US Gulf of Maine Offshore Wind Auction draws only $22 Million in Bids
The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announced on Tuesday that the offshore wind development rights offered in the Gulf of Maine attracted bids of $21.9 million for the first half of eight areas. Avangrid, a developer of offshore wind power, and Invenergy both walked away from the auction with two leases each. The 14 companies qualified to bid were Avangrid and Invenergy. BOEM estimates that once developed, these lease areas could power over 2.3 million homes. The sale was seen as a test of the industry's appetite for new investments after a year marked by high-profile failures.
Biden administration finalizes the solar lands plan and touts progress
The administration of U.S. president Joe Biden announced on Thursday that it had finalized plans to expand solar power on federal lands across 11 western states. This is part of an overall push to accelerate the permitting and construction process for large infrastructure projects. The White House is looking to speed up the approval of projects ranging in scope from wind and solar farms to power transmission as part of its efforts to combat climate change and decarbonize the energy sector. It also wants to promote the "Investing in America' agenda in advance of the November election. The U.S.
Making Waves @ OSU: Energy Secretary, Senators, Governor tour Oregon State Wave Lab
U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, Oregon U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley and Oregon Gov. Kate Brown visited the O.H. Hinsdale Wave Research Laboratory at Oregon State University on Tuesday afternoon, with Granholm touting wave energy as “the elixir that we need” to address climate change by ending the nation’s reliance on fossil fuels.The visit was organized by OSU and the Pacific Marine Energy Center, a consortium of universities including Oregon State that is focused on advancing marine renewable energy.“We’ve all been in the ocean,” Granholm told a group of OSU researchers and students after touring the lab’s wave basin and flume.
What to Expect from the US Offshore Wind Market This Year
After many false starts, the U.S. offshore wind market is building strong roots for a solid future. But as the market develops from its current northeast and mid-Atlantic niche new opportunities and challenges arise.The U.S. offshore wind market has long been seen as not delivering on its significant potential. With an offshore wind technical potential of more than double that of the country’s total annual electricity sales, the U.S. has long been seen as having the potential to be a major player in the global offshore wind market.
Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) ... To Clear the Air, Look Beneath the Waves
Participants at the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference (better known as COP26) late last year in Glasgow reiterated humanity needs to accelerate change in the coming decades to limit global warming to 1.5°C (or even to the 2°C as agreed up in the Paris Agreement). Meeting this goal by 2050, the formidable deadline agreed upon across environmental sectors to prevent dooming the planet, will require more than electric cars and veganism. In addition to minimizing emissions at the source, humanity needs to remove the atmospheric…
Autonomous Offshore Power Trials Get Underway off Hawaii
With the advent of autonomy on and under the water, part of the value proposition is the ability to stay at sea, on station, to exponentially increase efficiencies. Have the ability to repower at sea is central to this effort, as an increasing number of companies work to solve the inherent technical and logistic problems.Columbia Power Technologies (C-Power) is commencing a six-month sea trial to test and validate its SeaRAY autonomous offshore power system (AOPS), in partnership with a pair of powerhouses: the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the U.S. NavyInitially conceived during a U.S.
US Approves LNG Exports from Oregon
The U.S. Energy Department on Monday approved the export of up to 1 billion cubic feet per day of liquefied natural gas from a proposed terminal in Oregon, a move it said would ease U.S. sales of the fuel to Asian markets.The approval advances efforts by President Donald Trump's administration to increase U.S. fossil fuel shipments around the globe at a time big projects are increasingly under strain from environmental protests and lawsuits.“Today’s export authorization for Jordan Cove, the first U.S West Coast LNG project, will ease access to further position the U.S.
NOAA: Oregon LNG Pipeline Will Have Minimal Impact
The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said its analysis found that the construction and operation of a new liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility in Coos Bay, Ore. and its associated pipeline will have minimal impact on protected species and their habitats.NOAA Fisheries issued a final biological opinion on construction and operation of the Jordan Cove terminal and the associated 229-mile long Pacific Connector LNG pipeline. After conducting a thorough review, NOAA scientists determined that the proposed action…
Several US States Likely Withheld from Offshore Drilling Plan
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has hinted to at least six coastal states that he will keep their waters out of a looming plan to expand U.S. offshore drilling, telling some they lack enough oil to be included anyway, according to state officials and transcripts from public hearings.Zinke's comments are the clearest indication to date that the Trump administration’s initial proposal to open nearly all U.S. waters to drilling, announced in January, will be significantly pared back by the time it is finalized. The proposal is expected later this year.The administration had billed its initial plan as a good way to boost domestic energy production…
British Columbia Natgas Exports to Washington Rise Slowly After Pipe Blast
The amount of natural gas moving from British Columbia to Washington state through the Sumas hub edged up over the weekend after Enbridge Inc last week returned a pipeline to service following a pipe blast in British Columbia.The reduction in the amount of gas flowing through the point, however, caused prices at the hub to rocket to their highest since 2014.Enbridge returned a 30-inch (76-centimeter) gas pipe in British Columbia that was shut after a fire on an adjacent 36-inch line on Oct. 9, leading to supply disruptions in British…
EPA Announces Funding to Reduce Diesel Emissions
Preference given to fleets in areas facing air quality challenges. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the availability of grant funding to modernize the nation’s diesel fleet by retrofitting or replacing vehicles with cleaner, more efficient diesel engines. EPA anticipates awarding approximately $40 million in Diesel Emission Reduction Program (DERA) grant funding to eligible applicants, subject to the availability of funds. “These grants will incentivize improvements to aging diesel fleets and improve air quality throughout the country,” said EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt.
