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Tag: Renewable power generation

  • Coal free by 2070? India’s push toward renewables won’t stop coal reliance for the next two decades

    Coal free by 2070? India’s push toward renewables won’t stop coal reliance for the next two decades

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    A worker pushes his bicycle under a line of cable trolleys transporting coal in Uttar Pradesh, India, on Nov. 19, 2021.

    Money Sharma | Afp | Getty Images

    There’s little doubt that India has made progress in its transition to renewable energy.

    The country’s leaders have been optimistic about its path to net zero, making bold claims that 50% of its power generation will come from renewables by 2030, and 100% by 2070.

    However, coal production continues to soar and reliance on the fossil fuel won’t end any time soon as India struggles to find other ways to cool homes down and keep the lights on.  

    “India will not be able to survive completely without coal and there is no alternative for India in the coming 10 to 20 years,” said Anil Kumar Jha, former chairman and managing director of Coal India — the world’s largest coal producer.

    “If you are hungry and don’t have cake to eat, will you eat bread or die hungry? That is presently what India is doing,” Jha told CNBC. “We don’t have an alternative to generate that amount of electricity, and will have to depend on coal.” 

    Fossil fuels, mainly coal, continue to make up 75% of India’s power supply, making it “the only fuel that India has in relative abundance,” said Neshwin Rodrigues, electricity policy analyst at Ember, a global energy think tank.

    A man rides a motorcycle along a road past the National Thermal Power Corporation plant in Dadri on April 6, 2022.

    Prakash Singh | Afp | Getty Images

    Effects from climate change have triggered more than 700 heat waves in India over the past five decades, driving up electricity demand as more households purchase air conditioners. 

    “India is presently witnessing a rapid surge in electricity demand, driven by the electrification of numerous households, the burgeoning economy, and the increasing adoption of electric vehicles, infrastructure development, and cooling systems,” said Sooraj Narayan, Wood Mackenzie’s senior research analyst of power and renewables in Asia Pacific. 

    “This heightened power demand necessitates a reliable, cost-effective, and consistent power generation source, which coal currently fulfills,” he highlighted. 

    Whether we like it or not, coal will continue to have a role to play in India.

    Sooraj Narayan

    Wood Mackenzie

    Data from the International Energy Agency showed that electricity consumption in India from air conditioners increased by 21% between 2019 and 2022.

    Nearly 10% of the country’s electricity demand comes from space cooling and this will increase ninefold by 2050, the IEA said.

    Simultaneously, India’s coal consumption has rapidly increased. 

    The country’s coal production rose to 893 million tons in 2022 to 2023, a 14% growth from 778 million tons in 2021 to 2022, according to data from the Ministry of Coal.

    Jha estimated coal production could reach 1,335 million tons in 2031 to 2032. 

    This raises the question about whether India will be able to reach its 2030 target of achieving 50% of its energy requirements from non-fossil fuel sources. As of now, energy analysts don’t think it’s achievable. 

    “Coal remains a reliable fallback option for India to ensure consistent and dependable power generation, especially as it strives to meet the demands of a rapidly growing population and economy,” Narayan pointed out. 

    This could be the norm for India until after 2030 — when coal demand is expected to peak, according to Sumant Sinha, founder of Indian renewable energy firm ReNew Power. 

    “What we cannot afford as a country is essentially to shortchange our growth on account of a lack of power capabilities. Whether we like it or not, coal will continue to have a role to play in India,” Sinha told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” on last week. 

    Unreliable renewables

    Despite being able to produce cheap wind and solar energy, only 22% of India’s power generation is met by renewables.

    All the analysts who spoke to CNBC agreed the country’s solar, wind and hydro energy capabilities are still unreliable as they are dependent on weather conditions and the climate.

    “Renewable sources like solar and wind are inherently variable, relying on natural factors such as sunlight, wind and water availability. This variability makes them less dependable for meeting the nation’s burgeoning power demand,” Wood Mackenzie’s Narayan said. 

    A worker walks through the Tapovan Vishnugad hydropower plant project construction site in Uttarakhand, India, on Feb. 9, 2022.

    Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images

    The South Asian nation currently has around 180 gigawatts of installed renewable energy, and hydropower makes up half of that mix. However, more advanced infrastructure is needed to ensure it serves as a reliable alternative to coal in the future.

    India experienced the driest August in more than a century when it received 36% less rainfall. Coal reliance that month grew by 13% compared to the year before.

    “While India seeks to leverage hydropower to balance its grid, this source of renewable energy is not without its complexities,” Narayan said, explaining that projects are often delayed. 

    “The construction of dams and run-of-river projects for hydropower often encounters prolonged delays, extensive gestation periods, and is contingent on variable rainfall patterns.”

    It won't be easy for India to transition away from coal, but it must be done, incoming SAP chair says

    Solar and wind energy face the same hurdles as underdeveloped power grids curtail progress in the sector. 

    “India’s existing grid infrastructure is not fully equipped to handle the integration of variable renewable energy sources like solar and wind,” according to Narayan. 

    Investment is key 

    Ramping up investments — particularly in battery storage — may be the most significant way for India to meet its net-zero transition goals.

    India currently has around 180 gigawatts of installed renewable energy and aims to reach 500 gigawatts by 2030, according to government agency Invest India.

    “Grid-scale battery storage is costly, with supply chain disruptions further driving up prices due to events like the Covid-19 pandemic and geopolitical conflicts. These complexities render it challenging to rely solely on renewables for consistent and dependable power generation,” Narayan said.

    Water being released from the Madupetty dam and hydro power station in Kerala, India.

    Nurphoto | Nurphoto | Getty Images

    Another issue is that renewables are a frontloaded investment where “all your investments happen on the day of installation. You pay for everything upfront,” said Rodrigues from Ember.

    “The problem with that is that you require a lot of financing capacity, and there is limited financing capacity in India,” he added, warning that India’s net-zero goals cannot be met without foreign investments.

    “Going forward, we need to find ways to first phase down coal, then we can talk about completely phasing it out.”

    — CNBC’s Naman Tandon contributed to this report.

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  • Is your hotel sustainable? Not if these two things are in your room, says Soneva’s founder

    Is your hotel sustainable? Not if these two things are in your room, says Soneva’s founder

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    Many hotels claim to be eco-friendly.  

    But are they?  

    A quick-and-easy test is to look for two items, said Sonu Shivdasani, founder of Soneva and Six Senses hotel brands.

    First, sustainable hotels should not have branded water of any sort, he told CNBC Travel.  

    “When you have incredible filtered water, and where the tap water is pretty pure in most countries in the world … there’s no need to have any sort of branded water,” he said.

    Not only does this reduce single-use bottles, but it’s healthier too, he said.

    “There are quite a lot of brands of water that can be quite toxic, because they’re in areas where there’s sort of chemical pollution,” he said. Plus “plastic bottles are a carcinogen. You can imagine … that plastic bottle … sitting in a store for two or three months, getting hot and roasting.”

    A better, cheaper option for hotels is to purify tap water and add electrolyte minerals, such as sodium, potassium and chloride, he said.

    Next, check for toiletries in plastic bottles, which Shivdasani called “silly.”

    “One should really buy in bulk containers, and then you refill in ceramic bottles,” he said.

    But that’s really the bare minimum, said Shivdasani, who sold Six Senses in 2012.

    He now focuses on Soneva’s three hotels: two in the Maldives and one in Thailand, plus another — Soneva Secret — set to open on a remote atoll in the northern Maldives in 2024.

    The resorts serve guests produce grown on-site, rely partly on solar energy and recycle 93% of generated waste, said Shivdasani, who was awarded the 50 Best Hotels inaugural “Icon Award” for responsible luxury tourism in September.

    ‘Ecology is economy’

    Shivdasani rejects the idea that operating sustainably is costlier.

    “Ecology is economy,” he told CNBC Travel.

    By relying more on solar power than diesel fuel, he said, Soneva resorts will save money in the long run.

    “Our bankers are very supportive of us doing it,” he said. “The payback on this investment is about four and a half years.”

    'Businesses need to make the change:' Soneva founder on environmental fees at his resorts

    By making charcoal using fallen branches, Shivdasani estimates his company saves $20,000-$30,000 per year. Plus, on-site gardens deliver about $10,000 a month of vegetables — at market prices — into each resort, he added.

    But Shivdasani doesn’t dispute that sustainability — at this level — is harder.

    “It’s certainly not easier. But it’s more interesting,” he said. “It is more difficult, but it’s certainly much, much more fulfilling.”

    A 2% environmental levy

    As the tourism industry adopts more sustainable practices, one question remains: Who pays for it?

