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PG&E Asks Bankruptcy Judge to Back Restructured Power Deals

August 2, 2019

California utility Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) has asked the judge overseeing its bankruptcy case to support restructured deals with some of the utility’s power suppliers in an effort to reduce the price PG&E pays for those companies’ electricity.

The fate of $ 42 billion worth of long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs) is a key component of PG&E’s bankruptcy and is being closely watched by the power industry, which relies on long-term power contracts to attract financing.

PG&E’s court filing comes just weeks after California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law a measure to create a $ 21 billion state wildfire fund, designed to help the state’s three investor-owned utilities pay for damages resulting from wildfires in the state.

Allan Marks, a partner in the Los Angeles office of global law firm Milbank LLP, working in Milbank’s Project, Energy and Infrastructure Finance practice, told POWER, “In general, [the wildfire fund] is designed to provide liquidity if utilities aren’t able to handle wildfire claims without becoming insolvent.”…

Investments in Energy Storage Grow as Battery Costs Fall

July 31, 2019

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A new report released July 31 details continued growth in global energy storage, driven by lower costs for lithium-ion batteries.

Research company BloombergNEF (BNEF) in its latest forecast published Wednesday said energy storage installations worldwide will grow across the next two decades, from the 9 GW/17 GWh of capacity deployed as of last year, to 1,095 GW/2,850 GWh by 2040, as battery costs fall by half by 2030 compared to today’s levels. It said two markets—stationary storage and electric vehicles—will drive demand for batteries.

BNEF said most of the new energy storage capacity for the power market is likely to be grid-scale.

Yayoi Sekine, a co-author of the report, in a news release said the latest research has “two big changes,” noting that “this year … we have raised our estimate of the investment that will go into energy storage by 2040 by more than $ 40 billion,” with BNEF forecasting $ 662 billion will be invested in storage over the next 20 years.…

The POWER Podcast

July 29, 2019

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The POWER Podcast Archive:

Worried About Climate Change? Save Nuclear Plants

Interview with Nuclear Matters Advocacy Council member, Carol Browner. Browner is a former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency administrator and former energy and climate change senior advisor to President Obama.

https://www.powermag.com/worried-about-climate-change-save-nuclear-plants-podcast/

Reversing Climate Change with Nuclear Power

Interview with Bret Kugelmass, managing director of the Energy Impact Center.

https://www.powermag.com/reversing-climate-change-with-nuclear-power-podcast/

Lithium-Ion Batteries: Costs Down, Benefits Up

Interview with Tony Cooper, general manager of Green Cubes Technology’s Motive division.

https://www.powermag.com/lithium-ion-batteries-costs-down-benefits-up-podcast/

How to Monitor and Predict Operational Performance with Digital Analytics

Interview with Thomas Dhollander, CTO and co-founder of TrendMiner, and Nick Petrosyan, data analytics engineer with TrendMiner.

https://www.powermag.com/how-to-monitor-and-predict-operational-performance-with-digital-analytics-podcast/

Future May Not Be as Rosy as It Seems for Natural Gas

Interview with Tom Baker, a partner and managing director in Boston Consulting Group’s (BCG’s) San Francisco office, and Alex Dewar, senior manager with the Center for Energy Impact in BCG’s Washington, D.C., office.

https://www.powermag.com/future-may-not-be-as-rosy-as-it-seems-for-natural-gas-podcast/

Power Company Business Models Are Evolving

Interview with Aaron Zahn, managing director and CEO of JEA.…

BHP, Mitsubishi Partner on Emissions Reduction Technologies

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BHP and Mitsubishi Development Pty (MDP) in late June signed a memorandum of understanding for joint research, development, and deployment of greenhouse gas emissions reduction technologies in several countries, including projects with battery storage, solar, and carbon capture and storage (CCS). The agreement, signed in Tokyo, Japan, on June 20, also calls for research into emissions reductions from the lifecycle use of marketed products.

“BHP is committed to accelerating the development of emerging technologies that have the potential to achieve material reductions in greenhouse gas emissions,” said Andrew Mackenzie, BHP’s CEO, in a statement. “Our new collaboration with Mitsubishi Development demonstrates the important role the private sector can play in bringing these technologies to market. Both companies are committed to emissions reductions in a range of industries … our Japanese partners and customers are critical to the development of new technologies and approaches to emissions reductions that stand to benefit countries across the globe.”

BHP has several investments in technologies designed to lower emissions, including trials of light electric vehicles powered by lithium-ion batteries in BHP’s Olympic Dam underground mine fleet of light vehicles, in South Australia.…

Worried About Climate Change? Save Nuclear Plants [PODCAST]

July 27, 2019

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Nuclear power advocates suggest there are many benefits associated with nuclear energy. They point to high-paying jobs; billions of dollars in economic activity for plant-hosting communities; and secure, reliable, baseload electricity. But the most-important benefit of nuclear power may be that it emits no greenhouse gases, and therefore does not contribute to climate change.

According to Nuclear Matters, a national coalition that works to inform the public and policymakers about the benefits of nuclear energy, nuclear power is playing an essential role in the U.S.’s clean energy future. The group says nuclear power accounted for more than 55% of the country’s clean energy generation in 2018, and phasing out nuclear energy would create devastating environmental impacts for the world.

Carol Browner, former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency administrator and former energy and climate change senior advisor to President Obama, was a guest on The POWER Podcast. Browner, who currently serves on the Nuclear Matters Advocacy Council, said, “Air pollution is a major burden to human health, and electricity generation is a major source of air pollution.…

TEPCO Says It Will Decommission Second Fukushima Nuclear Plant

July 25, 2019

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Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) on July 24 said it will decommission its Fukushima Daini nuclear station. The plant is located just south of the larger Fukushima Daiichi plant, site of a meltdown in March 2011 after an earthquake and tsunami heavily damaged the Daiichi facility.

The four reactors at Daini automatically shut down after the earthquake, reaching cold shutdown two days later. The reactors have not operated since.

Permanent closure of the Daini units would mean 21 reactors in Japan are scheduled for decommissioning. There were 54 operating reactors in the country prior to the 2011 disaster.

Nuclear power provided about 30% of Japan’s power prior to the earthquake. The country idled all its reactors in the wake of the meltdown, and only eight have been restarted, though several are continuing with a relicensing process required due to the country’s new operating standards after Fukushima.

Japan has relied on imported liquefied natural gas and thermal generation from imported coal to replace the lost nuclear generation since 2011.…