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Good morning and happy Friday,
This week California Governor Gavin Newsom gave the 300 MW Cornucopia Hybrid Project a boost by “certifying” it, a move that will streamline approvals by preventing legal challenges from “bogging it down with delays.”
Meanwhile, the California PUC issued new regulations for BESS, and one observer sees “foundational” market changes ahead for BESS in CAISO and ERCOT.
On the other coast, things are looking much less rosy for offshore wind after the EPA yanked a key permit for the 1.5 GW Atlantic Shores project, which President Trump opposes.
In the heartland, the Kingwood Solar project is the focus of a high-stakes permitting case being weighed by the Ohio Supreme Court.
And, a quick update: a few weeks ago, we told you about a report that said the U.S. had added 11.9 GW of BESS in 2024, but ACP’s latest report puts the figure at 12.3 GW of BESS last year.
Last but not least, be sure to check out this NYTimes feature that shows what the rise of clean energy looks like from space.
Read on for more.
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Power Couples
A recent report from think tank RMI makes the case for “power couples” – by which they mean clean energy sources paired with under-used natural gas peakers – as a way to efficiently meet the growing demand for electricity from data centers without raising energy costs for ratepayers. Here’s the 411:
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The idea is that new, large-load customers such as data centers should be sited near existing natural gas generation, and new clean energy resources then be constructed nearby. Any clean energy generation that isn’t used by the large-load customer is delivered to the grid, using the existing interconnection.
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The clean + peaking resource combo should be “sized to meet the needs of the new large-load customer for all hours while, at a minimum, still satisfying the existing plant’s historical responsibilities to the grid.”
- In this way, “the co-located load avoids imposing any additional burdens on the grid,” thereby protecting ratepayers, who might otherwise get stuck footing the bill for grid upgrades (and higher electricity costs) that result from the energy usage of the new large-load customer. RMI estimates 70% of data center demand could be met this way.
⚡️ The Takeaway
A prominent partnership. In addition to protection for ratepayers, this approach offers the benefit of hastening the transition to clean energy resources by making it possible for wind and solar projects to achieve interconnection sooner – and indeed, in terms of meeting growing demand, clean power projects can be built much faster than new natural gas or nuclear plants, according to industry experts. RMI identifies about 160 power plants where they think this dynamic duo works.
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Dollars and Sense
A new study from Energy Innovation spells out the impacts of repealing the IRA – and the picture isn’t pretty. Doing so will “create significant economic damage” across the country in the form of lost jobs, lowered GDP, and higher consumer costs. Here are some sobering stats:
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The analysis estimates repeal of the IRA would lower GDP by more than $160 billion in 2030 and nearly $190 billion in 2035, while costing the country nearly 790,000 jobs in 2030 and more than 700,000 jobs in 2035.
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It would also hit consumers’ pocketbooks, increasing cumulative household energy costs by $32 billion between 2025 and 2035; that translates to “an average of $48 per year in 2030 and $68 per year in 2035,” with costs continuing to rise in later years.
- While some states “will see relatively low increases,” four Republican-controlled states – Texas, Georgia, Florida, and Pennsylvania – will get hit the hardest, along with California.
⚡️ The Takeaway
Paying more for less. Evidence that the IRA is good for America’s economy is overwhelming. Wind and solar may have higher upfront costs, but since the cost of clean power isn’t tied to fluctuations in fuel prices, it can be sold under long-term, stably priced contracts that lower electricity prices across the board. The IRA has spurred massive private investment and created hundreds of thousands of clean energy jobs. Repealing it would be a historic, and historically costly, mistake.
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First Over the “Finnish” Line
Last week we told you about some of the headlines from the CERAWeek conference, but one we didn’t mention was that Amazon, Google and Meta joined other major businesses in signing the Large Energy Users Pledge, which is part of an existing global pledge to support efforts to triple nuclear power worldwide by 2050.
Nuclear power is popular with many climate advocates, but among its drawbacks is the issue of nuclear waste, i.e., spent or used nuclear fuel. High-level nuclear waste “remains highly radioactive for tens of thousands of years,” although the World Nuclear Association notes that only about 3% of nuclear waste is in this category.
In any event, the safe storage of this spent fuel is a challenge that has spawned years of legal debate in the U.S. where “plans to store nuclear waste deep under Yucca Mountain in Nevada, the only permanent storage site…allowed by federal law, have been stalled for years.” Indeed, the issue may ultimately fall to the Supreme Court.
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Finland, which gets more than 40% of its electricity from nuclear power, is poised to be first over the “Finnish” line with “the world’s first permanent underground disposal site for spent nuclear fuel,” and many other countries are planning similar projects.
It remains to be seen if this type of solution can be implemented in the U.S., but just this week the DOE’s Loan Program Office “showed signs of life” with the disbursement of $57 million to fund the restart of the Palisades Nuclear Plant, and Canada is getting serious about nuclear, too. As they say in Finland, pysy kuulolla! (stay tuned!)
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Building American power requires a powerful team. |
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