Energy News
A revolution in hydropower makes waves in rural Colorado
High Country News | Posted on May 16, 2018The big hydroelectric dams of the 20th century put the rivers of the West under their imposing concrete thumbs, but their unintended consequences have water managers and entrepreneurs thinking the future of hydroelectric power is small. Advances in technology, federal reforms and Colorado’s ideal geography and friendly policies are paving the way for a new wave of small hydropower projects in the state that could be the template for a new generation of hydroelectric power. In Montrose, Colorado, in the shadows of the Elk and San Juan mountain ranges, five small hydroelectric facilities are now incorporated into a canal system that delivers water to more than 83,000 acres of farmland for the Uncompahgre Valley Water Users Association. The hydroelectric generators combine a diversion from the canal with metal gates and a large metal pipe that carries water into what from the outside looks like an average metal storage shed. Inside the shed the deafening drone of the turbine equipment hums along during the seven months of the year when water moves through these irrigation canals.
NH:3 contentious renewable energy bills head to governor’s desk
New Hampshire Business Review | Posted on May 16, 2018New Hampshire’s renewable industry will get a boost – though at a possible cost to ratepayers – if three bills passed last week by lawmakers are signed into law by Gov. Chris Sununu. Senate Bill 446 is perhaps the most far-reaching, increasing fivefold the size of projects that would qualify for net metering. That’s the current law that allows homeowners, small business and groups to get credit, and sometimes even cash, for generating their own electricity.SB 446 would extend the upper limit from 1 megawatt to 5 megawatts, allowing large businesses, municipalities and even small hydro generators to take advantage of it, paving the way for much larger renewable energy projects.Critics, including utilities and some business groups, claim that generators are paid too much for the power, and this amounts to a subsidy paid for by other ratepayers. Advocates say that renewable energy saves money on distribution and generation costs.
Appeals court takes up challenge to Winona County's sand mining ban
Minnesota Public Radio | Posted on May 15, 2018The tiny particles of silica sand found in Winona County are very round and hard — perfect for "fracking," the process of extracting oil and gas from below ground.But Minnesota Sands LLC, which leases about 3,000 acres in the area, can't mine the sand because Winona County banned sand mining for industrial purposes in 2016, citing environmental and health concerns.It's still allowed for construction and agriculture, among other local uses. Minnesota Sands will argue in an appeals court hearing Thursday that the ban violates the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution and that the ban devalued its land leases."We are appealing because the ban is a significant threat to anyone who benefits from the use of their land," said Minnesota Sands spokesperson Mike Zipko. "Allowing it to remain in place also creates a very real risk that Winona or other counties will build on this by passing or imposing other future unconstitutional restrictions on landowners."
Center offers local leaders help in navigating big wind energy deals
Nebraska Radio Network | Posted on May 15, 2018Several wind energy projects are being proposed and planned across the region and most of them need approval at the county level before advancing to state and federal levels. Lucas Nelsen, a program policy associate at the Lyons-based Center for Rural Affairs, says many county leaders don’t have the expertise needed to come up with appropriate rules and policies.“Counties can find themselves way over their heads just from the amount of information they have to dig through,” Nelsen says. “What we wanted to develop was a guide that just lays out the basic features of a wind energy ordinance. It’s not exactly a blueprint you would adopt wholesale but it’s something that walks you through the pieces you’d expect to find in an ordinance.”Nelsen says many counties have a hard time finding a balance between development and private property rights.“You have to allow the public to come in and be a part of the process and try to find the middle ground, that’s the most important part,” Nelsen says. “Don’t just pass something to pass something. Really try to find a compromise that can ensure that people have the right to use their land but also people don’t feel like they’re being caught out by any development.”
Whatever Icahn Wants, Continued
DTN | Posted on May 10, 2018Yet there's enough happening here for farmers to worry about the future level of demand for their products from China and ethanol. I will write about China in a future post. Today, a few words about ethanol. Let's start with the court case that the small refiners cite in their defense of the EPA's exemptions, Sinclair v. EPA. In it, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit said the EPA had misinterpreted the law in denying exemptions to the Renewable Fuels Standard to two small refineries in Wyoming. The court overturned the denials and instructed the EPA to reconsider Sinclair's petition using the court's interpretation of the law. Ethanol interests say the EPA has been granting exemptions at double the pace of previous years. Is the agency doing this relying on the Tenth Circuit ruling in the Sinclair case? If so, there are several things about that case that need saying. First, two other U.S. Appeals Courts -- the Eighth Circuit and the D.C. Circuit -- have reached a different conclusion about the validity of the EPA's statutory interpretation. The Tenth Circuit ruling attempts to distinguish those cases as different from Sinclair, but its attempts aren't terribly convincing. The public doesn't know where all the newly exempted refineries are located, but for any not in states under the Tenth Circuit's sway, the ruling wouldn't bind the EPA. Even in considering petitions from Tenth Circuit refineries, the EPA would not be required by the Sinclair case to grant every petition. The statute requires a showing of "disproportionate economic hardship." The court said the EPA had read this to mean the refinery must demonstrate "an existential threat" --compliance costs at a level threatening its long-term viability. The EPA denied doing that, and the dissenting Tenth Circuit judge agreed, saying the agency uses "a more nuanced analysis," as required by the statute. If that's really the case, the EPA could deny similar petitions explaining more clearly the nuanced way it reached its conclusions. Another is the EPA's exemption for small refineries owned by a big company -- Andeavor -- making a billion and a half dollars in profits.. This may comply with the letter of the law, which focuses on individual refineries and not companies, but it seems abusively far removed from the law's spirit. Most troubling is the exemption granted a refinery owned by Carl Icahn's CVR Energy. Before naming Scott Pruitt to head the EPA, then President-elect Donald Trump sent him to see Carl Icahn. In effect, then, Icahn helped Pruitt get his job, and now Pruitt's EPA is rewarding Icahn with regulatory relief to the tune of tens of millions of dollars.
