Energy & Water

NOAA | U.S. Spring Outlook forecasts another year of widespread river flooding

Where: Wisconsin

Which 6 utility rules did the Wisconsin Governor suspend?

• No Disconnections. Stop utility disconnection for nonpayment for all customers, including commercial, industrial, and farm accounts
• No late fees. Cease assessing late fees to customer accounts
• No reconnection fees. Halt the practice of requiring deposits from customers for reconnection of service
• All deferred payments approved. Allow deferred payment agreements for all customers who request them;
• No Administrative barriers. Remove any administrative barriers for customers establishing or reestablishing utility service
• Budget billing for water. Authorize water utilities to provide budget billing arrangements to customers. Electric and natural gas utilities already do this.

WKOW | Gov. Evers’ emergency order suspends utility rules

Who is the Consortium for Battery Innovation? Formally known as ALABC, the Consortium has been carrying out research into lead batteries for a quarter of a century

What’s the project cost difference between Lithium Ion and Lead Battery storage?  

• $469 per kWh for lithium-ion
• $549 per kWh for lead-acid

What’s the Capital cost of lead battery storage?

•  $260 per kWh for lithium-ion
• $271 per kWh for lead

Benefit of lead: it is readily available & there is no negotiating with China for lithium

Goal of the Consortium:

• increase a lead battery’s service life
• develop a lead battery that can charge and discharge more times throughout its lifespan
• ensure that the battery does not degrade its efficiency significantly

Utility Dive | Lead batteries make innovation push to better compete for energy storage projects

Where: Maryland

What’s happening in Maryland?

• HB 982 (2020 | MD) stalls when Legislature halts due to COVID
• HB 982 would set an annual incremental gross energy savings target for low-income customers of at least 1% starting in 2021
• HB 982 amends the current 2% annual energy savings to increase access for other underserved communities

Are other jurisdictions following suit? Yes

• District of Columbia Public Service Commission is setting a 1% target
• Pennsylvania has issued a draft order raising energy efficiency targets for low-income customers
• Connecticut and Massachusetts have a spending target for low-income efficiency investment
• Massachusetts has a spending target for low-income efficiency investment
• Michigan DTE Energy is testing an energy efficiency and bill assistance program 
• Missouri Public Service Commission issued an order to keep Ameren’s fixed rates flat and increase funding for low-income assistance programs

Utility Dive | Maryland efforts for low-income energy efficiency target stalled by COVID-19

• Ohio PUC order prohibits competitive gas & electricity supply companies from sending sales staff door-to-door during the declared coronavirus emergency.
  • How did this get started in Ohio?
  • formal request filed by the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel
  • OH Consumer Counsel recommended that the PUCO “immediately and indefinitely halt energy marketers’ door-to-door sales so as to protect Ohioans from the coronavirus.”
• Pennsylvania PUC also prohibits door to door energy sales during the declared coronavirus emergency.
• Illinois Commerce Commission similar ban on door to door energy sales.

Utility Dive | Ohio bans door-to-door energy sales over coronavirus concerns, following Illinois, Pennsylvania

• City of Virginia Beach
  • Uses Smart Water Tech for Emergency Management
  • Goal: Water observation data for real-time water levels
• Ann Arbor, Mich
  • Uses Smart Water Tech for Stormwater Management
  • Goal:  Real-time, instant snapshot of water conditions to better gauge valve release times
• Solano County, CA
  • Uses Smart Water Tech for farmers to detect and track water information
  • Goal: Support for farmers to trade their water on a blockchain platform
• DC Water
  • Uses Smart Water Tech to identify operating anomalies with pumps & monitor wastewater treatment assets, manage energy and avoid costly maintenance

State Tech | How Smart Water Makes Cities More Transparent

• historically low-interest rates to make clean energy investment
• plunging oil prices warps energy markets as production of gas slows
• an eager to work workforce

The Hill | Coronavirus crisis opens new paths toward clean energy

Where: Florida

The legislation: An amendment to HB 1095 (2020 | FL) Underground Facility Damage Prevention and Safety sets a 12 year term limit

Why? Office of Public Counsel has successfully challenged utility efforts to charge customers by adding to the rate base or to raise customer rates

Is Florida’s Office of Public Utility Council elected? No, appointed by the Governor with approval from the Senate

Miami Herald | Legislators want to impose term limits on consumer advocate in utility rate cases

• 1,452 MW in 2020 doubling 2019
• 3,646 MW in 2021 tripling 2020 levels
• driven by the first large-scale utility procurements such as:
  • PG&E’s 182 MW, 730 MWh Elkhorn Battery Storage
  • Vistra Energy’s a 300-MW, 1,200-MWh battery project at the Moss Landing natural gas-fired plant
• 186.4 MW of energy storage deployed in Q4 of 2019 the biggest quarter for capacity storage on record
• a 300-MW, 1,200-MWh battery project at the Moss Landing natural gas-fired plant

Utility Dive | Energy storage deployments to increase 7x between 2019 and 2020: WoodMac

Why are investors drawn to publicly traded water utilities? Investors looking for sustainable investments

Are sustainable investments part of ESG investments? Yes, sustainable investments are included in new environmental, social and governance, or ESG, benchmarks

What boxes do water utilities check off for ESG investments?