    “Governments can create the context, but businesses need to make the change,” Shivdasani told CNBC Travel. “We can do that by making small changes to the way we do business that does not affect our profitability, but which can have a huge impact on people well beyond our shores.”

    Nearly 80% of travelers will pay at least 10% more for eco-friendly travel, despite the cost-of-living crisis, according to a Euromonitor International report published in August.

    Soneva Fushi, a resort in the Maldives where Shivdasani said he and his wife, Eva, live about half of the year.

    Source: Soneva

    Shivdasani said he decided to institute a guest environmental levy after the company measured its “scope 3” emissions.

    “I didn’t know what scope 3 CO2 emissions were,” he said. “Scopes 1 and 2 are like the light bulbs, the air-conditioning … scope three is externalities outside the property [like] guests flying in, supplies coming in.”

    Companies often fall short of reporting scope 3 emissions, said Kelvin Law, an associate professor of accounting at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University who researches corporate sustainability and financial fraud.

    “Missing one out of three reporting scopes may not seem like a big deal — but it is,” he wrote for CNA, since they account for the lion’s share of most companies’ emissions. “Leaving out scope three emissions reporting is akin to solving a jigsaw puzzle without the largest piece — the picture is never complete.”

    Shivdasani said that after Soneva determined that 85% of its carbon emissions were “scope 3” emissions, the company introduced the 2% carbon levy. That was in 2008.

    “That’s why we said we had to do something about it,” he said.

    Small changes

    The levy has generated about $12 million for The Soneva Foundation, a British charity founded in 2010.

    The revenue has been used to restore forests in Thailand, fund a 1.5 megawatt windmill in India (“giving the local community subsidized energy”) and to buy stoves in Myanmar and Darfur, Sudan.

    “The cookstoves has been a fantastic investment,” he said adding that they not only reduce CO2 emissions but also decrease firewood expenses and the risk of lung disease. The latter causes an estimated 3.2 million deaths per year, including some 230,000 children under the age of five, according to the World Health Organization.

    Moreover, the stoves have created a carbon surplus, he said.

    “We now have two million surplus carbon credits, which is worth about $20 million,” he said.

    The credits — which currently sell for $10-$15 each on the open market — are certified and then purchased by companies, such as Marks & Spencer, which use the credit to meet their own carbon reduction goals, he said.  

    The Soneva Foundation is reinvesting that money, using it to plant 1 million trees in Nepal and Mozambique each, among other projects, he added.

    “It’s a small change, but it’s had this fantastically growing impact,” he said.

    What does it take to be a five-star hotel? Here's what star ratings really mean

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  • Check out the giant ship critical to building the world’s biggest offshore wind farm

    Check out the giant ship critical to building the world’s biggest offshore wind farm

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    The Jan De Nul Group’s Voltaire in waters off China in Dec. 2022. As wind turbines get bigger, the vessels that install them are having to change, too.

    VCG | Visual China Group | Getty Images

    A project to build a facility described as “the world’s largest offshore wind farm” took a big step forward this month by producing its first power.

    Located in the North Sea, over 130 kilometers off England’s northeast coast, the Dogger Bank Wind Farm still has some way to go before it’s fully operational, but the installation and powering up of its first turbine is a major feat in itself.

    That’s because GE Vernova’s Haliade-X turbines stand 260 meters tall — that’s higher than San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge — and have blades measuring 107 meters.

    Turbine installation at Dogger Bank has required a huge amount of planning and preparation, with the Voltaire — a specialist vessel designed and built by the family-owned Jan De Nul Group — playing a key role.

    With a lifting capacity of 3,200 metric tons, the Voltaire — named after the 18th-century French philosopher — will have installed a total of 277 Haliade-X turbines when its work is complete.

    This image, from Dec. 2022, shows Jan De Nul Group’s Voltaire in China. A specialist installation vessel, the Voltaire has a lifting capacity of over 3,000 metric tons.

    VCG | Visual China Group | Getty Images

    Described by Dogger Bank as the “largest offshore jack-up installation vessel ever built,” in many ways, it’s the pinnacle of an extensive supply chain involving numerous businesses and stakeholders.

    The logistics are complex and multi-layered, with water depth a particular issue.

    The sea in the Dogger Bank Offshore Development Zone is up to 63 meters deep, meaning the Voltaire’s ability to work in deeper waters is crucial. 

    This is where its four legs come into play.

    According to Jan De Nul, the legs of the Voltaire — which was built at the COSCO Shipping Shipyard in China — enable it to lift itself above the water’s surface.

    With each leg measuring roughly 130 meters in length, they highlight the scale of equipment required to install huge offshore wind turbines like GE’s Haliade-X.

    In an online Q&A before installations at Dogger Bank began, Jan De Nul’s Rutger Standaert spoke of their importance. “Thanks to those legs, the Voltaire can effectively operate at a water depth of 80 meters,” Standaert, who is manager of vessel construction at the business, said.

    He noted that the Voltaire’s capabilities would enable installations further out to sea, allowing it to play a key role in the emerging floating offshore wind sector.

    “Off the Scottish coast, for example, expensive floating windfarms are often the only way to tap into offshore wind,” he said. “The water is too deep for fixed windfarms, but the Voltaire can offer new opportunities.”

    Thinking big

    Once completed, the Dogger Bank Wind Farm will have a total capacity of 3.6 gigawatts (GW) and be able to power as many as six million homes per year, according to its developers.

    Work on the project is taking place over three phases: Dogger Bank A, B, and C. A fourth phase of the wind farm known as Dogger Bank D has also been proposed, and would increase its capacity even further.

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    Søren Lassen is head of offshore wind research at Wood Mackenzie, a research and consultancy group. He described Dogger Bank as “a huge project, especially if you combine the three phases.”

    “It is a project that requires a lot of preparation,” he told CNBC. “There’s the logistics in terms of having the vessels to do the installation … and then of course, you also have the logistics in terms of getting the components to the marshaling port.”

    Both of these aspects were being made “a lot more complicated” by the use of next-generation turbines and a next-generation installation vessel, Lassen said.

    “You have … a lot of innovation that goes into this. And not only do you need a new vessel or new components, you also need new factories to build those components.”

    As such, a slew of upgrades and adjustments were needed to “reverberate throughout the entire value chain” for operations to run smoothly, he added.

    Bigger turbines, bigger challenges?

    This image, from June 2023, shows tower sections of GE’s Haliade-X wind turbine at a site in the U.S.

    David L. Ryan | The Boston Globe | Getty Images

    Thanks to their sheer size, larger turbine designs have created a specific set of needs for the offshore wind sector and sites like the Dogger Bank Wind Farm.

    “From cranes to vessels, we use a number of specially designed pieces of equipment to transport the Haliade-X turbines that will be used in this project,” a spokesperson for GE Offshore Wind said in a statement sent to CNBC.

    Wood Mackenzie’s Lassen stressed the importance of having dedicated transportation vessels, noting that the towers of turbines need to be broken into three or four sections in order to fit on board.  

    Massive blades represent the biggest challenge, he said, as they have to be laid flat. “And that just means that you need a very, very long transportation vessel, [and] that you need to stack them up accordingly.”

    Blades of the Haliade-X turbine stacked on top of each other at a site in the U.S. The past few years have seen companies develop increasingly large wind turbines.

    David L. Ryan | The Boston Globe | Getty Images

    Meanwhile, delays or bottlenecks can have far-reaching — and expensive — consequences.

    Lassen cited the example of blades not being delivered on time, which leads to vessels having to “go away and then come back half a year later to do the installation. This is very costly, of course.”

    And delays also lead to lost revenue.

    “These projects are going out [and] generating a lot of power from the day that they’re being installed, pretty much,” Lassen added.

    “So any delays [and] you’re also losing a lot of revenue, especially right now when the power prices are really, really high.”

    The bigger picture

    Offshore wind farms are set to play a significant role in reducing emissions and hitting net zero goals in the years ahead — but a supply chain that’s well-run and reliable will be key to the industry’s success.

    This is set to cost serious money. According to Wood Mackenzie, a base case of 30 GW of installations per year by 2030 — excluding China — will require investment of around $27 billion by 2026 to build out supply chains.

    “The supply chain needs to invest,” Lassen said, adding that it also needed capital, certainty and concrete, firm orders. However, cost pressures mean there is currently uncertainty over projects planned for 2025, 2026 and 2027.

    “Any delays to these projects takes away volume from the supply chain, and the supply chain needs that volume to convert it into revenue to build new factories,” Lassen explained.

    It is crucial that projects planned for the next few years go ahead, he added. “That helps the underlying supply chain ramp up so they can build the capacity [for] ’27, ’28, ’29 and well into the 2030s as well.”

