UTILITIES: Amid allegations that the U.S. energy system is “inherently racist,” investor-owned utilities are crafting policies, communication strategies and clean energy installation plans to reverse their historically inequitable policies. (Utility Dive)
CLIMATE: Several large climate proposals are on the ballot across the U.S., including New York’s environmental bond act and California’s proposed tax on the wealthy to fund electric vehicle deployment. (Grist)
EMISSIONS:
• Global carbon emissions from energy use will peak in 2025 after governments ramped up clean energy deployment following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the International Energy Agency predicts. (Guardian)
• Worldwide methane emissions have rebounded since pandemic shutdowns, seeing their largest annual increases on record in 2020 and 2021. (Washington Post)
• NASA researchers identify more than 50 methane super-emitters worldwide, including a two-mile long plume associated with Permian Basin oil and gas infrastructure. (news release)
FINANCE:
• All eyes are on the U.S. Treasury Department as it maps how Inflation Reduction Act clean energy tax credits are doled out. (E&E News)
• The International Energy Agency estimates global clean energy investment is on track to exceed $2 trillion annually by 2030, but says twice as much investment is needed to reach climate goals. (CNBC)
SOLAR:
• It may be “difficult or impossible” for the U.S. to meet Paris climate goals if it cuts off Chinese-made solar supplies and relies too heavily on American manufacturers, a peer-reviewed study finds. (E&E News)
• A Pittsburgh-area steel plant comes back online after years of dormancy to make solar power generation parts. (Solar Power World)
• Researchers find a globalized, open-trade solar panel supply-chain saved the U.S. an estimated $24 billion in production costs between 2006 and 2020. (Times of San Diego)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• The Biden administration announces the school districts receiving a total of $1 billion to purchase 2,468 electric and low-emission buses. (E&E News)
• A lack of coordinated state and local electric vehicle charging regulations is hindering the widespread rollout of charging infrastructure, a new report says. (Smart Cities Dive)
• Pacific Gas & Electric establishes the nation’s first rate program compensating electric vehicle owners for sending power back to the grid. (news release)
GRID: New Jersey regulators approve an offshore wind transmission project that will cost roughly $1 billion between onshore and offshore construction and grid upgrades, and will also designate a future transmission corridor. (E&E News, subscription; ROI NJ)
PIPELINES:
• A lobbyist and “unconditional friend” to Sen. Joe Manchin has received at least $405,000 in fees from a natural gas group that would be a key beneficiary of the Mountain Valley Pipeline. (E&E News)
• The developer of a proposed $3.2 billion, multi-state carbon dioxide pipeline seeks to use eminent domain under a permit requested from the state of Iowa this week. (Des Moines Register)
CLEAN ENERGY: A Chicago entrepreneur launched a company in 2019 to not only install solar and electric vehicle charging stations in disinvested communities, but also to provide job training opportunities to residents. (Energy News Network)
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