• fall under environmental and governance mandates
• provide an essential social service
• strict ESG mandates cannot invest in most electric utilities because of their nukes and coal plants
• have a much longer investment horizon
• lower operating risk
• face lower customer-affordability pressures
• don’t face technology risks

Wall Street Journal | Publicly Traded Water Utilities Draw Investors

The ports turning to microgrids: Long Beach, San Diego & Los Angeles

The fact sheet of Long Beach’s Microgrid:

• $7.1 million
• required a variance from the Utilities Commission
• 300-kilowatt carport solar photovoltaic array
• 330 kilowatts of stationary battery storage
• first-of-its-kind 250-kilowatt mobile battery energy storage system
• $5 million grant from the California Energy Commission’s Electric Program Investment Charge (EPIC), a ratepayer-funded energy innovation research and development program.

Greentech Media | California Ports Turn to Microgrids for Energy Security, Demand Flexibility

Location: The surge is in California where battery storage are replacing gas powered generation

Interest in Financing projects: Southern California and Texas

Who was investing first? Private equity

Did anything happen as bank investment interest grew? yes, the price of lithium ion battery dropped

Press Herald via Bloomberg | Banks finally start to spend big on giant batteries

Los Angeles Times | Giant batteries, key to solar and wind power plans, start to get bank backing

S& P Global | In a ‘groundbreaking year,’ massive US battery storage projects underway in 2020

Where: Ohio

What: a Constitutional Proposition to ban foreign ownership of critical infrastructure, including energy

Opponent arguments:

• Will harm innovation in renewable energy
•  Will continue to remonopolize generating assets in Ohio

What: HJR 2 (2020 | OH)

Energy news | Critics say Ohio proposal to bar foreign ownership will deter renewable projects

Where: New Mexico

What: HB 50 (2020 | NM)

What would HB 50 do? help private transmission developers raise funds for new projects

Albuquerque Journal via Governing | Bill That Would Modernize Electric Grid Awaits Signature

Where? New Mexico

What? HB 233 (2020 | NM)

3 Goals of the bill:

• New distribution to move solar and wind energy to urban areas for consumption
• Ease transition to a carbon-free network
• 21st century technology for real-time connections and communication for both software & hardware

2 Methods of Funding:

• Recover costs through rate riders or in base rates
• Grant based to help public entities such as municipalities, counties, state agencies, public schools, higher education institutions, and Native American tribes to finance proposed modernization projects

Governing | Bill That Would Modernize Electric Grid Awaits Signature

Where: California

What: Proposed Rulemaking, 16-02-007, by the California Public Utility Commission

To achieve a greenhouse emission target of 46 million metric ton for the utility sector by 2030, the CPUC proposes the following energy storage solutions:

• TRIPLE current levels of battery storage capacity
• DOUBLE pumped storage/ some other kind of long-duration storage technology
• DOUBLE current solar capacity
• 30% increase to wind capacity
• including, 1 GW of long-duration storage by 2026

Utility Dive | CPUC proposes optimal 2030 system portfolio tripling battery storage, more than doubling solar

What entity is offering utilities incentives for EV charger installations? Maine Public Utility Commission

The incentive program: 2 pilot projects with a total of $500,000 in incentives for 120 EV charging stations

Did it require legislation? Yes, LD 1464 (2019 | ME)

2 pilot programs will decide which of these 2 incentives work best in Maine:

• Make Ready: The utility provides components for the chargers and customer does the install
• Rebate

Government Technology | Maine OKs $500K in Incentives for EV Charging Stations

The Railroad Commission report on oil production flaring concludes with the following 4 possible solutions:

• Infrastructure building (pipelines)
• Shut down operations with high intensity flaring
• Set standards for flaring intensity by OPEC and its member countries
• Railroad Commission regulations

Background: Texas Railroad Commission published this report on oil production and flaring.

An associate professor of atmospheric sciences at Texas A&M University highlighted these opposition points:

• the report relies on industry talking points– “It looks more like a political manifesto to me” 
• the metric used downplays the amount of gas being burned off
• the focus should be the total amount of flaring that you have in the region

KUT | ‘It’s A Joke’: Flaring Expert Finds Big Problems In Report From Texas Oil And Gas Regulator

Where: Montana

What changes are being made to Montana’s radioactive waste rules?

• aligning the rules with the new regulations in North Dakota
• Radioactivity concentration limit at the landfill entry gate is lowered from 200 picocuries/gram back to 50 picocuries/gram.
• Radioactivity exposure limit at the entry gate is lowered from 200 microroentgen/hour back to 100 microroentgen/hour.
• “Rolling average” for the landfill mass is removed
• Random inspections of incoming loads of filter socks is removed and replaced with more general, random inspections
• More stringent procedures regarding notification and corrective action are required if a landfill exceeds the acceptable radioactive limit during air monitoring.

Missoulian | Montana making changes to radioactive waste rules

The municipal power: Austin Energy (Austin, TX)

The opposition to Austin’s renewable energy goals: Texas Public Policy Foundation

The opposition arguments:

• Example of Failure. Look at Georgetown, Texas and its Utility Systems’s 2017 $6.84 million shortfall from its renewable energy plan
• Impractical. Manhattan Institute’s “The New Energy Economy” says that global energy production would have to increase 90 fold in 20 years to replace hydrocarbons
  • oil grew only 10 fold over 50 years
•  Inefficient. 600% more electricity can be generated with fossil fuel than with renewables for the same capital spent on primary energy-producing hardware

The Center Square | Critics: Austin’s renewable energy goals unrealistic

Where: Washington State

What does Washington State want to stop? New permits for bottling state water resources

Why does Washington want to end new permits for bottled state water?

• The process damages natural springs
• Damages aquatic life
• Contributes to a global problem of plastic waste

Where else is this trending?