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  • Installing solar isn’t the only big financial decision to make about controlling home power

    Installing solar isn’t the only big financial decision to make about controlling home power

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    A customer inspects a Tesla Motors Inc. Powerwall unit inside a home.

    Ian Thomas Jansen-Lonnquist | Bloomberg | Getty Images

    After a summer of extreme weather and wildfires and now during the peak of hurricane season, the power going out again is becoming familiar to more Americans. That means it may be a good time to consider a home backup power storage system.

    The pervasiveness of extreme weather and climate change, local utility reliability and cost may all factor into this financial decision.

    “Backup power may be warranted depending on regional factors and geography as well as the state of the infrastructure there,” said Benjamin R. Dierker, executive director of the Alliance for Innovation and Infrastructure, a research and educational organization, in an email. 

    In coastal areas, for instance, considerations include the resilience of storm or sea walls, the quality and capacity of drainage infrastructure and the electrical grid’s hardiness, he said. In other areas, extreme weather conditions like high winds, tornados and ice may cause falling trees or downed lines — a risk that’s significantly mitigated if there are buried utility lines rather than overhead lines, Dierker said. Pre-emptive shutdowns, due to extreme weather or other factors, can also be a consideration.

    As of Sept. 11, there have been 23 confirmed weather/climate disaster events with losses exceeding $1 billion each to affect United States, according to the National Centers for Environmental Information, which has a graphic that shows the locations of these disasters. These events included two flooding events, 18 severe storm events, one tropical cyclone event, one wildfire event, and one winter storm event. 

    Here’s what consumers need to consider about home back-up power options:

    Appliance needs during power outages

    A good first step is to think about the most important appliances you are running on electricity and how long you might realistically need them to run in the event of an outage, said Vikram Aggarwal, chief executive and founder of EnergySage, which helps consumers compare clean home energy solutions.

    If you have minimal backup needs, a small portable fossil-fuel generator or battery could suffice, which can cost a few hundred dollars. But if you want your home to operate as normal, you’ll want to consider whole home options.

    Location can be a factor since in some areas, the power goes out infrequently or for only short periods of time. In some states like California, Texas and Louisiana, however, it can be a whole different ball game. California consumers, for example, can get an up-to-date sense of outages in their area to get a sense of what their risk may be.

    Fossil fuel vs. battery power

    If you’re not opposed to fossil fuel-powered options, there are several categories to consider based on your power needs. For lower power needs, a portable generator, which often runs on gasoline or diesel can cost a few hundred dollars to several thousand dollars. There are also higher-priced portable versions that are usually quieter and more fuel-efficient and may be able to power multiple large appliances—and for longer. How long depends in part on the appliances you’re powering.

    A whole home standby generator, meanwhile, is permanently installed and automatically kicks on when the power goes out. This generator type is often fueled by propane or natural gas and costs vary based on size, brand and fuel type. There are options in the $3,000 to $5,000 range, but with installation the total can be considerably higher. This could be a good option if you’re expecting outages for multiple days; theoretically, the generator can run for as long as fuel is supplied, but it can be advisable to shut it down for engine-cooling purposes.

    For the environmentally-inclined, battery-powered backups can be a good option for their more environmentally friendly and quieter nature. For a few hundred dollars, give or take, there are lower-priced smaller to mid-size battery options that people can purchase and that will last for several hours.

    There are also battery-powered options to back up the whole home that offer many of the same functions as conventional generators, but without the need for refueling, according to EnergySage. Consumers might expect to pay $10,000 to $20,000 to install a home battery backup system, EnergySage said. This can often last for eight to 12 hours, or even longer if you aren’t using it to power items such as air conditioning or electric heat.

    Incentives that lower the cost of purchase and installation

    When thinking about what type of backup to choose, incentives can factor into the equation. Thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, households can receive a 30% tax credit for a battery storage installation, even if it’s not paired with a solar system, Aggarwal said.

    Other state and local incentives may also be available. For instance, in some markets like California, Vermont, Massachusetts and New York, utilities pay consumers to tap into their batteries during peak periods like the summer, Aggarwal said. Consumers with larger batteries—10kWh or more—may be able to earn hundreds of dollars a year, he said.

    EVs as a backup power option for the home

    Some electrical vehicles can be used to back up essential items, or, in some cases, a whole home.

    Ford’s F-150 Lightning, for example, can power a home for three days, or up to 10 days under certain circumstances, according to the company. With the required system installed, and the truck plugged in, stored power is transferred seamlessly to the home in the case of a power outage. For its part, GM recently said it would expand its vehicle-to-home bidirectional charging technology to its entire lineup of Ultium-based electric vehicles by model year 2026.

    In the past, Jim Farley, Ford CEO has spoken about how the F-150 Lightning’s abilities as a source of backup power for homes and job sites have been a real “eye-opener” for the automaker. 

    “If you’re contemplating spending $10,000 on a whole home gas generator system, why not think about an EV with this capability instead?” said Stephen Pantano, head of market transformation at Rewiring America, a nonprofit focused on electrifying homes, businesses and communities.

    Consumers in the market for a new stove might also consider an induction model with an integrated battery to power it or other items such a fridge on an as-needed basis, Pantano said. “This opens up new possibilities for power backups that weren’t there before.”  

    Solar-plus-storage can lead to long-term savings

    Home solar panels are becoming more popular, but most are connected to the grid, and you need some kind of battery storage in order to have backup power, said Sarah Delisle, vice president of government affairs and communications for Swell Energy, a home energy solutions provider.

    That’s where a solar-plus-storage system can come in handy. It allows people to use electricity generated from their solar panels during the day at a later point, which can be particularly useful for people who live in areas where there are frequent power outages, said Ted Tiffany, senior technical lead at the Building Decarbonization Coalition, a group that promotes moving buildings off fossil fuels.

    A solar-plus-storage system costs about $25,000 to $35,000, depending on the size of the battery and other factors, according to the U.S. Dept of Energy. It’s easier and more cost-effective to install panels and the battery at the same time, but it’s not required. Homeowners who have already installed solar panels and want to add storage, might expect to pay between $12,000 to $22,000 for a battery, according to the Energy Department. Consumers who purchase a battery on its own or with backup are eligible for federal tax credits. Some states provide additional solar battery incentives. 

    Also consider the long-term savings potential, Tiffany said. He has a family member who, with electrical upgrades, spent around $8,000 on a fossil fuel-powered whole home generator. Putting that money into solar instead might have been more economical because of the energy savings over time and tax incentives, he said. 

    Consumers can visit EnergySage to find contractors and get information about solar and incentives. They can also visit, Switch is On, which helps consumers find information on electrification and efficiency measures for home appliances that supports the renewable energy integration.

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  • Rooftop solar: How homeowners should do the math on the climate change investment

    Rooftop solar: How homeowners should do the math on the climate change investment

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    Solar panels create electricity on the roof of a house in Rockport, Massachusetts, U.S., June 6, 2022. Picture taken with a drone. 

    Brian Snyder | Reuters

    When Josh Hurwitz decided to put solar power on his Connecticut house, he had three big reasons: To cut his carbon footprint, to eventually store electricity in a solar-powered battery in case of blackouts, and – crucially – to save money.

    Now he’s on track to pay for his system in six years, then save tens of thousands of dollars in the 15 years after that, while giving himself a hedge against utility-rate inflation. It’s working so well, he’s preparing to add a Tesla-made battery to let him store the power he makes. Central to the deal: Tax credits and other benefits from both the state of Connecticut and from Washington, D.C., he says.

    “You have to make the money work,” Hurwitz said. “You can have the best of intentions, but if the numbers don’t work it doesn’t make sense to do it.” 

    Hurwitz’s experience points up one benefit of the Inflation Reduction Act that passed in August: Its extension and expansion of tax credits to promote the spread of home-based solar power systems. Adoption is expected to grow 26 percent faster because of the law, which extends tax credits that had been set to expire by 2024 through 2035, says a report by Wood Mackenzie and the Solar Energy Industry Association. 

    Those credits will cover 30 percent of the cost of the system – and, for the first time, there’s a 30 percent credit for batteries that can store newly-produced power for use when it’s needed.

    “The main thing the law does is give the industry, and consumers, assurance that the tax credits will be there today, tomorrow and for the next 10 years,” said Warren Leon, executive director of the Clean Energy States Alliance, a bipartisan coalition of state government energy agencies. “Rooftop solar is still expensive enough to require some subsidies.”

    California’s solar energy net metering decision

    Certainty has been the thing that’s hard to come by in solar, where frequent policy changes make the market a “solar coaster,” as one industry executive put it. Just as the expanded federal tax credits were taking effect, California on Dec. 15 slashed another big incentive allowing homeowners to sell excess solar energy generated by their systems back to the grid at attractive rates, scrambling the math anew in the largest U.S. state and its biggest solar-power market — though the changes do not take effect until next April.

