The U.S. Energy Department awarded more than $540 million for research in clean energy technologies and low-carbon manufacturing to 54 state universities and 11 national labs across 34 states and the District of Columbia, according to an Aug. 25 news release. The investment will facilitate research activities that are crucial to advance solar and nuclear…...
The California Air Resources Board on Aug. 25 adopted aggressive regulations to shift away from gasoline and diesel engine vehicles, requiring automakers to sell only zero-emission vehicles by the mid of the next decade. The board approved the Advanced Clean Cars II rule, which requires zero-emission vehicles to constitute all new light-duty vehicle sales by…...
The thirty-second quarterly carbon auction held by California and Quebec sold all of the about 57 million carbon permits offered for current emissions at a price of $27 per allowance, above the floor price of $19.70, according to the results released on Aug. 24 by the California Air Resources Board. The settlement price dropped by…...
The U.S. Energy Department on Aug. 23 announced a $40 million funding opportunity announcement to advance the expansion and deployment of green hydrogen technologies. An additional $20 million will be made available to create a university research consortium on grid resilience to support the development of grid resilience programs across states, regions, tribes, and utilities…....
The U.S. biofuel production capacity as of Jan. 1, 2022, stood at 21 billion gallons per year from 275 facilities, with over 80 percent of the capacity for fuel ethanol, according to an Aug. 22 report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. About 81 percent of the nation’s total biofuels capacity comes from fuel ethanol…...
A Louisiana federal judge on Aug. 18 issued a permanent injunction preventing the Biden administration from blocking oil and gas leasing on federal lands in 13 states, a day after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit lifted an earlier injunction against the administration’s pause on leasing. Judge Terry Doughty of the Louisiana…...
The Ohio Power Siting Board on Aug. 18 approved the construction of two utility-scale solar farms totaling 250 megawatts. The projects comprise the 150 megawatt-Wild Grains and 100 megawatt-Nottingham projects slated for development in Van Wert and Harrison counties, respectively. Spanish utility Iberdrola subsidiary Avangrid is developing Wild Grains and expects construction on the project…...
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management on Aug. 18 announced a request for interest aimed to determine public interest in the expansion of commercial offshore wind leases on nearly 13.7 million acres in the Gulf of Maine. The bureau also published a separate request for competitive interest in response to Maine’s research lease application to…...
Natural gas pipeline exports from West Texas to Mexico were documented to be at record levels at 1.6 billion cubic feet per day (bcf/d) during May 2022, according to an Aug. 18 report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The administration also reported U.S. gas pipeline exports to average 1.4 bcf/d for the period Jan-May…...
The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities on Aug. 18 accepted a cost impact study, assessing how the state’s transition to renewable energy will affect utility rates under the Energy Master Plan, or EMP. The study found that most ratepayers would be able to reduce their energy bills by electrifying buildings and transportation and lowering…...
The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, announced on Aug. 16 the third solicitation in the process of the large-scale renewable energy purchasing program identified as Competitive Tier 2, which is intended to maintain the state’s existing renewable energy resources. The announcement underlines the significance of the state’s baseline energy production as an…...
The Southwest Power Pool Inc. (SPP), the grid operator for 17 states in the central and western U.S., on Aug. 16, 2022, announced that its “Market+” service offering designed to provide hurdle-free transmission service and facilitate reliable integration of fast-growing renewable resources, has gained the attention of customers in the Western Interconnection. The service, which…...
