The pen and the phone returns

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DAILY ENERGY NEWS | 11/10/2022

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Having a Congressional majority doesn't translate to a whole lot when the imperial president gets to pass decrees like this.

Washington Post (11/10/22) reports: "The Biden administration on Thursday will propose requiring all major federal contractors to set targets for reducing their emissions in line with the 2015 Paris climate accord, a significant step toward greening the government’s sprawling operations and one that could ripple across the U.S. supply chain. The proposed rule, which comes as leaders from nearly 200 nations converge at the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Egypt, would also mandate that federal contractors publicly disclose their greenhouse gas emissions and the risks they face from climate change. The U.S. government is the world’s largest buyer of goods and services, purchasing more than $630 billion in the last fiscal year alone. President Biden has previously called for the government to become carbon-neutral by 2050, in part by creating a federal fleet of electric vehicles and buying clean electricity for federal buildings. The administration plans to highlight the proposal when Biden attends the climate talks on Friday, as well as during a Saturday event at the summit featuring Brian Deese, the director of the National Economic Council, and Ali Zaidi, the White House national climate adviser...The proposed rule covers roughly 85 percent of the emissions associated with the federal supply chain, which are more than double the emissions stemming from operating the government’s 300,000 buildings and 600,000 vehicles combined, the White House said. Once enacted, officials said, the rule would make the United States the first national government to require major suppliers to set climate goals aligned with the Paris agreement."

"Today, Americans have to deal with blackouts, brownouts and near-energy grid collapse every winter and summer. Why? The answer is clear, the myopic pursuit of a 'green' energy grid that is neither attainable, nor reliable and, certainly not affordable. Biden and former President Obama declared a war on coal a long time ago and that war has never stopped."

– Tucker Davis,
Kentucky Coal Association

"Energy of the future" really struggling today.

Pipeline Online (11/9/22) reports: "Suppertime is usually the peak power demand, but supper in Alberta on Tuesday was not likely powered by wind, or solar. Indeed, it was almost exclusively powered by natural gas. With the recent addition of yet another two wind facilities in Alberta, that province now has in excess of three gigawatts of wind power capacity. Coming in at 3,076 megawatts, Alberta theoretically has more wind capacity available to it than the entire province of Saskatchewan was generating on Nov. 6. Except that on Tuesday evening, during the peak supper usage period, Alberta’s fleet of now 32 wind farms was producing just 15 megawatts of electricity, hovering very close to that level for at least the next eight hours. That’s 0.5 per cent, or half of one per cent, of nameplate capacity. And by 12:30 that night, wind power production across hundreds of wind turbines in an area larger than Belgium, Luxemburg and the Netherlands combined was producing just three megawatts. At 5:54 p.m., right when supper was on the stove, 27 of the province’s now 32 wind farms were contributing exactly zero megawatts to the grid. Three wind farms were contributing a singular megawatt. The denominator on that equation keeps getting larger, with more and more wind facilities coming online in recent weeks. The latest wind farm additions are Cypress 1 and 2, at 196 and 46 megawatts, respectively. And as the sun had already gone down past the Rockies at supper time, the province’s solar fleet, which has grown in recent days to 29 facilities, was producing zero power. Alberta now has a nameplate capacity of 1,138 megawatts of solar power. This is up by about 60 per cent compared to last spring. Hydro was cranking out 340 megawatts. And, as usual, the province’s four battery facilities totaling 70 megawatts with an estimated cost of close to $100 million were contributing zero power to the grid for most of the evening (SaskPower announced a 20 megawatt battery for $26 million this past spring)."

How far we've fallen.

Mark, if there is a "wall of opportunity for renewables" why is Europe importing so much natural gas and why does China continue to build so much coal?

Bloomberg (11/8/22) reports: "Renewable-energy assets are primed for an era of growth as they emerge as the answer to both energy security risks and efforts to fight climate change, according to Mark Carney, the former Bank of England governor. 'The smart money' is following 'an absolute wall of opportunity in just rolling out clean energy at scale,' Carney, who is vice chair at Brookfield Asset Management Inc. as well as co-chair of the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero, said in an interview with Bloomberg Television’s Francine Lacqua at the COP27 climate summit in Egypt on Tuesday. As Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine leaves parts of Europe facing the prospect of blackouts through the winter, there’s an ongoing debate over how best to allocate capital in energy markets. Some argue that investors need to pile more capital into oil, gas and even coal to boost supplies quickly. Others say that now is the time to ratchet up spending on renewables as the world runs out of time to escape a global climate catastrophe. 'A lot of the answer to energy security problems that have been exposed by Russia’s illegal war have to do with sustainability,' Carney said. 'That’s why you’ve seen a five-fold increase in the ambition in the European Union for this decade. That’s why you’ve seen the big roll-out with the Inflation Reduction Act in the United States...these are solutions to not just climate issues, but geopolitical issues.'"

Energy Markets

WTI Crude Oil: ↓ $85.47
Natural Gas: ↑ $6.11
Gasoline: ~ $3.80

Diesel: ↑ $5.36
Heating Oil: ↓ $361.03
Brent Crude Oil: ↓ $92.61
US Rig Count: ↑ 862

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