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U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Finalizes Rule on Wind Turbine Eagle Deaths

December 14, 2016

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) on December 14 finalized the latest version of its rule governing permitted levels of eagle deaths at wind turbine farms.

The rule, first issued in 2009, governs the FWS’s administration of the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, which makes it a criminal offense to kill or injure a bald or golden eagle. However, the law allows for certain “incidental take”—unintentional deaths due to otherwise lawful activities—leaving it to the FWS to decide what activities qualify and how they are to be monitored.

Contentious Issue

The deaths of eagles and other birds at wind turbine farms has become a highly charged issue in recent years, one that cuts across many of the usual political battle lines. Some environmental and wildlife groups have lobbied for stricter controls while others have argued the impact of replacing fossil fuels with wind represents a net gain for bird populations. Many of the companies that own and operate wind farms in the U.S.…

Natural Gas and Wind Are Cheapest Sources of Power in Majority of U.S.

December 12, 2016

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In a finding that is likely to boost controversy over the future of U.S. energy policy, a comprehensive study of the full levelized cost of energy (LCOE) from various sources of electricity conducted by the University of Texas (UT) at Austin’s Energy Institute found that wind turbines and natural gas combined cycle power plants (CCPPs) provide the least expensive options for new generation across a large majority of U.S. counties.

The study, “New U.S. Power Costs: By County, with Environmental Externalities,” is part of an ongoing initiative at UT that attempts to take a “holistic approach” to calculating both direct and indirect costs of generating electricity.

The Institute has placed the results online in the form of an interactive tool that allows comparison of the LCOE for various options and adjustment of fuel costs. (The tool also makes some assumptions about the suitability of certain generation in various locations; for example, there are areas that would be unsuitable for fossil plants for environmental reasons.)…

SLIDESHOW: An Alarming Trend Affecting U.S. Baseload Power

September 18, 2016

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States, regulators, and market participants have in recent years called attention to a trend concerning uneconomic baseload generation in organized wholesale markets, specifically in ISO New England, New York Independent System Operator (NYISO), MISO, PJM, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), and the California Independent System Operator (CAISO).

Cheap natural gas, low power demand growth, increasing operating costs owing to state and federal rules, and market design issues are affecting bottom lines and forcing some power companies to withdraw generating capacity or reconsider participation in these competitive markets.

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1. An alarming trend. This baseload exodus could have a worrying impact on reliability, as shown by summer planning reserve margin projections (%) from the North American Reliability Commission's 2015 Long-Term Reliability Assessment. Source: POWER

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7. ERCOT.

A September 2016 report from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) projects that seven aging coal-fired power plants in Texas—a total 8.1 GW that represents about 40% of coal-fired capacity in ERCOT—will likely be retired due to their inability to compete in the Texas electricity market. Among “forces arrayed against coal-fired generation” that suggests the plants’ retirement is likely are increases in natural gas generation, increased competition from new wind and solar resources, and generally, “low energy market prices in ERCOT’s deregulated wholesale markets,” IEEFA said.

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U.S. and Canada Follow Different Climate Policy Paths—Does One Offer a Competitive Advantage?

August 25, 2016

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Although the U.S. and Canada are both aiming for similar greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions, the two countries are embarking on decidedly different approaches to reaching their goals, according to a report released on August 23.

IHS Markit—a company that provides information, analytics, and solutions to customers in business, finance, and government—developed the report, titled “The State of Canadian and US Climate Policy.” One reason it cites for the different emissions reduction methods is that the makeup of the power sectors in the two countries is vastly different.

In the U.S., the largest GHG emitter is the electric power generation industry. Historically, coal has been the most prominent fuel source for U.S. electricity production, and it is a heavy GHG emitter. As natural gas supplies have increased and the cost of renewable energy has decreased, replacing coal with these lower- and zero-emitting resources has resulted in a natural decrease in GHG emissions.

Canada, however, gets about 80% of its electricity from resources that have always been low- or zero-carbon emitters, mainly hydropower.…

U.S. Nuclear Power Plant Closures [Slideshow]

June 25, 2016

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According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, nuclear power has accounted for about 20% of electricity generated in the U.S. each year since 1990. In fact, the U.S. nuclear fleet out produced France—the country with the next highest nuclear generation—by more than two to one in 2012. Russia was a distant third, generating less than a quarter of the U.S. total.

But times of late have been tough for U.S. nuclear generators. Natural gas prices are at historic lows, leading to cheap gas-fueled generation. Even with climate concerns and a worldwide movement to reduce CO₂ emissions, the market is not rewarding nuclear power’s zero-carbon generation. In competitive markets, nuclear power is not competitive.

Since October 2012, U.S. nuclear plant owners have closed or announced closure of 14 reactor units at 11 plant sites. Many of the units had already gone through the lengthy process of obtaining 20-year license extensions, which would have allowed them to operate until the 2030s in some cases.…

Uranium Production Near Historic Lows as U.S. Reactors Look to Russia

June 2, 2016

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Domestic uranium production is falling to levels not seen since the early 2000s, which are themselves equal to production during the dawn of the nuclear age in the 1950s. Prospects for any sort of rebound look bleak, as a joint venture between GE, Hitachi, and Toshiba is looking to import Russian-designed fuel assemblies for use in U.S. reactors.

A Trickle of Uranium

U.S. uranium production, which peaked at nearly 45 million pounds of uranium concentrate (U₃O₈) in 1980, fell precipitously in the 1980s and 1990s before leveling off at around 5 million pounds since 1991, according to data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA). The U.S. produced 3.7 million pounds in 2015 while importing 57 million pounds, about half of it from Canada and Kazakhstan.

Meanwhile, U.S. uranium inventories have climbed steadily during the 2000s, reaching 121 million pounds at the end of 2015, the EIA said—enough to supply two years of domestic demand. But that glut, and spot prices that have fallen steadily over the same period, have not deterred the major players from looking for new sources of uranium.…