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  • Dec 2, 2021


December 2, 2021


CEC Approves $1.4 Billion Plan for Zero-Emission Transportation Infrastructure and Manufacturing

Plan aims to close infrastructure gap and direct 50 percent of funds

to priority communities.

SACRAMENTO – The California Energy Commission (CEC) today approved a three-year $1.4 billion plan to help California achieve its 2025 electric vehicle charging and hydrogen refueling goals.



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California OKs $1.4 bln plan for car chargers,

hydrogen refueling


The California Energy Commission (CEC) has approved a three-year $1.4 billion plan to help California achieve its electric vehicle charging and hydrogen refueling goals.




Solar and green groups buy into Duke’s net-metering plan in North Carolina


The state’s dominant utility has proposed time-varying solar rates and smart-thermostat incentives, and solar advocates are on board.


Duke Energy customers in North Carolina are poised to get a revamped net-metering regime for new home solar systems — one that would closely tie the value of rooftop solar power to how much households can shift their energy generation and consumption to times that are most opportune for the grid.



Amazon announces 8 new U.S. solar projects


Amazon has announced 18 new utility-scale wind and solar energy projects across the U.S., Finland, Germany, Italy, Spain and the U.K., totaling 5.6 GW of procured capacity to date in 2021. Amazon now has 274 renewable energy projects globally and is on a path to power 100% of its business operations with renewable energy by 2025 — five years earlier than its original 2030 commitment.





More Exelon utilities to integrate Palmetto’s

solar calculator


https://www.eenews.net/articles/1000-corporations-vs-utility-execs-who-is-right-on-100-clean-power/America

By integrating Palmetto’s Mapdwell Solar API, Exelon will provide its 10 million utility customers — spread over Illinois, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and Washington D.C. — with online access to property-level solar photovoltaic potential data and analysis. By securely leveraging customers’ energy consumption profiles to provide personalized recommendations and accelerate solar adoption, the Mapdwell-powered solar calculator enables Exelon customers to learn about the feasibility, and potential cost-savings associated with pursuing solar at their address. The solar calculator provides personalized information for each of Exelon’s residential customers, estimating the number of solar panels required due to unique characteristics of the customer’s property, estimated return on investment given the customer’s historical energy usage, and potential green-house gas reductions.





Buyer interest in EVs grows as automakers introduce more appealing models


Electric vehicles are in the spotlight following Biden's visit to a Detroit factory and the debut of new models at the LA Auto Show. But cost and charging concerns remain.



From Michigan to California, electric vehicles (EVs) took center stage. Along with growing momentum for electric vehicles, as some experts say EV sales may be nearing a tipping point due to rising consumer interest and an influx of new models from mainstream and startup auto manufacturers.



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All-electric Ford F-150 Lightning sparks interest as electric vehicles make waves



Pickup truck aficionados and first-timers alike are anticipating new electric releases from Ford, Tesla, Rivian and Chevrolet.





'A long way to go': How ConEd, Xcel and 4 other utilities are helping cities meet big EV goals



From New York City to Los Angeles, cities and utilities face cost, land and grid challenges in their efforts to electrify transportation systems.



Electric vehicles (EVs) could finish 2021 as 5% of new car sales in the U.S., according to market observers, and are expected to make up a growing share in the years to come. Driven by city and state electrification goals, and now supported by federal infrastructure dollars, the years ahead will be a critical time for utilities working to drive beneficial electrification.




Researchers use AI to optimize several

flow battery properties simultaneously


Scientists seek stable, high-energy batteries designed for the electric grid.


Argonne researchers have used machine learning and artificial intelligence to optimize new possible chemicals for use in redox flow batteries that can modernize the electric grid, like the ones shown here.(Image by Shutterstock/ petrmalinak.)

Bringing new sources of renewable energy like wind and solar power onto the electric grid will require specially designed large batteries that can charge when the sun is shining and give energy at night. One type of battery is especially promising for this purpose: the flow battery. Flow batteries contain two tanks of electrically active chemicals that exchange charge and can have large volumes that hold a lot of energy.



Big Batteries on Wheels Can Deliver Zero-Emissions Rail While Securing the Grid


Berkeley Lab study shows how battery-electric trains can deliver environmental justice, cost-savings, and resilience to the U.S.


Near elimination of air pollution from diesel-electric freight trains by 2025 is now possible by retrofitting them with battery tender cars. (Credit: BeyondImages/iStock)

Trains have been on the sidelines of electrification efforts for a long time in the U.S. because they account for only 2% of transportation sector emissions, but diesel freight trains emit 35 million metric tons of carbon dioxide annually and produce air pollution that leads to $6.5 billion in health costs, resulting in an estimated 1,000 premature deaths each year. What’s more, these deaths and adverse health impacts disproportionately affect disadvantaged and low-income communities, which are more likely to be located near freight rail yards and railways.



  • Nov 6, 2021


November 3, 2021


US rejoins coalition pushing for 1.5 degrees

Celsius goal at COP26

Return of U.S. boosts informal alliance of small vulnerable

countries and big Western states.