• A Michigan appeals court denied a permit for zoning for Nestle to transport water
• Florida citizen groups began a petition to block a local company from selling Florida based water to Nestle

Wall Street Journal | Bottled Water Targeted in Washington State

The fastest growing electric source: Solar will account for 61 % of the power projects expected to come on the grid between now and 2023

How much capacity will Wind add by 2023?  add 30 gigawatts of power or 27% of total new capacity 

Batteries will generate 8 gigawatts or 7 percent of new capacity by 2023.

Houston Chronicle | Solar, wind and batteries expected to outpace new gas-powered generation in Texas

Where: New York City

The utility: ConEd, an investor-owned utility

Who is paying for curb side EV charger installation? All New Yorkers, even those who do not use EV charging

How did ConEd frame the argument?

• EV charging is a service
• Base rate for charing: $2.50/ hour is equivalent to about $0.40/kWh
• Billing would continue after the vehicle is fully charged by still connected

How does compare to other jurisdictions?

• California has banned EV charging rates that bill by the hour
• Maryland approved a base rate of $0.18 per kWh for utility-owned curbside alternating current EVSEs. 

Electrek | NYC will get curbside EV charging, but ConEd’s pricing will make people sad

Where: Madison Wisconsin

The local ordinance to make EV charger installation easier:

• streamline the process for building an electric charging facility
• eliminating an extra permit for EV charger operations
• allow EV chargers in more areas of the city than gas stations
• require 50% of parking spaces in new commercial & residential parking facilities be EV capable or ready

Why does the city require an extra permit for EV charger use? Because city code does not define vehicle charging as a permitted use

Wisconsin State Journal via Governing | City Hopes to Install First EV Charging Station in State

What does an energy community seek? local consumption and energy independence

What do utilities offer for energy communities?

• enable distributed energy exchange
• offer self-sufficient energy supply
• offer peer-2-peer energy trading
• Cost Coverage of wind turbines, batteries or biogas installations by utilities to bolstering energy supply
• Maintenance of wind turbines, batteries or biogas installations by utilities

Tiko in PV Magazine | Energy communities as a business model for utilities

Who: Power management leader Eaton + Green Motion, a pioneer in EV chargers

Why is power management important with EV chargers? 6 EVs charging close to each other, at peak time, could lead to local brownouts

2 competing energy issues: charger reliability + grid stability

How does battery storage bolster EV charging? Energy storage allows buildings to add as many chargers as they want with reliability and stability

Energy Industry Review | Eaton and Green Motion to Integrate EV Chargers in Buildings with Energy Storage

What’s happening in Missouri: The Grain Belt Transmission line would bring renewable energy from Kansas, through Missouri to Indiana

What are legislators saying to support legislation that would block eminent domain for this transmission project?

•  “This bill is to protect personal property rights against eminent domain by an entity that brings no benefit to help our renewable energy standards. In this state we are meeting our renewable energy standards.”
• ” I cannot be in favor of allowing a private company to use eminent domain to force a “for-profit” project to be built on landowner’s private property….simply for the profitable gain of the private company.”

Maryville Forum | Capitol Report: Legislation to prevent abuse of eminent domain

Where: Bozzeman MT

How does spent hops and barley help a water treatment system? by feeding the beer waste to the treatment plant’s bacteria at just the right time in just the right dosage

What is the economic benefit? Potential to avoid having to spend $1 million to upgrade wastewater plant to meet new, more stringent clean water standards

NPR| Beer waste saves Montana town $1 million on water treatment

The report authors: Energy Innovation and the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy

Take aways:

• 4 of 5 performance incentive mechanisms successfully reduced energy demand
• 3 successful state incentive programs, VT, TX, & MA, exceeded expectations
• Adjusting incentives based on regulatory reviews helps the whole sale market

Two types of incentives makes successful program:

• % of utility investment in program spending to reduce total peak demand
• + offer customer benefits

Utility Dive | State regulators need cyclical reviews to get the most out of utility performance incentive mechanisms: Report

Where: Oregon

Who: Portland General Electric

What tools are they relying on in Oregon?

• energy efficiency programs. utilizing this capacity for electrified transportation
• partnerships. partnerships with EV industry so that signals can be sent to address capacity
• incentives. incentivize vehicle charging at the right time for the grid

Utility Dive | Reimagining the grid: How PGE, SCE and others are prepping for transportation electrification

Who: The director of PV Inverters and Energy Storage at Fremont, California-based Delta Electronics (Americas)

How does battery storage improve smart grids?

• Battery Storage helps recognize irregularities in the grid & automatically adjusts; increasing energy efficiency and resiliency
• Reduces the amount of energy wasted
• Improves efficiency of generation, delivery and consumption
• Compartmentalization of the power grid creates greater resiliency
• Safer in emergencies to prevent damage with a more compartmentalized power grid 

POWER Business & Technology for Global Generation | The POWER Interview: Benefits of a Smarter Grid

Where: Washington State

How? Prohibit Wall Street bankers and international investors from participating in the State’s water banks

What’s a water bank?  A water bank collects water rights from rural landowners who have permission to take more water than they need.

The legislation: SB 6494 (2020 | WA)

Investigate West | LEGISLATURE EYES WAYS TO CONTROL SPECULATORS BUYING WASHINGTON WATER RIGHTS

Who is proposing EV ready building codes? International Code Council

What would be added to building codes for EVs?

• For single family: Be EV ready — which means proper panels, conduits, and outlets be installed. The EV charger would not be required
• For multi family homes: Be EV capable + 2 parking spots that are EV ready

When will the official ICC codes be published? fall of 2020

News Wheel | International Code Council Will Make EV-Ready Homes

Which investment group is leading the charge? Black Rock

What is BlackRock doing? a new multibillion-dollar renewable energy fund with a focus on battery storage

What energy issues is BlackRock watching?

