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Putin and Erdogan Meeting: Implications for Gas and Nuclear Projects

August 11, 2016

Following a failed coup attempt on July 15 in Turkey, the country’s leader, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, signaled that he may be willing to threaten the long-term energy stability of the European Union (EU) by reentering into a partnership with Russia to ship massive amounts of Siberian-produced gas into the West, which could foil EU plans to create greater energy diversity.

After a joint declaration on Tuesday, August 9 that called for resuming construction of the stalled Russian-backed TurkStream pipeline project, Turkish and Russian officials the following day indicated that they may also make a major change to the EU-backed $ 10 billion Trans-Anatolian gas pipeline (TANAP) project. Initially intended to facilitate shipments from Azerbaijan’s Shah-Deniz gas field to Europe through Turkey, it may be combined with the reauthorized TurkStream pipeline. If this happens, Russia’s state-owned Gazprom will exercise high levels of control over both projects.

Competition for Gas Sources and Delivery Routes

Muddying the waters even more, just before Erdogan met with Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, the Russian president was in Baku, Azerbaijan, meeting with his Azeri and Iranian counterparts to discuss new ways these nations could work together to produce and ship gas supplies.…

Republican Tony Clark to Leave FERC in September

August 5, 2016

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FERC Commissioner Tony Clark announced Aug. 4 that the agency’s September meeting will be his last. Courtesy: FERC

Tony Clark. Courtesy: FERC

Tony Clark, the only Republican on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), announced Thursday (Aug. 4) on Twitter that the agency’s September meeting will be his last. Clark’s term expired June 30, but he continued to serve under federal law that allows members with expired terms to serve until Congress adjourns at the end of the year.

By law, FERC consists of five members, with three from the party of the incumbent president and two from the minority party. Republican Philip Moeller left the commission last October after nearly a decade, leaving Clark, appointed by President Obama in 2012.

With Clark’s departure, the commission would have three Democrats: Chairman Norman Bay and Commissioners Cheryl LaFleur and Colette Honorable. Honorable’s term ends in 2017, Bay’s in 2018, and LaFleur’s in 2019. Obama has not named replacements for Moeller or Clark, which are subject to Senate confirmation.

FERC has seldom been a partisan agency, although Republicans and Democrats on the commission tend to see issues in different ways.…

Exelon, America’s Leading Nuclear Generator, Keeps the Faith on Nukes

July 25, 2016

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The U.S. nuclear power business is in trouble, and Exelon has six units totaling more than 5,300 MW of dependable capacity on the chopping block. How will the Chicago electricity giant respond? Perhaps by acquiring more merchant nuclear capacity?

Chicago-based Exelon Corp., the largest nuclear power generator in the U.S., is facing what could be the greatest challenge in the company’s history. Exelon confronts the potential shutdown of six operating nuclear generating units at four stations, out of a fleet of 23 units at 14 stations across the country.

This comes after Exelon essentially abandoned coal, selling off its interests in coal-fired generation. In late 2014, the company unloaded its last minority shares in major coal generation, the Keystone (42%) and Conemaugh (32%) plants in central Pennsylvania, once a significant element in its power mix (see sidebar “Exelon’s Generating Fleet”). RTO Insider newsletter commented, “Exelon once had extensive coal-fired generation but has either sold or retired them over the years as it concentrated on new gas-fired generation and its massive nuclear fleet.”…

11 Things to Know About the Solar Sector’s Precarious Future

July 21, 2016

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Despite escalating growth over the past decade, the U.S. solar power sector faces potentially crippling issues concerning module supply, workforce deficiencies, and grid interconnection obstacles, according to industry experts attending an international solar and energy storage convention.

The country added an estimated 14.5 GW of new solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity in 2016, and by 2021, cumulative solar installations are slated to pass the 100 GW mark, driven by net metering, solar leasing, new power purchase agreements, the rise of solar communities, and federal and state policies and tax credits. But this rapid growth has been problematic on many levels, and the industry continues to face hurdles that could stymie future projections.

Here are 11 takes on the solar sector’s current and future standing from experts at Intersolar North America’s ninth annual event held last week in San Francisco, Calif.

Solar Is Mainstream

“Solar is no longer a niche part of the energy spectrum,” declared Jesse Grossman, CEO of Tenaska’s solar project development arm Soltage.…

In Push for Collaboration, Solar and Storage Industries Unveil “Smart Solar” Potential

July 17, 2016

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Pairing solar with energy storage will be integral to cement the future of both emerging sectors, said experts at the Intersolar North America’s annual event held this week in San Francisco.

The three-day event and exhibition was co-located with ees North America, a stand-alone event focused on energy storage technologies and services. But experts from the separate industry events underscored that the sectors’ futures are aligned and should grow in tandem, calling for the backing of a joint, “smart solar” sector.

Solar’s Unique Revenue Catch-22

The solar sector, in particular, has seen a number of hurdles that threaten its widespread adoption, the most cited of which are linked to its non-dispatchable nature.

Though solar penetration has soared, behind-the-meter applications have been hampered by ruthless net energy metering battles between regulators and electric utilities in at least 20 states. Utilities argue that net metering customers don’t pay their fair share of grid expenses, raising costs for non-solar ratepayers, whereas the solar sector says that utilities don’t fully account for distributed solar’s value to the grid, such as capacity value, transmission and distribution deferral, and line loss savings.…

Germany Backs Measure to Replace Renewable Incentives with Competitive Auctions

July 15, 2016

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Lawmakers in Germany have voted to replace subsidies for wind and solar with competitively priced electricity prices.

The country’s upper (Bundesrat) and lower (Bundestag) legislative chambers on July 8 voted to adopt an amendment to the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG 2016) introduced by Minister of Economics and Energy Sigmar Gabriel. The legislation aims to replace feed-in tariffs with renewable energy auctions.

“[Renewable generators] are no longer small puppies,” Gabriel said as he introduced the bill earlier this year. “They have grown up and they need to face market pressure.”

The law is credited with enabling Germany’s energy transition, Energiewende, which calls for the country’s current share of renewable power to increase from 33% in 2015 to 40% in 2025, 55% in 2035, and 80% in 2050.

One of the earliest iterations of the law, EEG 2012 guaranteed feed-in tariffs for renewable power producers, setting fixed prices per kilowatt-hour, emphasizing priority access for renewables, and binding grid operators to buy all renewable power and sell it on the exchange.…