The first offshore wind auction held under President Joe Biden’s administration drew a record $4.37 billion in winning bids, according to a Feb. 25 press release from the Department of the Interior. The auction provisionally offered six leases covering an area of about 488,000 acres in the New York Bight, which spans the eastern tip…...
The thirtieth quarterly carbon auction held by California and Quebec sold all more than 58.5 million carbon permits offered for current emissions at a price of $29.15 per allowance, above the floor price of $19.70, according to the results released on Feb. 24 by the California Air Resources Board. The settlement price is nearly 3.1…...
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Feb.17 initiated an investigation to assess whether the application of dynamic line ratings, or DLRs, would improve just and fair transmission rates, by enhancing the precision of line ratings. The DLR is an electric power transmission operation idea, aiming at increasing load, when weather conditions allow it. The commission…...
In 2020, 34.5 percent of California’s retail electricity sales were served by renewable energy resources, such as solar and wind that qualify for the state’s Renewables Portfolio Standard (RPS), according to a Feb. 22 report from the California Energy Commission. This is above the state’s 2020 RPS goal of 33 percent, a mark which California…...
The U.S. Energy Department on Feb. 22 announced $150 million in funding to advance projects that would enhance efficiency and cut emissions from energy technologies and manufacturing. Researchers will use the grant to conduct projects supporting the agency’s 2021 Energy Earthshots Initiative targets to improve clean energy technologies within the next decade, including hydrogen technology,…...
The Heavy-Duty Vehicle Air Quality Loan Program, a partnership of the California Pollution Control Financing Authority and the California Air Resources Board helped get more than 36,000 cleaner trucks on the road, according to a Feb. 14 press release. This is equivalent to removing 164 tons of particulate matter per year. The board has contributed…...
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Feb. 17 issued two policy statements intended to enhance the legal durability of its natural gas project certifications and decisions. The first one, an update to the 1999 policy for the certification of new interstate natural gas projects, incorporates landowner protections and environmental justice considerations in the decision-making process…....
Nuclear power is increasingly viewed as a necessary resource to compensate for the decline in fossil fuel-based electricity in the transition towards a low-carbon future. Recent actions range from the U.S. Energy Department’s launch of a $6 billion program to sustain the existing nuclear fleet to West Virginia’s move to end a ban on nuclear plant construction and efforts to delay the closure of the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant in California.
The Biden administration on Feb. 15 announced the launch of $9.5 billion worth of initiatives to foster clean hydrogen development pursuant to the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and the “buy clean task force” to harness the federal government’s purchasing power to support domestically-manufactured low-carbon materials. The government intends to advance hydrogen application in…...
Judge James Cain of the U.S District Court for the Western District of Louisiana on Feb.11 issued a preliminary ruling restricting the use of the social cost of carbon, or SCC, estimates that federal agencies were directed to incorporate in their environmental analyses of major actions pursuant to an executive order that President Joe Biden…...