    Put the state and federal changes together, and Wood Mackenzie thinks the California solar market will actually shrink sharply in 2024, down by as much as 39%. Before the Inflation Reduction Act incentives were factored in, the consulting firm forecast a 50% drop with the California policy shift. Residential solar is coming off a historic quarter, with 1.57 GW installed, a 43% increase year over year, and California a little over one-third of the total, according to Wood Mackenzie.

    For potential switchers, tax credits can quickly recover part of the up-front cost of going green. Hurwitz took the federal tax credit for his system when he installed it in 2020, and is preparing to add a battery now that it, too, comes with tax credits. Some contractors offer deals where they absorb the upfront cost – and claim the credit – in exchange for agreements to lease back the system. 

    Combined with savings on power homeowners don’t  buy from utilities, the tax credits can make rooftop solar systems pay for themselves within as little as five years – and save $25,000 or more, after recovering the initial investment, within two decades.  

    “Will this growth have legs? Absolutely,” said Veronica Zhang, portfolio manager of the Van Eck Environmental Sustainability Fund, a green fund not exclusively focused on solar. “With utility rates going up, it’s a good time to move if you were thinking about it in the first place.”

    How to calculate installation costs and benefits

    Here is how the numbers work.

    Nationally, the cost for solar in 2022 ranges from $16,870 to $23,170, after the tax credit, for a 10-kilowatt system, the size for which quotes are sought most often on EnergySage, a Boston-based quote-comparison site for solar panels and batteries. Most households can use a system of six or seven kilowatts, EnergySage spokesman Nick Liberati said. A 10-12 kilowatt battery costs about $13,000 more, he added.

    There’s a significant variation in those numbers by region, and by the size and other factors specific to the house, EnergySage CEO Vikram Aggarwal said. In New Jersey, for example, a 7-kilowatt system costs on average $20,510 before the credit and $15,177 after it. In Houston, it’s about $1,000 less. In Chicago, that system is close to $2,000 more than in New Jersey. A more robust 10-kilowatt system costs more than $31,000 before the credit around Chicago, but $26,500 in Tampa, Fla. All of these average prices are as quoted by EnergySage. 

    The effectiveness of the system may also vary because of things specific to the house, including the placement of trees on or near the property, as we found out when we asked EnergySage’s online bid-solicitation system to look at specific homes.

    The bids for one suburban Chicago house ranged as low as $19,096 after the federal credit and as high as $30,676.

    Offsetting those costs are electricity savings and state tax breaks that recover the cost of the system in as little as 4.5 years, according to the bids. Contractors claimed that power savings and state incentives could save as much as another $27,625 over 20 years, on top of the capital cost.

    Alternatively, consumers can finance the system but still own it themselves – we were quoted interest rates of 2.99 to 8.99 percent. That eliminates consumers’ up-front cost, but cuts into the savings as some of the avoided utility costs go to pay off interest, Aggarwal said. 

    The key to maximizing savings is to know the specific regulations in your state – and get help understanding often-complex contracts, said Hurwitz, who is a physician.

    Energy storage and excess power

    Some states have more generous subsidies than others, and more pro-consumer rules mandating that utilities pay higher prices for excess power that home solar systems create during peak production hours, or even extract from homeowners’ batteries.

    California had among the most generous rules of all until this week. But state utility regulators agreed to let utilities pay much less for excess power they are required to buy, after power companies argued that the rates were too high, and raised power prices for other customers.

    Wood Mackenzie said the details of California’s decision made it look less onerous than the firm had expected. EnergySage says the payback period for California systems without a battery will be 10 years instead of six after the new rules take effect in April. Savings in the years afterward will be about 60 percent less, the company estimates. Systems with a battery, which pay for themselves after 10 years, will be little affected because their owners keep most of their excess power instead of selling it to the utility, according to EnergySage. 

    “The new [California rules] certainly elongate current payback periods for solar and solar-plus-storage, but not by as much as the previous proposal,” Wood Mackenzie said in the Dec. 16 report. “By 2024, the real impacts of the IRA will begin to come to fruition.”

    The more expensive power is from a local utility, the more sense home solar will make. And some contractors will back claims about power savings with agreements to pay part of your utility bill if the systems don’t produce as much energy as promised. 

    “You have to do your homework before you sign,” Hurwitz said. “But energy costs always go up. That’s another hidden incentive.”

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  • Planned wind farm told it will need to shut down for five months a year to protect parrots

    Planned wind farm told it will need to shut down for five months a year to protect parrots

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    An Orange-Bellied Parrot perched on the edge of a feeding bowl. The species is listed as being critically endangered.

    Margot Kiesskalt | Istock | Getty Images

    Plans for a major new wind farm in Australia were given the thumbs up this month — on the provision its turbines go offline for five months a year to protect a parrot species.

    In an environmental assessment report of the Robbins Island Renewable Energy Park, Tasmania’s Environment Protection Authority said its board had “determined to approve the proposal” for the project, which could have as many as 122 wind turbines and is overseen by ACEN Australia.

    One of the approval conditions relates to the Orange-bellied parrot, which the Australian government says is critically endangered.

    “Unless otherwise approved in writing by the EPA Board, all WTG [wind turbine generators] must be shut down during the northern OBP migration period (1 March to 31 May inclusive) and the southern OBP migration period (15 September to 15 November inclusive),” the EPA document says.

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    In a statement last week, EPA board chair Andrew Paul said the organization had concluded that “significant mitigation measures” were needed in relation to “potential impacts on the orange-bellied parrot population.”

    This was due to “the limited knowledge about the importance of Robbins Island in the annual northern and southern migrations” as well as a need to account for a National Recovery Plan for the species.

    “This has led to the inclusion of [project approval] condition FF6 which imposes shutdown periods during the migrations totaling five months when the turbines cannot operate,” Paul added.

    Robbins Island is located in waters off the northwest coast of Tasmania, a large island and Australian state. If all goes to plan, the total capacity of the proposed wind farm could be as much as 900 megawatts.

    CNBC contacted ACEN Australia via the Robbins Island project’s website, but did not receive a response prior to publication. The Ayala Corporation, parent company of ACEN Australia majority-owner ACEN Corporation, did not respond to a CNBC request for comment.

    In a Facebook post, project developers said they welcomed approval from the EPA, adding that further approvals were needed from the Circular Head Council and the Commonwealth Government’s Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. These were expected in early 2023, they said.

    In comments reported by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, ACEN Australia Chief Operating Officer David Pollington described the switch-off condition as “completely unexpected.”

    The firm would “need to consider our options going forward,” the ABC report quoted Pollington as saying.

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    Amid global plans to ramp up wind power capacity in the years ahead, the interaction of wind turbines with the natural world — including marine and bird life — is likely to become a key area of debate.

    The U.K.-based Royal Society for the Protection of Birds warns that wind farms “can harm birds through disturbance, displacement, acting as barriers, habitat loss and collision,” adding that “impacts can arise from a single development and cumulatively multiple projects.”

    The U.S. Energy Information Administration has said that some wind projects and turbines can result in bat and bird casualties.

    “These deaths may contribute to declines in the population of species also affected by other human-related impacts,” it notes. “The wind energy industry and the U.S. government are researching ways to reduce the effect of wind turbines on birds and bats.”

    Brussels-based industry body WindEurope says the effects of projects can be prevented “by adequately planning, siting, and designing wind farms.”

    “The impact of wind farms on birds and bats is extremely low compared to the impact of climate change and other human activity,” it adds.

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  • Renewables to overtake coal and become world’s biggest source of electricity generation by 2025, IEA says

    Renewables to overtake coal and become world’s biggest source of electricity generation by 2025, IEA says

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    Wind turbines in the Netherlands. A report from the International Energy Agency “expects renewables to become the primary energy source for electricity generation globally in the next three years, overtaking coal.”

    Mischa Keijser | Image Source | Getty Images

    Renewables are on course to overtake coal and become the planet’s biggest source of electricity generation by the middle of this decade, according to the International Energy Agency.

    The IEA’s Renewables 2022 report, published Tuesday, predicts a major shift within the world’s electricity mix at a time of significant volatility and geopolitical tension.

    “The first truly global energy crisis, triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, has sparked unprecedented momentum for renewables,” it said.

    “Renewables [will] become the largest source of global electricity generation by early 2025, surpassing coal,” it added.

    According to its “main-case forecast,” the IEA expects renewables to account for nearly 40% of worldwide electricity output in 2027, coinciding with a fall in the share of coal, natural gas and nuclear generation.

    The analysis comes at a time of huge disruption within global energy markets following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February.

