earmarked for clean energy initiatives comes in the form of tax credits. In the meantime, government officials are lobbying the United States to rethink parts of the IRA. “Europe and other allied countries have nothing to fear from the Inflation Reduction Act and quite a bit to gain,” said Brian Deese, Biden’s top economic adviser. The fight over green subsidies also comes as geopolitical tensions are pushing countries to focus on greater localization of production — not just for green energy, but also for sensitive technologies like computer chips.

☆ Amazon, Meta and Google buy more clean energy than any other companies
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Catherine Clifford | In Catclifford | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Technology companies are leading the charge of companies buying wind and solar power. Amazon , Facebook parent company Meta , and Google, owned by parent company Alphabet , are the top three corporate purchasers of wind and solar energy, according to a report published Wednesday from the American Clean Power Association, an industry group. Amazon had contracted 12.4 gigawatts of clean wind and solar energy in the United States through September 2022, while Meta had contracted 8.7 gigawatts and Google had contracted 6.2 gigawatts, according to the report. These procurement totals are since the first time these companies have announced they were buying wind and solar power last decade. The technology sector is certainly outpacing other industries in buying clean power, but it's been increasing across all industries.

☆ U.S. kicks off first California coast offshore wind auction
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( Nichola Groom | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Dec 6 (Reuters) - The United States on Tuesday is set to kick off the first sale of offshore wind development rights for waters off the coast of California, expanding the nascent domestic industry to the Pacific Ocean. "It puts California on a path to be a global hub for offshore wind technology," JC Sandberg, interim chief executive of the American Clean Power Association, said on a call with reporters. Previous federal offshore wind auctions have all been for leases in shallower waters of the Atlantic Ocean. The California sale is viewed as a test of industry appetite for investing in floating offshore wind technology, which to date has been limited to small pilot projects in places including Norway and Portugal. Companies approved to bid at the auction include established offshore wind players like Avangrid Inc (AGR.N), Orsted (ORSTED.CO) and Equinor (EQNR.OL), which are all developing projects on the U.S. East Coast.

☆ Sale jumpstarts floating, offshore wind power in U.S. waters
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +8 min

The cost of developing offshore wind has dropped 60% since 2010 according to a July report by the International Renewable Energy Agency. Offshore wind is well established in the U.K. and some other countries but is just beginning to ramp up off America’s coasts, and this is the nation’s first foray into floating wind turbines. Europe has some floating offshore wind — a project in the North Sea has been operating since 2017 — but the potential for the technology is huge in areas of strong wind off America’s coasts, said Josh Kaplowitz, vice president of offshore wind at the American Clean Power Association. President Joe Biden set a goal of deploying 30 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030 using traditional technology that secures wind turbines to the ocean floor, enough to power 10 million homes. Then the administration announced plans in September to develop floating platforms that could vastly expand offshore wind in the United States.

☆ Exclusive: U.S. blocks more than 1,000 solar shipments over Chinese slave labor concerns
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( Nichola Groom | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Nov 11 (Reuters) - More than 1,000 shipments of solar energy components worth hundreds of millions of dollars have piled up at U.S. ports since June under a new law banning imports from China's Xinjiang region over concerns about slave labor, according to federal customs officials and industry sources. The agency would not reveal the manufacturers or confirm details about the quantity of solar equipment in the shipments, citing federal law that protects confidential trade secrets. But the companies have halted new shipments to the United States over concerns additional cargoes will also be detained, the industry sources said. The sources asked not to be named because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter. CBP has previously said that it had detained about 1,700 shipments worth $516.3 million under UFLPA through September but has never before detailed how many of those shipments contained solar equipment.

Senator Joe Manchin's bill to speed energy permitting as a handout to fossil fuel companies, but clean energy advocates said the bill's failure would hinder the rapid expansion renewable power needs to combat climate change. Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer pulled Manchin's bill from temporary government funding legislation on Tuesday after it did not gain enough support. Clean energy backers said the permitting provision could still be attached to other bills later this year that must be passed, such as a big appropriations legislation. Jesse Jenkins, a clean energy expert at Princeton University, tweeted on Tuesday that the permitting bill had been "a big mixed back for climate & the environment." "We still need to build new clean energy & transmission at unprecedented pace!"

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