GOLDEN CRESCENT AND 1000 ISLAND NEWS

When it comes to ensuring a clean energy future for the United States, the Inflation Reduction Act was supposed to be a game-changer—a way to bolster the domestic supply chain and rapidly boost US manufacturing in renewable energy, while reducing dependence on China. But as a new  report  from the consulting firm Horizon Advisory reveals, the exact opposite is happening. China’s state-backed solar industry,   bolstered by  massive government subsidies , is  exploiting loopholes in US policy and using taxpayer-funded IRA tax credits to expand its dominance over the global solar market, including in the United States. Horizon’s report exposes the stark reality:  Chinese solar firms are using the IRA’s 45X tax credits, designed to increase US domestic manufacturing, to set up assembly plants on American soil. This move allows them to access  $125 billion  in federal tax credits, while retaining control over the higher-value segments of the supply cha...

  Scott Strazik sees nuclear power adding ‘gigawatts upon gigawatts,’ adding that offshore wind needs to sort out its business model   By  Walden Siew Sept. 25, 2024   Scott Strazik discusses the progress being made on fighting climate change, including the future of wind, gas and solar technology, how his company is modernizing the power grid and geopolitical factors that could affect the renewables industry.   The nuclear power industry is set to add “gigawatts upon gigawatts” of capacity heading into the 2030s, while offshore wind in the U.S. sorts out its business model, according to  GE Vernova  CEO Scott Strazik. Strazik leads General Electric’s spinoff of its power and wind business, which started trading as a stand-alone company in April. The energy company has emerged at a crossroads for the nuclear energy industry as companies contend with managing aging reactors while exploring newer reactor technologies—along with alternative energy so...

  September 21, 2024     Francis Menton   “Net Zero” — That’s the two-word slogan that has been adopted as the official goal of every virtuous state or country for decarbonizing its energy system. The “net” part is backhanded recognition that some parts of the energy system (like maybe air travel or steelmaking) may never be fully de-carbonized. Thus some kind of offsets or indulgences may need to be accepted to claim achievement of the goal. But the “net” thing is not for the easy parts of decarbonization. And by the easy parts, I mean the generation of electricity, and the powering of anything that can be run on electricity or batteries. In electrifiable parts of the energy system, there is to be no tolerance for “net”; only “zero emissions” will do. The official line is that zero emissions electricity is easy and cheap because it can be provided by the wind and sun. The official line is wrong. As the build-out of these wind and solar generation systems continues t...

  ·     Tech giant to pay at least $100 a megawatt hour, analysts say ·     Carbon-free ‘nuclear power doesn’t seem to be a commodity now’ The Three Mile Island nuclear power plant towers in Goldsboro, Pennsylvania.   By  Will Wade   September 25, 2024   Microsoft Corp. is going to pay a hefty premium for power from the soon-to-be-restarted Three Mile Island nuclear plant, a recognition that carbon-free electricity is more valuable when it’s available around the clock. The company will pay owner Constellation Energy Corp.  at least $100  a megawatt-hour for power from the Pennsylvania plant, according to estimates from Bloomberg Intelligence, while Jefferies LLC puts the figure at about $112. That compares to about $60 a megawatt-hour for wind and solar energy available now in the same region, according to Jefferies. Big technology companies are racing to line up power supplies for the  massive data centers  needed to...

  • RPS targets are typically set as a production target (in MWh). Setting a production target in megawatt-hours incentivizes project developers to use equipment and installations that maximize renewable energy generation. In some cases, targets have been set in megawatts (MW) (capacity). Though setting a capacity target may be less administratively complex,   it does not consider how much electricity is actually produced.   Thus,   it could incentivize generators to come online but perhaps be located in areas with lower-quality resources (e.g., areas lacking steady winds) or in areas with high congestion, resulting in curtailment of renewable generation .   NY  • RPS targets are typically established on an annual basis with an end-year target. For example, the RPS target may be 30% of annual retail electricity sales in 2030, starting at 20% in 2020 and increasing 1% annually to reach the 30% end-year target. This provides certainty to project developers. A...

  David Wallace-Wells claims solar energy is getting so cheap it could be “effectively free.” But solar prices aren’t falling, they’re rising. And solar’s being left in the shade by natural gas.   Sep 14, 2024   Solar panels on the roof of our house in Austin, September 13, 2024. Hyping solar energy is one of America’s most renewable resources. For instance, in 1978, Ralph Nader declared that “everything will be solar in 30 years.” In 1979, President Jimmy Carter declared the US needed to capture more energy from the sun because of   “ inevitable shortages of fossil fuels .” In 2011, in the  New York Times , Paul Krugman claimed we are   “ on the cusp of an energy transformation   driven by the rapidly falling cost of solar power.” In 2015, presidential candidate Hillary Clinton pledged that if elected president, she would oversee the installation of  500 million solar panels . In 2021, the Department of Energy released a study that claimed s...

  State Sen. Thomas O’Mara’s upstate New York district spans the Finger Lakes and the Southern Tier, regions that get their energy from hydro, nuclear and wind power. He’s watched as the downstate region has struggled with an uptick in fossil fuel use ever since the nuclear power generated at Indian Point in Westchester County left the energy grid after the plant’s 2021 shutdown. So, O’Mara and several Republican colleagues last month drafted a bill that would create a commission on reopening Indian Point, part of a broader GOP strategy to recast the state’s energy future. Ambitious climate goals that lean heavily on wind and solar power “overlooked the immense potential of the clean, renewable energy source we had just eliminated – nuclear power,” the bill’s justification notes.   “It really shows that we have no plan and the way we’re going about it is certainly not working right,”   O’Mara said. Downstate Democrats reacted with the legislative equivalent of the Bronx c...