    The Kremlin was the biggest supplier of both natural gas and petroleum oils to the EU in 2021, according to Eurostat. However, gas exports from Russia to the European Union have slid this year, as member states sought to drain the Kremlin’s war chest.

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    As such, major European economies have been attempting to shore up supplies from alternative sources for the colder months ahead — and beyond.

    In a statement issued alongside its report, the IEA highlighted the consequences of the current geopolitical situation.

    “The global energy crisis is driving a sharp acceleration in installations of renewable power, with total capacity growth worldwide set to almost double in the next five years,” it said.

    “Energy security concerns caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have motivated countries to increasingly turn to renewables such as solar and wind to reduce reliance on imported fossil fuels, whose prices have spiked dramatically,” it added.

    In its largest-ever upward revision to its renewable power forecast, the IEA now expects the world’s renewable capacity to surge by nearly 2,400 gigawatts between 2022 and 2027 — the same amount as the “entire installed power capacity of China today.”

    Wind and solar surge ahead

    The IEA expects electricity stemming from wind and solar photovoltaic (which converts sunlight directly into electricity) to supply nearly 20% of the planet’s power generation in 2027.

    “These variable technologies account for 80% of global renewable generation increase over the forecast period, which will require additional sources of power system flexibility,” it added.

    However, the IEA expects growth in geothermal, bioenergy, hydropower and concentrated solar power to stay “limited despite their critical role in integrating wind and solar PV into global electricity systems.”

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    Fatih Birol, the IEA’s executive director, said the global energy crisis had kicked renewables “into an extraordinary new phase of even faster growth as countries seek to capitalise on their energy security benefits.”

    “The world is set to add as much renewable power in the next 5 years as it did in the previous 20 years,” Birol said.

    The IEA chief added that the continued acceleration of renewables was “critical” to keeping “the door open to limiting global warming to 1.5 °C.”

    The 1.5 degree target is a reference to 2015′s Paris Agreement, a landmark accord that aims to “limit global warming to well below 2, preferably to 1.5 degrees Celsius, compared to pre-industrial levels.”

    Cutting human-made carbon dioxide emissions to net-zero by 2050 is seen as crucial when it comes to meeting the 1.5 degrees Celsius target.

    Earlier this year, a report from the International Energy Agency said clean energy investment could be on course to exceed $2 trillion per year by 2030, an increase of over 50% compared to today.

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  • Utility recommends natural gas plant despite objections

    Utility recommends natural gas plant despite objections

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    NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The nation’s largest public utility on Friday recommended replacing an aging coal burning power plant with natural gas, ignoring calls for the Tennessee Valley Authority to speed its transition to renewable energy.

    TVA announced the completion of its environmental impact statement for replacing the Cumberland Fossil Plant near Cumberland City, Tennessee. The federally owned utility considered replacing the two coal-fired turbines there with solar panels but instead recommended a combined-cycle natural gas plant.

    Solar and battery storage would be more costly, requiring transmission upgrades that could take a decade to complete, according to a news release from TVA. The decision still needs the approval of TVA President and CEO Jeff Lyash, who has previously spoken in favor of natural gas.

    “Our focus is on ensuring that we provide affordable, reliable, resilient, and clean energy for generations to come,” Lyash said in the news release.

    TVA’s plan would idle one unit of the coal plant by the end of 2026 and the second by the end of 2028. The utility says a natural gas plant there could be built and operational by 2026, with construction beginning as early as summer 2023.

    The announcement drew backlash from groups that include the Center for Biological Diversity.

    “TVA’s plan to build a new gas plant and pipeline in the midst of climate catastrophe is reckless,” Gaby Sarri-Tobar, with the group’s energy justice program, said in a statement. “This is a slap in the face to the 10 million customers who rely on TVA and makes a mockery of the Biden administration’s clean energy pledges.”

    President Joe Biden has said he wants a carbon-pollution-free energy sector by 2035. TVA has set a goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2035, compared with 2005 levels.

    Scientists, meanwhile, have warned that failing to meet Biden’s 2035 target will only lead to more intense and more frequent extreme weather events, as well as droughts, floods and wildfires. Teams of meteorologists across the world have predicted there is nearly a 50-50 chance that Earth will temporarily hit a global warming temperature threshold international agreements are trying to prevent within the next five years.

    The TVA board of directors last year delegated any decision on Cumberland’s replacement to Lyash. He has said TVA will not be able to meet the 100% reduction goal without technological advances in energy storage, carbon capture and small modular nuclear reactors. The utility has its own aspirational goal of net zero emissions by 2050.

    Those opposing the construction of a new gas plant have pointed out it will likely be around for decades, long past the 2035 decarbonization goal. They have also criticized TVA for not considering options that could decrease the demand for new electricity like improved energy efficiency and demand response — which helps customers change their usage patterns to flatten peak demand periods.

    U.S. Sen. Ed Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, has emerged in legislative hearings as a key critic of TVA. He said the utility should not be moving forward on the Cumberland decision while Biden’s nominees for its board await Senate confirmation. Their installation would create a new board majority.

    “The Tennessee Valley Authority is showing yet again that it is willing to lock its customers into expensive and volatile fossil fuel generation, rather than take this opportunity to adopt reliable renewable energy,” Markey said in a statement Friday. “As the largest public power company in the country, the TVA has a responsibility to be a leader, not a laggard, in delivering clean, affordable power to its customers.”

    Meanwhile, a permit application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is still pending for a 32-mile (51-kilometer) natural gas pipeline branch to link to the proposed new Cumberland plant. Kinder Morgan Inc. said one of its subsidiaries filed the application in July. Pending regulatory approval, construction would begin in August 2024, with an expected September 2025 for the pipeline to be in service, the company said.

    TVA provides electricity to 10 million people in Tennessee and parts of the surrounding states of Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky, Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia.

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  • Coal-fired plant imploded in New Jersey for battery array

    Coal-fired plant imploded in New Jersey for battery array

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    LOGAN TOWNSHIP, N.J. — A former coal-fired power plant in New Jersey was imploded Friday, and its owners announced plans for a new $1 billion venture on the site, where batteries will be deployed to store power from clean energy sources including wind and solar.

    The move came as New Jersey moves aggressively to adopt clean energy, including its push to be the East Coast leader in offshore wind energy.

    Starwood Energy demolished the former Logan Generating Plant, with the head of New Jersey’s Board of Public Utilities pushing a ceremonial button; the actual explosives used in bringing the structure down were triggered by a licensed demolition contractor.

    Logan is one of two former coal-fired power plants that the company decided in March to shutter and tear down under an agreement with the state and a local utility. The other is the former Chambers Cogeneration Plant in Carneys Point, which has yet to be dismantled.

    They were the last two coal-fired power plants operating in the state until they closed three months ago, and both will host battery storage projects, said Himanshu Saxena, CEO of Starwood, a Greenwich, Connecticut, private equity investment firm specializing in energy infrastructure projects.

    “This is the end of coal in this state,” Saxena said.

    The closures are part of the latest wave of coal-burning units to be retired as states try to fight climate change by requiring more carbon-free sources of electricity.

    “Wind doesn’t always blow; solar doesn’t always shine,” he said. “We need systems where you can store the energy. You have to build battery storage products.”

    The plant, on the banks of the Delaware River in the Philadelphia suburbs of southern New Jersey, began operating in 1994.

    Shortly before 11 a.m. Friday, an emergency siren sounded, indicating the imminent detonation of explosives placed strategically at the base of the plant’s smokestack and in a larger nearby building.

    A series of loud blasts rang out, and concussive waves of pressure radiated from the site as the structures began to crumble into a heap of smoke and dust.

    Saxena said he has a long history with power generation and environmental concerns.

    “I worked at a coal plant in India; there were no scrubbers,” he said, referring to emissions-control equipment. “You went in with a white shirt and came out with a black shirt.”

    Environmental and public interest groups including the Sierra Club pushed Atlantic City Electric to end an agreement that locked rate-payers into what the Sierra Club termed above-market electricity rates, and to end the operation of the two plants.

    “More utilities need to recognize the changing landscape and that they have a responsibility to reduce carbon pollution,” said Ramon Cruz, national president of the Sierra Club, adding he hopes the deal will be a model for other states and companies.

    Atlantic City Electric estimates that termination of the agreement will save ratepayers $30 million through 2024.

    ———

    Follow Wayne Parry on Twitter at www.twitter.com/WayneParryAC

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  • Coal-fired plant imploded in New Jersey for battery array

    Coal-fired plant imploded in New Jersey for battery array

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    LOGAN TOWNSHIP, N.J. — A former coal-fired power plant in New Jersey was imploded Friday, and its owners announced plans for a new $1 billion venture on the site, where batteries will be deployed to store power from clean energy sources including wind and solar.

