Napoleon is credited with saying “never interfere with an enemy while he’s in the process of destroying himself.” That line comes to mind after last week’s decision by British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to reimpose a ban on hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.
Last week, numerous media outlets reported that Germany will extend the lives of three of its nuclear power plants. The move to keep the reactors online, which was opposed by the country’s Green Party, showed that German politicians are recognizing the need to keep reliable generation plants online to assure the country has enough electricity this winter.
With the midterm elections just two weeks away, it seems almost too easy to pick on President Joe Biden. His approval ratings are bad (about 38% of those polled approve of his job performance) and candidates from his own party are staying away from him.
Consumption of fossil fuels is growing faster than ever.
Jesse Jenkins, an assistant professor at Princeton University, has gained a lot of media attention in recent years for his models that promote large-scale deployment of renewable energy.
Last month, the wind and solar sectors got a massive boost when President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 into law. That measure gives tens of billions of dollars in new tax credits to the companies that build wind and solar projects.
Hurricane Fiona delivered another punishing blow to Puerto Rico this week. By Friday morning, more than 900,000 Puertoriqueños did not have electricity and hundreds of thousands didn’t have water.
After years of grim forecasts and premature reactor closures, the domestic nuclear energy sector is suddenly enjoying a winning streak.
Sometimes facts and rationality win. Early this morning, California legislators passed a bill that will keep California’s last operating nuclear power plant, the Diablo Canyon Power Plant, open and operating until 2030.
Two days ago in these pages, I estimated the utility debt related to Winter Storm Uri that will have to be repaid by Texas ratepayers may total $10.1 billion. Shortly after that piece appeared, I was alerted to an August 16 report commissioned by NRG Energy, a Houston-based independent power producer, titled “Beyond Texas: Evaluating Customer Exposure to Energy Prices Spikes, A Case Study of Winter Storm Uri, February 2021.”
Texas ratepayers are on the hook for at least $10.1 billion in debt that was incurred during the deadly February 2021 storm and they will be paying off much of that debt for the next 30 years.
It appears the reconciliation bill that includes some $370 billion in energy-related spending is going to become law. The measure includes a panoply of tax credits for alternative energy technologies, including incentives for electric vehicles, hydrogen, energy storage, and of course, billions of dollars in tax credits for wind and solar energy.
On Thursday, Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema signaled her support for the reconciliation bill now pending in Congress. By consenting, Sinema likely paved the way for a legislative package that one media outlet dubbed “the biggest and most consequential climate change bill ever passed by Congress.”
Never doubt the power of The Swamp. That’s the apparent lesson to be learned from Senator Joe Manchin’s reversal on the energy-related provisions of the pending reconciliation bill. Last month, Manchin derailed the measure which included some $300 billion in energy-related provisions.