•  emergence of the U.S. offshore wind market
•  the end of wind and solar tax credits which will lead to “significant complexities in capital structuring”

Why did BlackRock make this move? Its CEO “shook” the investment world in January 2020 by announcing that sustainability would be at the center of their investment strategies

GTM | BlackRock Targets Storage With New Multibillion-Dollar Renewables Fund

Who issued the report? U.S. Energy Information Administration

2 Reasons why US Power generation cannot make significant carbon reductions by 2040:

• low natural gas prices means, lower cost generation
• retiring nuclear plants

What does the EIA report not account for?

• technological advances
• innovation like battery storage

Utility Dive | Can the US power sector significantly reduce carbon emissions by 2040? Not according to EIA

States that permit, or may soon permit, farmers to use manure to create renewable energy: California, Minnesota, & Oregon

The jargon: biogas production

Capturing methane is “It’s the new gold rush,” according to a dairy farmer.

How can this work? Farms in Indiana are certified to earn lucrative low-carbon credits in California

Is there a coalition/association? yes, Coalition for Renewable Natural Gas

Star Tribune via Governing | Minnesota Could Be Moving to Farms for Renewable Energy

The company: Danish Oil & Natural Gas, now named Ørsted

How:

• 2009 opened what was then the world’s largest offshore wind farm
• “transformed from a company that had fossil fuels at the core of its business to being essentially a pure-play renewable energy company”
•  reduced its CO2 emissions by more than 80% since 2006 

Is it making a profit? Yes, “Our return on capital is 300 to 400 basis points higher than the European average.”

Corporate Knights | Top company profile: Denmark’s Ørsted is 2020’s most sustainable corporation

The game plan: HB 28 (2020 | NM)

The big goal: exempt growing oil and gas developments from some state regulations

What’s the legislative maneuver? Clarifying that any lands continually used for oil and gas activity would not be considered a subdivision requiring new regulation

What’s the practical impact? A small piece of land is added to drilling land for a compressed station. The land that the new compressor station is built on would not require new regulatory approval.

Carlsbad Current Argus | Oil and gas developments to be sped up by New Mexico House bill

Where: Georgia

What:  require coal ash to be stored in facilities that are at least as secure as municipal landfills

How: SB 297 (2020 | GA)
Solid Waste Management; conditions for the issuance of a permit for solid waste or special waste handling for a coal combustion unit or landfill

ATL NPR | Coal Ash Gets Attention As Georgia Legislative Session Begins

• 103% increase in 2019
• 2019 saw $1.7 billion in 32 deals
• $1.4 billion went to lithium battery projects

Chronicle | Battery storage is hot VC investment

Where: Central Texas

What: Barton Springs Edwards Aquifer Conservation District voted to join the lawsuit against a Kinder Morgan pipeline

What are water district representatives saying?

• the pipeline has avoided review by appropriate environmental agencies
• the pipeline has avoided vetting by the public
• “cannot ensure construction and operation of the pipeline will be reasonably protective of our water resources”
• potential for “economic and environmental impacts would be disastrous”

Hays Free Press | Water district joins in fight against natural gas pipeline

 0

What is vehicle-to-grid technology? electric cars to serving as battery storage for the grid

How would this work? during peak demand time cars would give back energy

When would cars recharge? During nights when demand is lower

Is there a target vehicle for battery storage? YES, fleets. Especially heavy-duty fleets, such as school buses or utility vehicles

PEW | Electric Cars Will Challenge State Power Grids

• Consumption Increases. national electric consumption estimate of 38% increase by 2050
• Grid Strains. whether EVs are an asset or liability to the grid will depend on WHEN EVs are charged
• Competing Findings.
  • A University of Texas at Austin study on impact of every switching to EV
  • UT Energy report
  • Department of Energy says electric production has increased while use has remained constant over the last decade.
  • DOE November report 

PEW | Electric Cars Will Challenge State Power Grids

Why is Kansas considering securitization for unused coal generation facilities?

• The legislature ordered a study [read the rate study here]
• The rate study says move toward securitization with caution, legislature
• performance-based ratemaking methods to incentivize utilities to control their costs are better than securitization for Kansas rate payers

Which states have passed securitization legislation? Colorado, Montana & New Mexico

What did Kansas securitization legislation in 2019 look like? SB 198 (2019 | KS)

Which states are considering performance based ratemaking methods? Hawaii, Colorado, Oregon, Massachusetts and California

Utility Dive | Kansas considering securitization for aging coal plants, but caution urged

Where: Indiana

The legislation: HB 1414 (2020 | IN)

What federal action would permit the the retirement of a coal generation facility in Indiana?

• wholly, or in part, on one or more federally mandated requirements 

• just be tied to enforcement of a federal administrative rule

What is explicitly excluded from triggering a coal retirement?

• A consent decree into which the public utility was not required to enter by a state regulatory authority
• An administrative rule of the United States Environmental Protection Agency
• The public utility’s interpretation of an administrative rule

Utility Dive | Indiana bill would require Trump administration blessing to retire coal early

Where: Missouri

The legislation: HB 2033 (2020 | MO)

What’s the goal? Prohibit eminent domain to acquire easements for the transmission line

What problem is it looking to solve? Grain Belt Express project would carry power from wind farms in Kansas to Missouri, Illinois, and then to Eastern states power grids

KHQA | Eminent domain troubles remain for $2.3B wind energy power line

Where: California

Why? Legislators want to require telecom companies to have backup power that fully restores systems within 72 hours during emergencies

Who would foot the bill for the back up power? Telecom companies

AP | California lawmakers eye back-up power for cellphone towers

Where: New Jersey

The legislation: S2252 (2020 | NJ)

How does the omnibus EV bill that covers fleets, charging stations and credits handle utility ownership of chargers?