    The move came as New Jersey moves aggressively to adopt clean energy, including its push to be the East Coast leader in offshore wind energy.

    Starwood Energy demolished the former Logan Generating Plant, with the head of New Jersey’s Board of Public Utilities pushing a ceremonial button; the actual explosives used in bringing the structure down were triggered by a licensed demolition contractor.

    Logan is one of two former coal-fired power plants that the company decided in March to shutter and tear down under an agreement with the state and a local utility. The other is the former Chambers Cogeneration Plant in Carneys Point, which has yet to be dismantled.

    They were the last two coal-fired power plants operating in the state until they closed three months ago, and both will host battery storage projects, said Himanshu Saxena, CEO of Starwood, a Greenwich, Connecticut, private equity investment firm specializing in energy infrastructure projects.

    “This is the end of coal in this state,” Saxena said.

    The closures are part of the latest wave of coal-burning units to be retired as states try to fight climate change by requiring more carbon-free sources of electricity.

    “Wind doesn’t always blow; solar doesn’t always shine,” he said. “We need systems where you can store the energy. You have to build battery storage products.”

    The plant, on the banks of the Delaware River in the Philadelphia suburbs of southern New Jersey, began operating in 1994.

    Shortly before 11 a.m. Friday, an emergency siren sounded, indicating the imminent detonation of explosives placed strategically at the base of the plant’s smokestack and in a larger nearby building.

    A series of loud blasts rang out, and concussive waves of pressure radiated from the site as the structures began to crumble into a heap of smoke and dust.

    Saxena said he has a long history with power generation and environmental concerns.

    “I worked at a coal plant in India; there were no scrubbers,” he said, referring to emissions-control equipment. “You went in with a white shirt and came out with a black shirt.”

    Environmental and public interest groups including the Sierra Club pushed Atlantic City Electric to end an agreement that locked rate-payers into what the Sierra Club termed above-market electricity rates, and to end the operation of the two plants.

    “More utilities need to recognize the changing landscape and that they have a responsibility to reduce carbon pollution,” said Ramon Cruz, national president of the Sierra Club, adding he hopes the deal will be a model for other states and companies.

    Atlantic City Electric estimates that termination of the agreement will save ratepayers $30 million through 2024.

    ———

    Follow Wayne Parry on Twitter at www.twitter.com/WayneParryAC

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  • Water levels in Zimbabwe’s biggest dam too low for power

    Water levels in Zimbabwe’s biggest dam too low for power

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    HARARE, Zimbabwe — Electricity shortages that have been plaguing Zimbabwe are set to worsen after an authority that manages the country’s biggest dam said water levels are now too low to continue power generation activities.

    The Zambezi River Authority, which runs the Kariba Dam jointly owned by Zimbabwe and neighboring Zambia, said in a letter dated Nov. 25 that water levels are at a record low and electricity generation must stop.

    The Kariba South Hydro Power Station provides Zimbabwe with about 70% of its electricity and has been producing significantly less than its capacity of 1,050 megawatts in recent years due to receding water levels caused by droughts. The Kariba plant has been generating 572 megawatts of the 782 megawatts of electricity produced in the country, according to the website of the state-run power firm, Zimbabwe Power Company.

    The dam “no longer has any usable water to continue undertaking power generation operations,” said the authority’s chief executive officer, Munyaradzi Munodawafa, in a letter to the Zimbabwe Power Company. The authority “is left with no choice” except to “wholly suspend” power generation activities pending a review in January when water levels are expected to have improved, said Munodawafa in the letter seen by The Associated Press and widely reported in local media.

    The authority has been reporting low levels of water at Kariba Dam during this period preceding the rainy season in recent years, but not enough to shut down power generation activities.

    Coal fired power stations that also provide some electricity are unreliable due to aging infrastructure that constantly breaks down, while the country’s solar potential is yet to be fully developed to meaningfully augment supply. Households and industries have been going for hours, and at times days, without electricity due to shortages in recent months.

    The State-run Herald newspaper reported on Monday that an ongoing expansion of a major coal-fired power station, Hwange, could help plug the shortages exacerbated by the Kariba plant shutdown if it goes live by year-end as scheduled.

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  • US regulators to vote on largest dam demolition in history

    US regulators to vote on largest dam demolition in history

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    PORTLAND, Ore. — The largest dam demolition and river restoration plan in the world could be close to reality Thursday as U.S. regulators vote on a plan to remove four aging hydro-electric structures, reopening hundreds of miles of California river habitat to imperiled salmon.

    The vote by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on the lower Klamath River dams is the last major regulatory hurdle and the biggest milestone facing a $500 million demolition proposal championed by Native American tribes and environmentalists for years.

    Approval of the application to surrender the dams’ operating license is the bedrock of the most ambitious salmon restoration plan in history, and if approved the parties overseeing the project will accept license transfer and could begin dam removal as early as this summer. More than 300 miles (482.80 kilometers) of salmon habitat in the Klamath River and its tributaries would benefit, said Amy Souers Kober, spokeswoman for American Rivers, which monitors dam removals and advocates for river restoration.

    “This is an incredibly important milestone,” she said. “This project really carries important lessons for rivers and the conservation movement, and the most important lesson is the leadership of the tribes. It’s because of the tribes that these dams will come out and the river be will restored.”

    The vote comes at a critical moment when human-caused climate change is hammering the Western United States with prolonged drought, said Tom Kiernan, president of American Rivers. He said allowing California’s second-largest river to flow naturally, and its flood plains and wetlands to function normally, would mitigate those impacts.

    “The best way of managing increasing floods and droughts is to allow the river system to be healthy and do its thing,” he said.

    “Instead of having reservoirs where a significant amount of that water evaporates, it’s better to have that river flow and allow the flood plains and wetlands filter the water and bring it down to groundwater where it doesn’t evaporate.”

    The Klamath Basin watershed covers more than 14,500 square miles (37,500 square kilometers) and the Klamath itself was once the third-largest salmon producing river on the West Coast. But the dams, constructed between 1918 and 1962, essentially cut the river in half and prevent salmon from reaching spawning grounds upstream. Consequently, salmon runs have been dwindling for years.

    Native tribes that rely on the Klamath River and its salmon for their way of life have been a driving force behind bringing the dams down. Members of the Yurok, Karuk and Hoopa tribes plan to light a bonfire and watch the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission meeting Thursday on a remote Klamath River sandbar via a satellite uplink to symbolize their hopes for the river’s renewal.

    Frankie Myers, Yurok vice chairman, told The Associated Press before the meeting that he was excited, but also anxious, about the outcome of the vote.

    “We’ve been doing this a long time and we’ve been let down so much over the last two decades,” he said. “If there’s still salmon in the water, they have a chance and we have a chance. …They will come down. They have to come down. Our existence depends on it.”

    But plans to remove the dams have been controversial.

    A group of homeowners who live around Copco Lake, one of the large reservoirs, have fought the dam removal plans for years and say the values of their lakefront homes have plummeted. A coalition formed to oppose the demolition plan argues that the money set aside to cover the demolition isn’t adequate, and that cost overruns and liability concerns would fall on the shoulders of taxpayers.

    They also question whether removing the dams will work to restore salmon because of changes in the Pacific Ocean that are also affecting the fish, said Richard Marshall, head of the Siskiyou County Water Users Association.

    “The whole question is, will this add to the increased production of salmon? It has everything to do with what’s going on in the ocean (and) we think this will turn out to be a futile effort,” he said. “Nobody’s ever tried to take care of the problem by taking care of the existing situation without just removing the dams.”

    Rate payers in the rural counties around the dams are also angered by the project, which is funded by $200 million from PacifiCorp and $250 million from a voter-approved water bond in California.

    U.S. regulators raised flags about the potential for cost overruns and liability issues in 2020, nearly killing the proposal, but Oregon, California and PacifiCorp, which operates the hydroelectric dams and is owned by billionaire Warren Buffett’s company Berkshire Hathaway, teamed up to add another $50 million in contingency funds.

    The utility would face steep costs to add fish ladders and other environmental mitigations to the outdated dams in order to renew their hydroelectric license and in recent years has diversified their energy portfolio enough to absorb the loss of the dams, the company has said.

    If regulators approve on Thursday, Oregon, California and the Klamath River Renewal Corporation — the entity formed to oversee the demolition and environmental mitigation — must sign off on the license surrender and then work can begin. Regulators could also approve it, but add further specifications, or reject it altogether.

    If approved, Copco 2, the smallest dam, could come down as early as the coming summer, said Craig Tucker, natural resources policy consultant for the Karuk Tribe. In early 2024, the reservoirs behind the dams would be slowly drawn down, with the hope of putting the river fully back in its channel by late 2024, he said.