The U.S. has rejoined a group of countries pushing for higher targets

at the COP26 U.N. climate talks.


The return of the world's second-largest emitter and richest nation boosts the group, called the High Ambition Coalition, which is an informal alliance of small vulnerable countries and big Western states including the EU.


The return of the U.S. was first reported in the Guardian and confirmed by U.S. State Department spokesperson Whitney Smith.




World leaders announce plan to make green tech cheaper than alternatives


UK, US and China among countries representing two-thirds of

global economy to agree to push green energy and cars


A plan to coordinate the global introduction of clean technologies in order to rapidly drive down their cost has been agreed at the Cop26 summit.




Unlocking the Transition: As Tesla, Ford and others invest billions in EVs, will the power system be ready?

Adeline Kon/Utility Dive

The new White House zero emission vehicle target of 50% of new car sales by 2030 has a long way to go, a short time to get there, and big challenges along the way.


Transitioning transportation, the nation's biggest source of carbon emissions, to clean electricity is urgent, but will not be easy, according to charging companies, auto industry analysts and others.


President Joe Biden's Aug. 5 Executive Order calls for 50% of annual U.S. new car sales to be zero emission vehicles (ZEVs) by 2030. However it is estimated that only 2.1% of newly purchased vehicles are ZEV.


Newer numbers, however, suggest "an exponential ZEV uptake" has started, said Garrett Fitzgerald, electrification principal at the Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA).





California proposes demand response, other measures to shore up summer grid reliability


https://www.eenews.net/articles/1000-corporations-vs-utility-execs-who-is-right-on-100-clean-power/America

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has been implementing multiple measures to help ensure grid reliability during the summer months, following a record-breaking heatwave in the state in 2020 that forced the California Independent System Operator to initiate outages.





Electric vehicle adoption poised to surge, say experts, if Congress OKs $100B in purchase incentives



There are potentially more than $200 billion in electric transportation investments contained in President Joe Biden's jobs and infrastructure plans, including purchase incentives that could immediately accelerate the United States' electrification plans, according to electrification advocates watching negotiations in Congress.


The EV-related proposals include more than $100 billion in tax credits that could knock up to $12,500 off the sticker price of a new electric car or truck, depending on where and how it is produced. Used electric vehicle (EV) buyers could get up to $4,000 back.




Utilities are taking the reins in the Northeast and asking for customer-sited storage


Virtual power plants are making behind-the-meter storage more attractive to utilities.



Residential energy storage adoption is growing in the Northeast, and no state mandates are behind the rising numbers.


Surprisingly, utilities are the ones encouraging customers to get batteries and enroll them in virtual power plants (VPPs). Instead of being threatened by customer-sited renewable energy systems, VPPs make solar and storage an agreeable resource for utilities.




November solar policy snapshots

A guide to recent legislation and research throughout the country.


Ohio Republicans have sponsored a bill that would enable community solar in the state, with special carveouts for brownfields



The road to cleaner air


The Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act just passed by Congress provides $2.5 billion in funding specifically for zero-emission electric school buses.


The humble yellow school bus, an iconic symbol of American education, is getting an exciting upgrade in 2021. The bipartisan infrastructure investment package just passed by Congress provides $2.5 billion in funding specifically for zero-emission electric school buses and an additional $2.5 billion for all types of low-emission school buses (which could include electric buses).


Charged up for an electric vehicle future


The U.S. House of Representatives passed a policy in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that puts us on track to install thousands of electric vehicle charging stations across the country. Here's why that matters.

Congressman Andy Levin of Michigan with his electric vehicle.

In the U.S., transportation is the greatest contributor to climate warming emissions, and the majority of those emissions come from everyday cars and trucks. Personal vehicles also emit toxic air pollution which harms our health. That’s why PIRG has been working for years to increase adoption of clean, emissions-free electric vehicles (EVs) by calling for 100% of car sales to be fully electric by 2035 (or sooner).


To get there, we need to do three things: make electric vehicles cheaper and easier for people to buy, strengthen emission standards and build out infrastructure to support electric cars.


The bipartisan infrastructure package puts one of those key pieces

of the puzzle into place.


One of the primary barriers to the adoption of electric vehicles is lack of access to public charging stations. Currently, electric vehicle drivers may face “range anxiety;” drivers fear they could be stranded on the road without access to fuel. To support the transition to electric vehicles, we need to dramatically increase the buildout of charging stations across the country.



  • Oct 28, 2021


October 28, 2021


How Amazon decides which

climate tech start-ups to invest in

and what that says about its future ambitions

If Amazon is going to achieve its goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2040, it’s going to need to rely on new technology. To spur the process along, the company has a $2 billion venture capital fund to gather and grow climate tech start-ups.


Watching where Amazon is investing is one way to track innovation in the space. It can also give investors a sense of what parts of its own business Amazon intends to prioritize in the future.




President Biden’s latest Build Back Better framework gives boost to solar industry


President Joe Biden speaks during a visit to the NREL Flatirons Campus in Arvada, Colorado. Photo by Werner Slocum, NREL.