• Entities owning EV chargers are NOT utilities
• Charging of a plug-in electric vehicle is a service and NOT a sale of electricity
• A plug-in electric vehicle charger provides a service and is NOT a basic generation service provider
• Aligning EVs to the “Electric Discount and Energy Competition Act,” P.L.1999, c.23 (C.48:3-49 et al.)

Insider NJ | Jersey Renews: Bipartisan EV Bill Passes Senate & Assembly

Who: Ocean Fresh Water

Where:

• Ocean Fresh Water is based in France
• Desalination plants in Middle East, North Africa, & The United States (Florida, Texas and California)

How does the water Ocean Fresh Water sells get processed? Aboard a ship where the water is collected, desalinated, & bottled.

The sustainable argument for selling desalinated water: It is “a sustainable and eco-rational alternative, a global relay against the degradation and depletion of terrestrial waters”

The Telegraph | French company rebrands desalinated seawater as ‘health drink’

The Courts: U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California

What is happening?

• Department of Energy (DOE) is rollbacking energy efficiency lightbulb standards
• California Energy Commission (CEC) in November adopted a 45 lumens/watt (LPW) energy conservation standard
  • This standard aligned to the DOE 2017 standards for lightbulbs

Who opposes state action that has higher thresholds than the DOE standards?

• National Electrical Manufacturers Association
• American Lighting Association

Utility Dive | Court rules California can enforce stricter lightbulb standards amid challenges to DOE rollbacks

Which utility? El Paso Electric

What is the utility scale battery project?  2 50-megawatt battery storage projects

• 100 MW solar facility + a 50 MW of battery storage in Otero County, New Mexico
  • in coordination with Hecate Energy  for the solar energy
  • in coordination with a subsidiary of NextEra Energy Resources
• 50 MW stand-alone battery storage facility in Canutillo, Texas
  • in coordination with Ørsted Onshore 

American Public Power Association | Texas utility plans first utility-scale storage projects

Where: Minnesota Legislature

What are Republicans offering as a clean energy compromise?

• The republican plan is in response to utility action setting their own clean energy goals
• Ensuring the focus of energy policy is on allowing technology in energy and allowing the economy to drive innovation
• Require utilities to prioritize carbon-free resources when building new power plants or replacing retired facilities
  • Except if renewable sources are cost prohibitive
  • Applies whether the replacement is renewables alone or renewables in cooperation with another clean energy source

Inforum | A clean energy compromise? One plan gets new life in Minnesota Legislature

How much battery storage power is on the Texas grid? 100 MW in a system with a generating capacity of 80,000 MW

How does Texas rank today in battery storage? 4th in the US

What is the growth rate in 2020? Estimated to triple to 360MW

ERCOT’s 5 year battery storage proposals: 7,200 MW 

Why is Texas a leader in battery storage for the grid? Because ERCOT doesn’t have to wait for FERC approval

What does more energy storage mean economically?

• More $$$ in renewables which will have a pathway onto the grid with batteries
• Price of lithium is falling, it was down 35% in the first half of 2018
• By 2024, wide spread use of battery storage for electricity

Houston Chronicle | Battery storage on verge of changing Texas power grid

What utility is replacing a fossil fuel plant with a large battery? Homer Electric Association, a member-owned electric utility cooperative in Alaska

What 5 things do we need to know about the large battery?

• Tesla product
• Stores 93 MWh of electrical power
• Can deliver electrical power to the grid at a rate of 46.5 MWs per hour
• The utility will meet its reliability requirements without having to burn additional fuel
• The utility will be more efficient & power outages will be reduced

Electrek | Tesla is going to deploy a big battery in Alaska to replace fossil-fuel plant

Where: Florida

What limits does Florida want to put on the use of revenues from municipal utilities?

• NOT allow municipal utility revenue to be used in the city general revenue fund
• Limit revenue use to utility projects

The legislation: HB 653 (2020 | FL)

WUFT | Utilities Revenue Bill In Florida Legislature Threatens City Budgets Statewide

Who is the other side? Surfrider Foundation & Coastal Alliance to Protect Our Environment

What is the other side saying about desalination?

• Energy Vampires. Desalination uses a lot of energy
• Impact on Wildlife. The impact to wildlife from brine discharge
• Cost. Do taxpayers bear the brunt of the cost?

CRIS 6 | Environmentalists want to share concerns on desalination plants with public

Who? Houston Chronicle Editorial Board with reliance on Environmental Integrity Project

What recommendations?

•  investing more in pollution monitoring
  • the state has continuously cut pollution control funding
• stronger enforcement for rule breakers
• more lawsuits from the state against big-pocketed polluters who ignore environmental laws

Houston Chronicle | Texas isn’t policing petrochemical plants [Editorial]

What do building codes that promote innovation in decarbonation mean? Limit the use of natural gas and increase electric mandates

What are 3 examples of how this has been implemented?

