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MORNING ENERGY NEWS  | 04/15/2021
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A stunning eight-day run made possible by Big Wind. 


Watts Up With That (4/13/21) blog: "Due to the government-mandated coal phase-out, 11 coal-fired power plants with a total capacity of 4.7 GW were shut down on January 1, 2021. But the coal phase-out ended up lasting only 8 days, after which several power plants had to be reconnected to the grid due to a prolonged low-wind period. The affected large Heyden power plant had to be restarted six times by the end of February in order to secure the power supply. The Federal Network Agency has now confirmed that it has reclassified the Heyden, Datteln, Walsum 9 and Westfalen power plants, which had already been shut down, as system-relevant and that they now must remain on standby as reserve power plants. The owners will therefore be required to continue operation in the short term. Never mind that this sporadic operation of these coal plants is horribly inefficient and costly, as you will find out below...The German government has allowed itself to be politically driven by Fridays-for-Future protests and other NGOs and has rushed the coal phase-out. The coal commission that decided on the phase-out neither included power grid experts nor power producer representatives. In 2022, the last nuclear power plants and additional coal-fired power plants with a total capacity of 1.5 GW will be taken off the grid. These power plants would be able to generate about 3% of the total electricity demand. Moreover, approx. 6000 wind turbines with an installed capacity of 16 GW will be dismantled by 2022 due to the expiration of feed-in subsidies for older turbines. These generated approx. 7% of the total electricity demand in 2020."



"President Biden is like a modern Don Quixote, only he’s tilting with windmills not at them. Nevertheless, like the literary Don, he’s trying to slay a dragon that seems to be mainly in his mind." 

 

– Peter Z. Grossman, The Hill

See how this works? Rich man gets richer while poor man pays for his virtue signaling.


Wall Street Journal (4/14/21) column: "If the White House can’t get a 50-50 Senate to break the filibuster, the Biden Administration will push its climate agenda via the administrative state. So train a wary eye on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which oversees wholesale electricity markets. Worth a gander are dissents last month from two Republican FERC commissioners. At issue were updates to an order, originally issued in September, that paves the way for commercial 'aggregators' to sign up homeowners with rooftop solar or electric vehicles, which can act as big storage batteries. The FERC rule says such aggregators generally must be allowed to bid that power into the energy markets...'To accommodate this distributed power, the grid 'will inevitably require costly upgrades,' Mr. Christie said. 'We all know these costs will ultimately be imposed on retail consumers,' including those who can’t afford a Tesla.'"

'Scranton Joe' might want to take a trip back 'home' to see how his people feel about his climate plan.


New York Post (4/10/21) reports: "Thirty years ago, Jason Capps was a young man with ambition, but when he looked around this town near Pittsburgh, where he grew up, all he saw were opportunities slipping away. The coal mines where his father worked were dying; the glass, steel and manufacturing industries were on their last legs...Capps, 51, became a chef and traveled the country honing his skills. But then an unexpected rebirth happened here in Western Pennsylvania with the discovery of the Marcellus Shale, an ancient rock bed that offers an abundant source of natural gas...'n 2008 is when it really started to turn up,' said Jeff Kotula, president of the county Chamber of Commerce. 'Over 20,000 people work here every day, thousands also live, golf or stay at the hotels.'...Rodney Wilson, who is vice president of business development at energy company CNX in Canonsburg, dismisses critics’ claims on fracking and argues that it has actually helped the environment, because natural gas is a clean-burning fossil fuel that reduces our reliance on coal for electricity. 'The statistics speak pretty clearly. If you look at Pennsylvania, in the past 12 years that natural gas was on the grid,' and grew to comprise more than one-third of the electricity supply, 'CO2 intensity has been reduced by 39 percent in the state,' he said. "

While he could easily throws his hands up and head to Galt's Gulch, real capitalists like Nick never give up on this great country of ours... 


Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (4/13/21) reports: "There is a new approach to giving at CNX Resources Corp., which has announced a commitment of $30 million over the next six years to local causes that preserve and grow the middle class. It’s a shift from the company’s recent giving plan. The oil and gas driller has spent recent years ramping down its charitable contributions — over the past six years, it donated around $4 million total — as it reconsidered its interests. 'In the end, we are still capitalists at CNX,' CEO Nick DeIuliis said. 'It’s a rate of return. We look at what we need in terms of partnerships.'..As such, CNX’s charitable map now sits at the intersection of three ideas: maintaining and growing the middle class, a hyper focus on the Tri-State region, and addressing socioeconomic factors that keep people out of the middle class. Mr. DeIuliis said targeting the most disadvantaged ZIP codes inside Pittsburgh and in rural southwestern Pennsylvania will give CNX the biggest bang for its buck...The things that CNX cares about range from food insecurity to the opioid epidemic to water quality, according to a company statement. It has pledged to give $1 million to improve broadband access in rural Greene County. In 2019, the latest year for which details are available, CNX listed contributions to some national foundations, Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Environmental Council, and a local hazmat team, among others."

Energy Markets

 
WTI Crude Oil: ↓ $62.81
Natural Gas: ↓ $2.61
Gasoline: ~ $2.86
Diesel: ~ $3.07
Heating Oil: ↓ $188.10
Brent Crude Oil: ↓ $66.31
US Rig Count: ↓ 509

 
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