After hearing input from all sides and negotiating in good faith with Senators Manchin and Sinema, Congressional Leadership, and a broad swath of Members of Congress, President Biden is announcing a framework for the Build Back Better Act.


The latest framework allocates $555 billion to clean energy and climate investments.


This includes:

  • Growing domestic solar supply chains

  • Extending "clean energy tax credits" by 10 years

  • Cutting the cost of residential rooftop solar by 30%




Joint Federal-State Task Force on Electric Transmission


This is a first-of-its-kind effort to ensure important cooperation between federal and state regulators, via partnership between FERC and the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC), on electric transmission-related issues. The Task Force will focus on topics related to planning and paying for transmission, including transmission to facilitate generator interconnection, that provides benefits from a federal and state perspective.


FERC and NARUC announced the Task Force when FERC established the Task Force on June 17, 2021 in Docket No. AD21-15-000. The Task Force is comprised of all FERC Commissioners and 10 state commissioner representatives, nominated by NARUC and affirmed by FERC. The Task Force will convene for multiple formal meetings annually, which will be open to the public for listening and observing and will be on the record. All FERC issuances related to the Task Force, as well as submissions from NARUC and interested parties related to the Task Force, will be included in the Task Force docket (AD21‑15‑000) and available on FERC’s website via eLibrary.




Latest National Climate Plans Still Fall Far Short,

U.N. Report Warns


Ahead of a major climate summit in Glasgow, many countries have vowed to do more to curb their emissions. But those plans still put the world on path for dangerous warming.

https://www.eenews.net/articles/1000-corporations-vs-utility-execs-who-is-right-on-100-clean-power/America
Smog in New Delhi in January. The U.N. asked for new, more ambitious national plans to curb emissions through 2030, though some countries, such as India, have not submitted new pledges. Credit...Jewel Samad/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images


WASHINGTON — The latest plans by the nations of the world to tackle climate change over the next decade fall far short of what’s needed to avert a dangerous rise in global temperatures, according to a United Nations report released Tuesday.

In the run-up to a major U.N. climate summit in Glasgow next week, a number of governments have updated their pledges under the Paris climate agreement to do more to curb their planet-warming emissions between now and 2030.




COP26: what to expect from the climate change summit - on the Radio Davos podcast



  • The climate summit COP26 runs 1-12 November in Glasgow.

  • On this Radio Davos podcast, we discuss the big issues for the COP.

  • And climate campaigner Jennifer Morgan sets out her hopes and fears.

"COP26 is not a photo-op nor a talking shop," Alok Sharma, the British government minister who will chair the climate summit, said in a recent speech.




More than half of global utility solar projects planned in 2022 threatened by supply chain issues



The surging cost of manufacturing materials and shipping could threaten 50 GW — a staggering 56% — of the 90 GW of global utility PV developments planned for 2022, a Rystad Energy analysis shows. Commodity price inflation and supply chain bottlenecks could lead to the postponement or even cancellation of some of these projects, impacting demand and consumer pricing for solar-generated power.



PJM, market monitor urge FERC to reject SOO Green proposal, saying it will upend the capacity market


The PJM Interconnection and its independent market monitor urged the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to dismiss a complaint by the developers of the $2.5 billion SOO Green interstate transmission project, saying the developers are trying to upend the grid operator's capacity rules for generating resources outside its footprint.


SOO Green's proposal would "subvert" the PJM's capacity market, hurting grid reliability and lowering capacity prices by crowding out resources that meet the grid operator's capacity requirements, Monitoring Analytics said in a FERC filing Monday.


The Natural Resources Defense Council supported SOO Green's complaint, which the advocacy group said would boost market competition by supporting innovative technology.



Honeywell enters energy storage market, teams with Duke to test 12-hour flow battery tech



Honeywell is moving into the energy storage market with the announcement of a flow battery technology that can store and dispatch electricity for up to 12 hours.


Honeywell will test a 400 kWh unit at Duke Energy's Mount Holly microgrid test bed facility in North Carolina in 2022. If successful, Honeywell says it aims to deploy a

utility-scale pilot project of 60 MWh in 2023.


The flow battery has a non-flammable electrolyte designed with recyclable components, according to Honeywell. The battery could have a lifespan of up to 20 years

with little degradation, the company said.


California groups divided on inclusion of gas in 11.5 GW 'clean' procurement order



San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) and Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) are among a group of industry players that support or do not oppose California regulators allowing — but not requiring — power providers to include natural gas in an 11.5 GW procurement order approved earlier this year.


The utilities filed comments with the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) in response to an administrative law judge's ruling requesting feedback on whether gas capacity upgrades at existing plants should count toward the 11.5 GW.


The procurement package — approved by the commission in June amid the threat of more extreme weather as well as the upcoming retirements of the 2.2 GW Diablo Canyon nuclear plant and 3.7 GW of natural gas plants — was hailed by regulators at the time as a "new, clean reliability foundation" for the state.




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