• Menlo Park, CA limits electric power for space heating, water heating and dryers BUT allows gas stoves
• San Mateo, CA doesn’t prohibit these of natural gas but sets higher energy efficiency standard for buildings that do
• Marin County, CA limits gas but allows for gas stoves & fireplaces in new construction if the buildings meet higher energy efficiency standards

Governing | Some Calif. Counties Will Emphasize Electric Use in New Year

Where is this happening? California

What state regulatory approval has occurred?  California Energy Commission has approved 6 local governments to limit natural gas

When did this start? Summer 2019 when Berkeley became the first city to favor all electric building code requirements and restrict natural gas

Which local governments received approval from the California Energy Commission?

• San Jose
• Menlo Park
• San Mateo
• West Hollywood
• Santa Monica
• Marin County 

How many local governments are expected to follow suit? 20

Governing | Some Calif. Counties Will Emphasize Electric Use in New Year

• Keeps more revenue in the locations where its generated
• Allows existing state revenue paid by oil and gas producers to fund:
  • highways and public roads expansion & improvement
  • increases in law-enforcement and first responder salaries
  • revitalization of education and skilled-workforce opportunities in energy-producing hotbeds

Landgraf: Why Texas needs GROW

Who: Baker Hughes

Why the move to 100% renewals energy for the oil services company? “We see this commitment to Texas-generated renewable power as an important step in our progress toward net-zero emissions, and we have many more projects underway to continue to reduce our global emissions.”

What does this deal look like?

• 10-year power-purchase agreement
• French-owned power company EDF Energy will be the provider
• Baker Hughes will get all of its electricity for its 170 facilities in Texas from wind and solar

Houston Chronicle | Baker Hughes to power all of its Texas facilities from renewables

The city: El Paso TX

The utility: El Paso Electric

The issues surrounding the purchase:

• Cost. Estimated to cost $4.3 billion with 100s of millions of dollars/year in financing costs
• Time. Will take years to study the issue before a purchase could occur
• Study. Can a feasibility study be paid for with El Paso Electric’s annual franchise fee
• Eminent Domain. The City Attorney says state law permits the use eminent domain to acquire utility property

El Paso Times | El Paso Considers Buying Electric Utility, but Is It Worth It?

Where: Vermont

Which state agencies favor taxing electric vehicle charging?

• Public Service Department
• Agency of Natural Resources
• Agency of Transportation

Which state agency opposes taxing electric vehicle charging?

Vermont Public Utility Commission

What supporting points did the Vermont PUC give the legislature in its report?

• Taxing EV charging will not increase EV charging numbers
• The price of electricity is raised when you add taxes and fees to electric end-uses 

Burlington Free Press | Should there be a tax on charging electric vehicles in Vermont?

Vermont Public Utility Commission | Report to the State Legislature | Submitted by the Vermont Public Utility Commission to the Senate and House Committees on Transportation, the Senate Committee on Natural Resources & Energy, and the House Committee on Energy & Technology

Where has this happened? Windsor, CA

What does the local ordinance do? requires electrical appliances & prohibits gas appliances for future low-rise residential developments

Why? to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by decreasing natural gas dependencies

San Francisco Chronicle | As Bay Area natural gas bans spread, lawsuits mount

Who?

• $1 million grant via U.S. Department of Energy
• Cockrell School of Engineering, Univeristy of Texas at Austin
  • led by Jamie Beard & Bob Metcalfe of the Cockrell School’s Innovation Center
• new Geothermal Entrepreneurship Organization (GEO)
  • engineers
  • researchers
  • entrepreneurs

What is geothermal energy?

• heat that is CO₂-free, clean energy source
• goal is to make geothermal energy a leader within a decade

UT News | Drilling for Clean Energy: New Initiative Positions Texas as Geothermal Energy Leader

Where: UK

What did the EV charger rollout look like?

• Volkswagen led partnership
• Joining Tesco and Pod Point locations
• 2,400 charging points installed

What incentives are being offered to use these EV chargers?

• Tesco offers free charging while shopping at 100 Tesco stores across the UK

Good News Network | UK Supermarket Chain Provides Free Car Charging Network to EV Owners While They Shop

Who: Bernard L. Weinstein. Associate director of the Maguire Energy Institute & adjunct professor, Cox School of Business at Southern Methodist University.

Why is US energy dominance really North America Energy Dominance?

• Canada has boosted oil production by 50% since 2005
• Mexico’s deregulated energy market with a pro-deregulation President
• North America possesses five times more fossil fuel reserves than OPEC
•  1/2 of U.S. natural gas exports go to Mexico

The Hill | Let’s think about energy dominance for North America — not just the US

Where: California, Maine, & Colorado

How is renewable energy stored?

• It is converted into a gas that is stored in underground pipelines
• An alternative is giant, lithium-ion battery banks. 

What costs can be offset by storing renewables? Transmission line upgrades

Governing | Portland Press Herald | Maine Wants to Store, Not Waste, Excess Renewable Energy

Where: Ohio

What: AEP sought legislative approval of customer rates to fund a proposed solar projects

What funding options remain?

• HB 6 (2019| OH) will offer subsidies to fund the projects
  • Hb 6 also provides funding for nuclear and coal
• Ohio’s PUC found the solar projects were not needed
• Ohio Consumers’ Counsel pointed to Texas PUC declining an AEP wind project to be funded by rate payers

Governing | Advance Ohio Media | Ohio Utility Must Find Other Funding Source for Solar Project

Who: San Diego Gas & Electric

What: 340 public EV charging stations

Where: 52 sites at schools, parks and beaches

Funding: $18.8 million paid by ratepayers

How are locations determined? Priority given to locations that are disproportionately impacted by air pollution

San Diego Union Tribune | San Diego Utility to Install EV Chargers at Schools and Parks

Where: Australia

Who: Tesla

What: The 100 MW/129 MWh Tesla Powerpack project in South Australia 

The benefits of battery storage for energy delivery:

• cheaper
  • $50 million (AUD) savings in Year 1
• quicker
• zero emissions

The expansion: 50% expansion= 50 MW/64.5 MWh expansion

Electrek | Tesla is expanding its ‘world’s largest battery’ project by 50%

Who is behind the study? Texas Advanced Energy Business Alliance (TAEBA)

What distributed energy solutions are they talking about?