    The scope of the project exceeds the other largest U.S. dam demolition to date, when two century-old dams were breached on the Eolwha River on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula in 2012, said Kober, of American Rivers. Environmental experts are unaware of any other river restoration project in the world with a bigger scope than the one planned for the lower Klamath, she added.

    Across the U.S., 1,951 dams have been demolished as of February, including 57 in 2021, the organization said. Most of those have come down in the past 25 years as facilities age and come up for relicensing.

    ———

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  • Arizona company adds $1B solar power parts plant in Alabama

    Arizona company adds $1B solar power parts plant in Alabama

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    MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Arizona-based First Solar Inc. has selected Alabama as the site of a more than $1 billion factory that will manufacture modules that generate solar power, the company announced Wednesday.

    First Solar said in a statement that the plant, to be located in Lawrence County in the Tennessee Valley region, will create more than 700 jobs.

    The factory is part of a previously announced plan to increase First Solar’s U.S. manufacturing capacity to more than 10 gigawatts by 2025, the company said. It already has three factories in Ohio, one of which is expected to begin production next year.

    First Solar describes itself as the only major solar manufacturer that has headquarters in the United States and is not making components in China. The project will bring the company’s total investment in U.S. manufacturing to more than $4 billion, it said.

    A bill signed by President Joe Biden in August will direct spending, tax credits and loans to bolster technology like solar panels; consumer efforts to improve home energy efficiency; emissions-reducing equipment for coal- and gas-powered power plants; and air pollution controls for farms, ports and low-income communities.

    First Solar CEO Mark Widmar said that legislation “has firmly placed America on the path to a sustainable energy future” and the new plants will help with the transition toward cleaner energy, which supporters say will help stem climate change.

    ———

    This story has been corrected to reflect that the plant will be in Lawrence County.

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  • Utility backs solar farm atop capped Kentucky coal ash pit

    Utility backs solar farm atop capped Kentucky coal ash pit

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    NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The nation’s largest public utility has proposed building a $216 million solar farm project in Kentucky atop a capped coal ash storage pit at one of its coal-fired power plants.

    The federal Tennessee Valley Authority voted Thursday to advance the initiative at Shawnee Fossil Plant in Paducah. The utility called it a first-of-its-kind pilot project that would convert land used as a waste heap for the byproduct of burning coal for power into a solar farm that would help produce 100 megawatts. Officials say the model could ultimately be used at other closed Tennessee Valley Authority coal ash sites, with a capacity of 1,000 megawatts combined if they were to pursue that expansion.

    The solar initiative is among the changes unveiled by the utility in recent years to adjust operations to combat global warming. Environmental advocates, however, have continued to note that TVA’s efforts still fall short of the goal by President Joe Biden’s administration for a carbon pollution-free energy sector by 2035.

    “Moving quickly on this solar cap installation option at the Shawnee site allows us to move further and faster, as we build out towards our renewable generation goals while we balance the affordability, reliability and resiliency that our customers depend on,” Don Moul, TVA’s chief operating officer, said during a board meeting Thursday in Starkville, Mississippi.

    TVA has said installing the solar panels at the 300-acre coal ash site, which is in the process of being closed, would not compromise the turf used to cap the waste. The project can tap into the transmission infrastructure already in place at the plant, which burns coal to generate approximately 8 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity a year, enough to supply 540,000 homes. Additionally, TVA officials are looking into whether the new federal Inflation Reduction Act could help the project along.

    Pending environmental and regulatory reviews, the project could be operational within two years, Moul said.

    Amy Kelly, Tennessee’s representative on the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign, said the group is “encouraged by TVA’s initiative to place cheaper, reliable and clean solar power on the closing ash ponds at Shawnee.” But she also said “it is also critical that TVA clean up the toxic mess left behind from more than six decades of burning coal.” She said TVA should move toward further solar development, noting that the utility manages almost 300,000 acres of land.

    Kelly said the coal ash is in unlined pits at Shawnee, contaminating groundwater. TVA spokesperson Scott Brooks said that when its groundwater monitoring shows “corrective action is necessary,” the utility takes those steps outlined in the federal coal ash rule and state rules.

    Kelly also said renewables should be considered, instead of natural gas, as they wind down work at aging coal power plants. Switching to natural gas is under consideration for TVA’s Cumberland and Kingston coal plants in Tennessee, though final decisions haven’t been announced yet.

    TVA already has plans to add 10,000 megawatts of solar power to its system by 2035. It has sought requests for proposals for up to 5,000 megawatts of carbon-free energy before 2029. TVA has also teamed up on projects with several prominent industrial customers who want their operations tied to renewables. In addition, it is developing small module nuclear reactors and infrastructure to support electric vehicles.

    But critics have said TVA is still falling short on its climate change obligation. During a September hearing, Democratic U.S. Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts expressed “frustration with TVA” and said it’s “kind of disgusting” that TVA brags about figuring out nuclear power plants, but “energy efficiency, or wind or solar, eludes the scientists, eludes the management.”

    TVA has set a goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2035, compared to 2005 levels. TVA CEO Jeff Lyash has said TVA will not be able to meet the 100% reduction goal without technological advances in energy storage, carbon capture and small modular nuclear reactors, instead aiming for 80%. The utility has its own aspirational goal of net zero emissions by 2050.

    There are enough TVA nominees selected by Biden currently awaiting the Senate’s confirmation to make up a new majority on the board.

    TVA power provides electricity to local power companies serving 10 million people in Tennessee and parts of six surrounding states.

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  • UN chief warns planet is heading toward `climate chaos’

    UN chief warns planet is heading toward `climate chaos’

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    UNITED NATIONS — U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned Thursday that the planet is heading toward irreversible “climate chaos” and urged global leaders at the upcoming climate summit in Egypt to put the world back on track to cut emissions, keep promises on climate financing and help developing countries speed their transition to renewable energy.

    The U.N. chief said the 27th annual Conference of the 198 Parties of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change — better known as COP27 — “must be the place to rebuild trust and re-establish the ambition needed to avoid driving our planet over the climate cliff.”

    He said the most important outcome of COP27, which begins Nov. 6 in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, is to have “a clear political will to reduce emissions faster.”

    That requires a historical pact between richer developed countries and emerging economies, Guterres said. “And if that pact doesn’t take place, we will be doomed.”

    In the pact, the secretary-general said, wealthier countries must provide financial and technical assistance – along with support from multilateral development banks and technology companies – to help emerging economies speed their renewable energy transition.

    Guterres said that in the last few weeks, reports have painted “a clear and bleak picture” of global-warming greenhouse gas emissions still growing at record levels instead of going down 45% by 2030 as scientists say must happen.

    The landmark Paris agreement adopted in 2015 to address climate change called for global temperatures to rise a maximum of 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) by the end of the century compared to pre-industrial times, and as close as possible to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit).

    Guterres said greenhouse gas emissions are now on course to rise by 10%, and temperatures are on course to rise by as much as 2.8 degrees Celsius under present policies by the end of the century.

    “And that means our planet is on course for reaching tipping points that will make climate chaos irreversible and forever bake in catastrophic temperature rise,” the secretary-general warned.

    He said the 1.5 degree goal “is in intensive care” and “in high danger,” but it’s still possible to meet it. “And my objective in Egypt is to make sure that we gather enough political will to make this possibility really moving forward,” the U.N. chief said.

    “COP27 must be the place to close the ambition gap, the credibility gap and the solidarity gap,” Guterres said. “It must put us back on track to cutting emissions, boosting climate resilience and adaptation, keeping the promise on climate finance and addressing loss and damage from climate change.”

    Rich countries, especially the United States, have emitted far more than their share of heat-trapping carbon dioxide from the burning of coal, oil and natural gas, data shows. Poor nations like Pakistan, where recent floods left a third of the country under water, have been hurt far more than their share of global carbon emissions.

    Loss and damage has been talked about for years, but richer nations have often balked at negotiating details about paying for past climate disasters, like Pakistan’s flooding this summer.

    “Loss and damage have been the always-postponed issue,” Guterres said. “There is no more time to postpone it. We must recognize loss and damage and we must create an institutional framework to deal with it.”

    The secretary-general said Thursday that “getting concrete results on loss and damage is the litmus test of the commitment of the governments to close all of these gaps.”

    “COP27 must lay the foundations for much faster, bolder climate action now and in this crucial decade, when the global climate fight will be won or lost,” Guterres said.

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  • Feds unveil plan to grow wind power while sparing rare whale

    Feds unveil plan to grow wind power while sparing rare whale

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    PORTLAND, Maine — The federal government has outlined a strategy to try to protect an endangered species of whale while also developing offshore wind power off the East Coast.