The stunningly lopsided growth of wind power in the US, in 4 maps
Vox | Posted on May 10, 2018Wind turbines have cropped up like dandelions across large areas of the United States, and thousands more are coming. The US Department of Energy projects that we’ll have 404 gigawatts of wind energy capacity across the country by 2050, up from 89 GW today. Since overall electricity demand is expected to hold steady, that would fulfill more than one-third of the country’s needs. Texas alone, with 22.6 gigawatts installed, would rank sixth in the world today in total wind capacity if it were its own country.But wind power isn’t exploding everywhere across this great land of ours. Vast swaths of the country have been left out of the wind energy revolution, as you can see in this map of installed wind capacity by state
Trump’s Solar Tariffs Cause a Scramble in the Industry
The New York Times | Posted on May 10, 2018SunPower is the nation’s No. 2 commercial solar-power company, employing thousands of workers directly and indirectly. But it makes most of its solar panels abroad, and with the tariffs recently imposed by President Trump costing it as much as $2 million a week, SunPower is fighting for an exemption. One of its rivals, SolarWorld Americas, produces panels domestically. Buffeted by foreign competition, it was behind the original push for the tariffs.Now the two American companies are merging.It’s all part of the disruption, distortion and uncertainty from an escalating trade offensive aimed primarily at China. In barely three months, the tariffs — the first shot fired by Mr. Trump in that campaign — are fundamentally reshaping the solar industry and its prospects.A Chinese player announced plans to open a factory in Florida as early as this fall. With its SolarWorld acquisition, SunPower moved to prevent further loss to its business by locating a bigger share of its production in the United States. Both companies are being hit with tariffs on high-efficiency panels they produce in Malaysia.
Trump finally reaches ethanol deal, but questions linger
Washington Examiner | Posted on May 10, 2018President Trump emerged from Tuesday’s talks about the nation’s Renewable Fuel Standard with a deal that would satisfy both ethanol producers and oil refiners. Trump plans to increase the market for ethanol year-round. That will be done by allowing 15-percent ethanol fuels, or E15, to be sold all year and not subject to summer restrictions under Environmental Protection Agency rules. He also would boost ethanol exports, which have been harmed by Chinese retaliation to Trump’s tariffs, in a way that would increase ethanol credits for the refiners. The supply of credits would be increased, which would reduce the cost. In the past, exports would lose their renewable identification number credits when shipped overseas.Trump appeared to nix Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz’s plan for placing a cap on the price of ethanol credits.
California Will Require Solar Power for New Homes
The New York Times | Posted on May 10, 2018Long a leader and trendsetter in its clean-energy goals, California took a giant step, becoming the first state to require all new homes to have solar power. The new requirement, to take effect in two years, brings solar power into the mainstream in a way it has never been until now. It will add thousands of dollars to the cost of home when a shortage of affordable housing is one of California’s most pressing issues. That made the relative ease of its approval — in a unanimous vote by the five-member California Energy Commission before a standing-room crowd, with little debate — all the more remarkable. State officials and clean-energy advocates say the extra cost to home buyers will be more than made up in lower energy bills. That prospect has won over even the construction industry, which has embraced solar capability as a selling point.
Landowners fight pipeline in case headed to US appeals court
San Luis Obispo Tribune | Posted on May 10, 2018The natural gas pipeline is routed to run through the southwest Virginia farm his family has owned for seven generations. The 88-year-old Navy veteran never considered signing an easement agreement with the developers, because he thought the whole thing seemed an affront to his property rights. But state law meant he couldn't even keep surveyors out. As work chugs along toward having the pipeline in service by the end of the year, Jones and a coalition of more than a dozen other like-minded Virginia and West Virginia landowners have taken their fight to court. They sued project developers and the federal regulators who approved the pipeline, arguing that taking their property through eminent domain is an unconstitutional land grab. They say regulators have "run wild," granting developers of the approximately 300-mile-long (480-kilometer-long) project land acquisition powers, which are usually reserved for government entities. A hearing Thursday before the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond comes as other legal challenges against the project proliferate and protests escalate, with some opponents camped out in trees along the pipeline's path in an attempt to prevent construction work.