• solar+storage
• smart thermostats
• electric vehicles

What is the competition argument supporting distributed energy?

• Distributed Energy Resources should have the opportunity to compete
• The regulatory framework should allow competition in non-wires solutions in Texas

What cost savings are we talking about? Savings to reduce, defer, or outright avoid expansions of transmission and distribution infrastructure

Energy Central | Distributed Energy Could Save Texas Consumers $5.5 Billion by 2030

Where: Texas

Who: Texans by Nature in partnership with Texas Monthly

What: Recognize businesses for their best practices, innovation, collaboration and efforts in conservation

2019 Recipients:

• NRG
• American Campus Communities
• Apache
• Austin Convention Center
• Cactus Feeders
• CEMEX
• Cirrus Logic
• Comerica Bank
• Darling Ingredients Inc
• Dell Technologies
• Live Green DFW
• Farmer Brothers
• HEB
• Harvest Seasonal Kitchen
• King Land & Water
• Parkland Health and Hospital System
• Phillips 66
• Southwest
• Texas Health Resources
• Union Pacific

Texan by Nature | TxN 20 for 2019

Where: Mexico

What Methane regulations?  Reducing methane emissions from the oil and gas sector by 40-45% by 2025

What benefits to the energy sector and economy?

• increase domestic prosperity
• oil and gas sector more efficient
• reduction in the amount of harmful pollutants

Is there impact to Texas that exports gas to Mexico? Mexico looks to quickly increase the domestic supply of gas to reduce methane emissions

EDF | Methane regulations can help transform Mexico’s energy sector

What’s happening? Illegal cannabis growers in state and national parks are polluting water sources

How are these growers polluting water sources? The use of insecticides and other chemicals used in illegal marijuana operations

What alliance has formed to solve the issue through enforcement & regulation?

• environmentalists
• law enforcement agents
• politicians
• wildlife ecologists
• representatives of the legal cannabis industry

Texas Pubkic Radio | Illegal Pot Operations In Public Forests Are Poisoning Wildlife And Water

Who: Denmark’s Ørsted , formerly Danish Oil and Natural Gas, known as “vanguard of old energy companies transitioning rapidly toward renewables”

Where:West Texas, near existing oil and gas infrastructure in the Permian Basin

What: Permian Energy Center,  460-megawatt solar-plus-storage project to be completed by mid-2021

Storage capacity: 40 megawatts with 1 hour of capacity, running alongside a 420 MW AC solar array

Green Tech Media | Orsted Brings 460MW Solar-Plus-Storage Project to Texas Oil Country

Where: La Villa Independent School District

How much will the school district save by improving energy efficiency?

• 30% cut in utility costs
• $2,840,501 in guaranteed energy savings
• Over 15 years of savings

What energy efficiency improvements were made?

•  LED lighting
• building controls
• modern heating and air conditioning equipment throughout the district 

How was it financed? Texas Comptroller’s Texas LoanSTAR Revolving Loan Program

Environment & Energy Leader | Texas School District to Undergo Energy Efficiency Project, Expected to Save $2.8 Million Over 15 Years

Who is saying this? Texas Advanced Energy Business Alliance 

What are they saying?

• Electricity consumers in Texas could save nearly $5.5 billion over the next decade 
• Texas households could save an average $456 

The proposal to save Texans: “integrating distributed energy resources into transmission and distribution planning and allowing small-scale generation facilities to participate in existing wholesale markets.”

Houston Chronicle | Texas needs better management of small power sources

Where: Michigan

Who: Sunverge + Consumers Energy

What: residential battery storage pilot

Why?

• evaluate the energy provider’s distribution circuits
• identify grid locations suitable to test the potential benefits and value from behind-the-meter battery storage
• identify potential investment deferral, resiliency, and reliability

Transmission & Distribution World | Consumers Energy and Sunverge Collaborate for Distributed Battery Storage Pilot

What? Apple is partnering with eBay, Samsung, and Sprint to buy clean energy from White Mesa Wind project

Where? Crockett County, Texas

How much clean energy? purchase totals 75 megawatts of clean energy (power for roughly 20,000 homes)

What is Apple saying about its Corporate Social Responsibility? “We’re proud to be powering all of Apple’s operations around the world with 100 percent renewable energy and driving the private sector to support the clean energy transition. Businesses of all sizes and of varying energy needs can help bring new, renewable energy online. This collaborative agreement in Texas is a model we hope others will replicate.” 

Apple Insider | Apple partnering with tech giants for big clean energy buy

Where: New Jersey

The legislation: A1371 (2019 | NJ)

How does A1371 encourage local governments to include EV chargers?

• Adds EV chargers to master planning criteria
• Adds EV chargers to state green building codes

What economic incentives for local governments for EV chargers?

• Create jobs
• Reduce greenhouse gas emissions
• Reduce our reliance on foreign fuels

Insider NJ | Kennedy, Johnson, Zwicker & Benson Bill to Encourage Municipalities to Plan for, Build Electric Car Charging Stations Now Law

Where: Minnesota

What are the 3 ways utilities are offering to reduce EV rates?