Asia's Soaring Gas Demand Beckons New LNG Projects
Global LNG imports rose by 20 percent in 2017; new demand emerges across South, Southeast Asia. Soaring gas demand from China, India and Southeast Asia is sucking up an LNG supply glut previously expected to last for years, opening opportunity for new production from East Africa to North America that had been deemed part of the overhang. Trade flows in Eikon show global liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports have risen 40 percent since 2015, to almost 40 billion cubic metres (bcm) a month. Growth accelerated in 2017, with imports up by a fifth, largely due to China, but also South Korea and Japan.
Wyoming, Utah Mull Funding Legal Challenges to West Coast Coal Policies
Lawmakers in coal-producing Utah and Wyoming, faced by a shrinking market for the fuel, this week introduced laws to fund legal challenges in California and Washington of policies that they believe hurt coal sales. A Utah lawmaker on Monday proposed allocating $2 million to cover legal fees to private attorneys that would challenge a California surcharge on Utah coal, imposed as part of a cap-and-trade system to cut greenhouse gas emissions there. In Wyoming, a Republican lawmaker on Monday introduced a bill in the state’s Republican…
U.S. Interior Chief Seeks Changes at U.S. Monuments
The head of the U.S. Department of the Interior urged President Donald Trump to lift restrictions on activities such as logging and mining in or to shrink the footprints of 10 national monuments, according to the Washington Post. The Post, citing a copy of the recommendations, said late on Sunday that U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke had recommended reducing boundaries for Utah’s Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante, Nevada’s Gold Butte and Oregon’s Cascade-Siskiyou. Zinke also called for relaxing current restrictions within some of the national monuments' boundaries for activities such as grazing…
Buffett Bets Big on Energy with $9 Bln Oncor Buy
Warren Buffett's move to spend $9 billion on his largest energy sector acquisition reflects his long-standing drive to diversify his Berkshire Hathaway Inc and deepens his commitment to electricity as a means to boost profit. Berkshire said on Friday that its Berkshire Hathaway Energy unit will buy a reorganized Energy Future Holdings Corp to get access to Oncor Electric Delivery Co, Texas' largest electricity transmission company. The all-cash purchase reflects a bet by Buffett that he can do what two prior suitors could not: convince Texas regulators that a takeover is in the public interest and deserves approval.
US Awards $12 Mln for Wave Energy Projects
Up to $12 million has been awarded by the U.S. Energy Department for four West Coast projects that will aim to develop new technologies for harnessing marine and hydrokinetic (MHK) energy from the nation's oceans and rivers as a means to generate reliable and cost-effective electricity. Two of the projects will test and validate wave energy converter (WEC) prototypes in open water, demonstrating wave energy's potential to compete with other forms of energy in the longer term, while the other two projects will address early-stage MHK technology development challenges.
Oil & Gas Stakeholders Drop Climate Change Case
Two fossil fuel industry groups dropped their attempts to intervene in a court case over climate change this week after failing to reach an agreement on a unified legal position on climate science, court filings show. The American Petroleum Institute (API) and the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), prominent trade groups in the oil and gas industry, along with the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM), intervened in a federal case in which a group of teenagers sued the U.S. government for violating their constitutional rights by causing climate change.
Oregon County Won't Block LNG Terminal
A coastal Oregon county overwhelmingly rejected a ballot measure aimed at blocking a proposed natural gas terminal dealing a blow to what was the latest in a series of efforts to thwart energy projects across the Pacific Northwest. The measure, had it passed, would have banned transport of fossil fuels not intended for local use through Coos County, located about 200 miles (322 kms) south of Portland. Around 76 percent of votes were cast against the measure, with 24 percent in favor, according to unofficial results posted on the Coos County government website late Tuesday.
Pembina Adds Natgas Infrastructure in Veresen Deal
Pembina to pay as much as C$1.52 bln in cash, 99.5 mln in shares; offer at 22.5 pct premium to Veresen's last close. Pembina Pipeline Corp said it would buy smaller rival Veresen Inc in a stock-and-cash deal valued at C$9.7 billion ($7.10 billion), including debt, giving the Canadian pipeline operator access to natural gas pipelines and processing infrastructure. The combined company will have a strong position in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin, home to the world's third largest crude reserves. A rebound in oil prices from…
Oregon County Mulls LNG Terminal Ban
A coastal Oregon county will vote Tuesday on a ballot measure to block a proposed natural gas terminal, the latest in a series of efforts to thwart energy projects across the Pacific Northwest. The measure would ban transport of fossil fuels not intended for local use through Coos County, located about 200 miles (322 kms) south of Portland. Backers have called the initiative a response to a $7.6 billion proposal by Calgary-based Veresen Inc, to build a facility in the county where natural gas would be liquefied and transferred to tanker ships for sale abroad. They have cast the measure as a local refusal to contribute to global warming.