    President Joe Biden’s administration has made a priority of encouraging offshore wind along the Atlantic coast as the U.S. pursues greater energy independence. Those waters are also home to the declining North Atlantic right whale, which numbers about 340 in the world.

    The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management released a draft plan this month to conserve the whales while allowing for the building of wind projects. The agencies said the ongoing efforts to save the whales and create more renewable energy can coexist.

    “As we face the ongoing challenges of climate change, this strategy provides a strong foundation to help us advance renewable energy while also working to protect and recover North Atlantic right whales, and the ecosystem they depend on,” said Janet Coit, assistant administrator for NOAA Fisheries

    The development of offshore wind is going on along the migratory routes of the whales, which travel from Georgia and Florida to New England and Canada every year. That potentially leaves the whales vulnerable to disturbance or injury. The agencies said they plan to provide offshore wind developers with guidance about mitigation measures to help navigate the regulatory process as part of the whale strategy.

    The strategy focuses on “improving the science and integrating past, present and future efforts related to North Atlantic right whales and offshore wind development,” said Jon Hare, the director of NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center and a lead author on the document. It also identifies mitigation measures related to project planning, leasing and siting, he said.

    The right whales have been declining in recent years and face threats such as collisions with ships and entanglement in fishing gear. Environmentalist groups, including the Natural Resources Defense Council, have called for more protections for the whales.

    The protection strategy is promising, but it needs funding for implementation and requirements for measures that minimize harm to the whales, said Alison Chase, a senior policy analyst with the council. Those include speed and noise reductions, Chase said.

    “We need offshore wind, and we need to do it right,” Chase said. “But as we fight climate change, we must avoid, minimize, and mitigate threats to ocean life in whatever ways we can.”

    The government will take public comment on the draft strategy until Dec. 4.

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  • Feds unveil plan to grow wind power while sparing rare whale

    Feds unveil plan to grow wind power while sparing rare whale

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    PORTLAND, Maine — The federal government has outlined a strategy to try to protect an endangered species of whale while also developing offshore wind power off the East Coast.

    President Joe Biden’s administration has made a priority of encouraging offshore wind along the Atlantic coast as the U.S. pursues greater energy independence. Those waters are also home to the declining North Atlantic right whale, which numbers about 340 in the world.

    The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management released a draft plan this month to conserve the whales while allowing for the building of wind projects. The agencies said the ongoing efforts to save the whales and create more renewable energy can coexist.

    “As we face the ongoing challenges of climate change, this strategy provides a strong foundation to help us advance renewable energy while also working to protect and recover North Atlantic right whales, and the ecosystem they depend on,” said Janet Coit, assistant administrator for NOAA Fisheries

    The development of offshore wind is going on along the migratory routes of the whales, which travel from Georgia and Florida to New England and Canada every year. That potentially leaves the whales vulnerable to disturbance or injury. The agencies said they plan to provide offshore wind developers with guidance about mitigation measures to help navigate the regulatory process as part of the whale strategy.

    The strategy focuses on “improving the science and integrating past, present and future efforts related to North Atlantic right whales and offshore wind development,” said Jon Hare, the director of NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center and a lead author on the document. It also identifies mitigation measures related to project planning, leasing and siting, he said.

    The right whales have been declining in recent years and face threats such as collisions with ships and entanglement in fishing gear. Environmentalist groups, including the Natural Resources Defense Council, have called for more protections for the whales.

    The protection strategy is promising, but it needs funding for implementation and requirements for measures that minimize harm to the whales, said Alison Chase, a senior policy analyst with the council. Those include speed and noise reductions, Chase said.

    “We need offshore wind, and we need to do it right,” Chase said. “But as we fight climate change, we must avoid, minimize, and mitigate threats to ocean life in whatever ways we can.”

    The government will take public comment on the draft strategy until Dec. 4.

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  • How ethereum’s merge made crypto mining more sustainable

    How ethereum’s merge made crypto mining more sustainable

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    After years of anticipation, the cryptocurrency ethereum finally implemented a major network upgrade that completely changes how the blockchain verifies transactions, mints new coins and secures its network. Called proof-of-stake, this system has reduced ethereum’s energy consumption by more than 99%.

    Energy usage has been one of the cryptocurrency industry’s biggest targets for critique. But it’s not likely that bitcoin will follow suit.

    Instead, the bitcoin network is sticking with a system called proof-of-work, in which highly specialized computers try to guess a winning number that serves to validate transactions and create new coins. This is what’s known as mining.

    At the moment, guessing a winning number takes over one hundred sextillion tries. All of this work helps to secure the network by making it nearly impossible for bad actors to accrue enough computing power to take control. But recent research also shows that in 2020, mining Bitcoin consumed 75.4 terawatt hours of electricity, more than all of Austria or Portugal.

    This is the system formerly used by ethereum. But now the network has swapped out miners for validators. Instead of playing a massive computational guessing game, validators are assigned to verify new transactions, and earn ether as a reward for doing so.

    To ensure that these validators act honestly, they essentially have to make a security deposit by staking a certain amount of ether coins into the network. If a validator tries to attack the network, they’ll lose their stake. Ethereum proponents say this penalty will make the network more secure, while bitcoin enthusiasts see proof-of-work as the more secure, tried and true approach.

    However, the optics of bitcoin’s energy use in the midst of the global climate crisis has become a problem for the network. In response, some major bitcoin miners are starting to seek out renewable energy to power their data centers and trying to change the narrative by touting bitcoin’s energy use as an asset, as it helps drive investment into the nation’s aging electrical grid.

    Watch the video to learn more about how cryptocurrencies are trying to go green

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  • U.S. to provide millions in funding for tidal energy and river current systems

    U.S. to provide millions in funding for tidal energy and river current systems

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    While there is excitement about the potential of renewable technologies such as tidal power, there are challenges when it comes to scaling up.

    Laro Pilartes / 500Px | 500Px | Getty Images

    The U.S. Department of Energy said $35 million in funding would be made available “to advance tidal and river current energy systems” under plans it hopes will provide a shot in the arm to a sector whose current footprint is tiny.

    In a statement Tuesday outlining the move, the DOE said the funding opportunity — which is slated for release in 2023 — represented the “largest investment in tidal and river current energy technologies in the United States.”

    A notice of intent related to the funding opportunity has been posted online. The DOE said it proposed “to develop a tidal or river current research, development, and demonstration site and to support in-water demonstration of at least one tidal energy system.”

    Alejandro Moreno, who is acting assistant secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, said oceans and rivers represented “a huge potential source of renewable energy.” The DOE said the funding would come from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

    Read more about energy from CNBC Pro

    Over the past few years a number of projects related to tidal power, including ones in the United States, have taken significant steps forward.

    In July 2021, for instance, a tidal turbine dubbed “the world’s most powerful” started grid-connected power generation at the European Marine Energy Centre in Orkney, an archipelago located north of mainland Scotland.

    In May 2022, a £4.6 million (around $5.18 million) facility that can test tidal turbine blades under strenuous conditions was officially opened, with those behind it hoping it will accelerate the development of marine energy technology and lower costs.

    While there is excitement about the potential of renewable technologies such as tidal power, there are significant challenges when it comes to scaling up, a point the DOE acknowledged in its announcement.

    “The U.S. tidal and river current energy industry requires long-term and substantial funding to move from testing devices one at a time to establishing a commercial site,” it said.

    “The complexity of installing devices and navigating permitting processes, combined with a lack of connection to local power grids, have proven to be a consistent barrier to advancing tidal and river current energy.”

    Today, America’s electricity generation mix remains heavily reliant on fossil fuels.  

    According to preliminary figures from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, in 2021 fossil fuels’ share of utility-scale electricity generation was 60.8%. By contrast, renewables’ share stood at 20.1%, while nuclear accounted for 18.9%.

    While tidal barrage developments were the initial focus of those operating in the marine energy industry — EDF’s La Rance tidal barrage dates back to the 1960s, for example — recent years have seen companies focus their attention on different systems.

    These include tidal stream devices which, the European Marine Energy Centre says, “are broadly similar to submerged wind turbines.” Compared to other renewables, the overall size of tidal stream and wave energy projects is very small.

    In data released in March 2022, Ocean Energy Europe said 2.2 MW of tidal stream capacity was installed in Europe last year, compared to just 260 kilowatts in 2020.

    For wave energy, 681 kW was installed, which OEE said was a threefold increase. Globally, 1.38 MW of wave energy came online in 2021, while 3.12 MW of tidal stream capacity was installed.

    By way of comparison, Europe installed 17.4 gigawatts of wind power capacity in 2021, according to figures from industry body WindEurope.

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