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Good morning, happy Friday, and happy Easter weekend…🐣💐🐰
This week, another massive power outage plunged Puerto Rico into darkness, and the administration ordered an immediate halt to construction of Equinor’s Empire Wind offshore project.
President Trump signed an executive order calling for modernization of the environmental permitting process; a day later, he launched a probe of U.S. mineral imports that could lead to new tariffs, further escalating the trade war with China, which controls much of the world’s supply of critical and rare earth minerals need for key industries – including clean energy.
The latest update from E2 finds that $8 billion in renewable energy investments has been canceled since January, more than three times the total investments canceled over the previous 30 months combined. Meanwhile, a federal judge ordered that $20 billion in IRA funds for climate and infrastructure projects must immediately be unfrozen, although the EPA quickly appealed the ruling.
One bit of good news: a new GAO report says “NOAA Fisheries does not anticipate any death or serious injury to whales from offshore wind related actions and has not recorded marine mammal deaths from offshore wind activities,” while also recommending that the Interior Department do a better job of reaching out to tribes and the fishing industry.
Read on for more.
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Bumps, Not Brakes
New reports released this week say the current administration’s efforts to derail the U.S. clean energy transition may hinder progress, but won’t be enough to “stop renewables from rising or fossil fuels from slowing.” Here are several points to keep in your back pocket:
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The EIA and BloombergNEF reports both see electricity use rising due to increased demands from AI and data centers; the EIA forecasts that U.S. renewables will continue to expand, “becoming the country’s leading source of power generation by the early 2030s” and more than tripling by 2050.
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Nevertheless, while policy decisions may not be enough to alter the trend toward low-cost clean energy in the long run, in the short term they could have a big impact on the fate of clean energy incentives in the IRA.
- Last Thursday, House Republicans passed a budget blueprint that lays the groundwork for cuts to the IRA, although GOP leaders are facing calls to protect tax credits vital to clean energy, and “four Senate Republicans sent a letter to Majority Leader John Thune urging him to be judicious.”
⚡️ The Takeaway
Putting the Power in PowerPoint. As House and Senate Republicans “spend the next several weeks hashing out the details of their reconciliation bill,” the fate of many clean energy projects and advanced manufacturing facilities hangs in the balance. SEIA held its annual clean energy manufacturing day this week and members were out in force on Capitol Hill, making the case for solar’s low cost and fast deployment, as well as the investment boost it’s already begun to deliver to American manufacturing.
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Tampering with Success
A recent article in Stateline looks at how opponents of renewable energy have shifted their focus from stopping projects at the local level to targeting state legislatures – where they’re making headway, powered in part by funding from the oil and gas industry. Here are some moves to keep an eye on:
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Texas has seen the most activity, where “lawmakers have filed dozens of wind- and solar-related bills this session.” That includes a bill “opposed by the rural Texans its author says it would protect” that would introduce “a really arbitrary discriminatory permitting regime” for wind and solar projects and could negatively impact grid reliability.
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Republican legislators in Missouri are working to advance a bill that would increase taxes for farmers who have leased their land for solar or wind development, and in Oklahoma, clean energy opponents rallied to urge the governor to halt new projects.
- As we reported last week, a bill introduced in Arizona would effectively ban new wind projects, and in Ohio, 26 counties have banned renewable energy projects.
⚡️ The Takeaway
The Price of Progress. In his most recent report, research scientist Joshua Rhodes found that Texas landowners are expected to receive nearly $30 billion in lease payments from current and planned clean energy projects. Many Texas landowners appreciate the economic benefits they bring, and so do their elected representatives. For its part, ERCOT has expressed concern that recently introduced legislation designed to harm renewables and benefit fossil fuels will mess with the market and could undermine its ability to meet forecasted demand.
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Circular Renovation
Just in time for Easter, Dutch engineers have accomplished a resurrection – in this case, of what Interesting Engineering calls a “dead” (we prefer “decommissioned”) wind turbine blade.
The – ahem – decommissioned blade was used as the support structure for a 3D-printed modular bridge. Poly Products, a company based in the Netherlands, has installed the bridge as part of a larger project led by the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management.
The completed bridge spans about 39 feet, is about 10 feet wide, and can support loads of up to 5 tons. After testing the blade and reinforcing any weak points, the production team used large-format 3D printing to connect it to the modular deck and handrail, which are also made from recycled materials.
The company says the bridge’s design is financially viable and that “talks are underway for more installations using the same design.” That’s a bridge we’d be happy to buy.
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Building American power requires a powerful team. |
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