All generation isn't the same

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DAILY ENERGY NEWS | 02/28/2023

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The NYT discovers that generation has to be connected to the grid.

The New York Times (2/23/23) reports: "Plans to install 3,000 acres of solar panels in Kentucky and Virginia are delayed for years. Wind farms in Minnesota and North Dakota have been abruptly canceled. And programs to encourage Massachusetts and Maine residents to adopt solar power are faltering. The energy transition poised for takeoff in the United States amid record investment in wind, solar and other low-carbon technologies is facing a serious obstacle: The volume of projects has overwhelmed the nation’s antiquated systems to connect new sources of electricity to homes and businesses. So many projects are trying to squeeze through the approval process that delays can drag on for years, leaving some developers to throw up their hands and walk away. More than 8,100 energy projects — the vast majority of them wind, solar and batteries — were waiting for permission to connect to electric grids at the end of 2021, up from 5,600 the year before, jamming the system known as interconnection. That’s the process by which electricity generated by wind turbines or solar arrays is added to the grid — the network of power lines and transformers that moves electricity from the spot where it is created to cities and factories. There is no single grid; the United States has dozens of electric networks, each overseen by a different authority."

“Our research indicates that ESG investing does not have any advantage over broad-based investing."

– T im Buckley, Vanguard CEO

Huh? Why would China keep building coal?

Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (2/27/23) reports: "This report from the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) and the Global Energy Monitor (GEM) takes a closer look at China’s permitting of new coal power plants in 2022, the possible implications for China’s climate commitments, and provides policy recommendations. Coal power plant permitting, construction starts and new project announcements accelerated dramatically in China in 2022, with new permits reaching the highest level since 2015. The coal power capacity starting construction in China was six times as large as that in all of the rest of the world combined. The massive additions of new coal-fired capacity don’t necessarily mean that coal use or CO2 emissions from the power sector will increase in China. Provided that growth in non-fossil power generation from wind, solar and nuclear continues to accelerate, and electricity demand growth stabilizes or slows down, power generation from coal could peak and decline. President Xi has also pledged that China would reduce coal consumption in the 2026–30 period. This would mean a declining utilization rate of China’s vast coal power plant fleet, rather than continued growth in coal-fired power generation."

BP starts to realize that without oil and gas dollars you can’t pay for the stuff that doesn’t make money.

Bloomberg (2/28/23) reports: "As the sound of climate protesters reverberated through the conference room, BP Plc Chief Executive Officer Bernard Looney made the case that investment in more oil and gas is crucial for the transition away from those very fuels. "Reducing supply without also reducing demand inevitably leads to price spikes, price spikes lead to economic volatility, and there's a risk that volatility will undermine popular support for the transition," he said at London's International Energy Week."

Maybe she should talk with the billion or so people she would condemn to continuing energy poverty with her ill-informed nonsense.

DW (2/28/23) reports: "The Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg joined Indigenous Sami demonstrators on Monday, blocking the entrance to Norway's Energy Ministry. The demonstrators in Oslo are calling for the government to carry out a court order that deemed wind turbines in northwestern Norway illegal. Why are the wind farms controversial? The Sami Indigenous people, who are spread out across mostly parts of Norway, but also Sweden, Finland and Russia, have been herding reindeer for centuries. The practice represents a preservation of both livelihood and tradition. Herders say the loud sounds produced by the wind turbines scare away reindeer. In 2021, Norway's Supreme Court ruled that two wind farms on the northwestern Fosen peninsula violated the rights of six Sami families."

Energy Markets

WTI Crude Oil: ↑ $77.59
Natural Gas: ↑ $2.67
Gasoline: ↓ $3.36

Diesel:~ $4.41
Heating Oil: ↓ $283.41
Brent Crude Oil: ↑ $83.88
US Rig Count: ~ 816

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