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
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.
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.