• Xcel Energy
  • Decades-old pricing system limits demand charges with sporadic loads, including from DC fast chargers
• Minnesota Power
  • Pilot program that prohibits demand charges from exceeding 30% of a DC fast-charging company’s bill 
• Otter Tail Power
  • Pilot rate plan reduces demand charges + promotes third-party ownership of DC fast chargers

Why is this important for EV innovation?

• Demand charges wipe out any profits a fast-charger developer earns

Energy News Network | Minnesota utilities offer to lessen demand charges on EV fast chargers

Where? California

Why? Pacific Gas & Electric Company’s prolonged power outages and PG&E’s bankruptcy

Who else will work with the Energy Czar?

• legal secretary
• energy policy adviser
• legislative strategist

Sacramento Bee | Newsom names ‘energy czar’ amid California blackouts, suggests state could take over PG&E

Where: Australia

What: Data Standards Body said the appointment of 14 members to the Energy Advisory Committee

Why: Protecting consumer data key to switching energy providers

ZD Net | Australia’s consumer energy data to be made open under CDR

ZDNet | Data Standards Body establishes Energy Advisory Committee ahead of Consumer Data Right mandate

Where: Oklahoma

What: Oklahoma Corporation Commission implemented rules for new excess-energy payment requirements publicly regulated utilities must follow to compensate owners of solar and small-wind systems

3 ways the reimbursements will be limited:

• existing net metering rules that will allow utilities to offset energy production by energy use on the property
• reimbursement for each excess kilowatt hour will be at wholesale rates, not retail rates
• reimbursement cap of 125% of what the property historical peak load is

Governing | Oklahoma Encourages Renewable Energy with Reimbursements

Where: South Dakota

Which pipeline? Keystone XL

What did the state agree to after the courts found provisions unconstitutional?

• “never enforce current state laws that prohibit protected speech and are aimed at suppressing protests”
• pay plaintiff attorney fees

Indian Country Today | South Dakota Governor drops anti-protest laws in settlement agreement with ACLU

Who is bankrolling this water funding? Federal Government

Who is proposing this small scale water funding project? Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va, &  Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Maryland

How will it work?

• The Senators are amending the Safe Drinking Water Act
• Giving the EPA power over a $5 Million grant program
• To fund local governments for infrastructure improvements and asset management

What type of project would qualify?

• water systems with fewer than 10,000 customers

Charleston Gazette Mail | Capito introduces bill investing in water infrastructure, a problem largely ignored at state level

What? 50 faculty members at Texas A&M University System asked Chancellor Sharp to develop a plan to cut methane emissions on land the university profits from by 1/2 within the next 5 years

What specific clean air practices do the faculty members want implemented? Best practices for the oil and gas industry on West Texas Permanent University Fund Lands

Who signed? John Nielsen-Gammon, the Texas State Climatologist and director of A&M’s Texas Center for Climate Studies and 49 of his colleagues

Courthouse News Service | Texas Researchers Urge Cuts in Pollution on University Land

Where: Texas

Who: Texas Municipal League

What: A resolution calling for requiring greater oversight of oil and gas pipeline routes

How do they want this increased oversight?

• before establishing or publishing pipeline routes, there should be input from affected communities & landowners
• requires route negotiation if municipalities find substantial threats to economic development, natural resources, or standard of living
• required compliance with environmental & economic impact studies
• require pipelines to maintain performance bonds

Is this unusual? 6 local jurisdictions have taken similar action including:

• San Marcos
• Buda
• Kyle
• Austin
• Hays County
• Hays CISD

The Texas Municipal League Resolution

Community Impact | Texas Municipal League adopts resolution seeking state legislation on pipeline routing

Where: Michigan

Who is in the coalition to change existing law?

• Clean energy
• Michigan Energy Innovation Business Council
• Michigan League of Conservation Voters

What are their legislative goals with their bill package to Powering Michigan Forward? 

• remove the cap on distributed generation
• establish a fair value for solar
• monthly netting of renewable energy
• support residential customers + support industrial consumers

The opposition: State utilities

WLNS 6 | Lawmakers introduce renewable energy bills

Where: South Carolina

Who: Duke Energy

Why build a 5MW battery storage?

• grid services
• emergency service

Energy Storage Publishing | Utility to build 5MW lithium-ion battery storage project for emergency and grid services

Who is saying funding for battery storage technology is doubling? Mercom Capital Group, an energy communications and consulting firm in Austin.

What do the funding numbers look like?

• 2019: investing $1.6 billion in 25 deals
• 2018: $783 million in 38 deals (over same time frame)

Is the increase in funding true across other energy technology? No.

•  energy efficiency is flat at about $268 million
• Smart grid funding is down 27%

Houston Chronicle | Venture capital firms double funding of battery storage projects

3 ways cities & utilities work together to meet Electric Vehicle demand:

• Distribution system upgrades. City codes and laws must be navigated by customers. Utilities are working with customers to meet their electrification needs.
  • Sacramento is working to utilize EV chargers as a grid resource
• City Fleets.
  • 60% of cities have green vehicle purchasing policies
  • 26% of cities are considering green vehicle policies
  • Utilities are offering grants to cities for transportation electrification
• City Policy Changes. Report shows “strong collaborative relationships with utilities in particular appear to be key components of successful climate efforts”
  • 58% of cities are or are considering partnering for energy efficient building codes
  • 57% of cities are or are considering partnering for advanced climate solutions in transportation
  • 55% of cities are or are considering partnering for renewable energy standards

Utility Dive | Electric revolution: As EV demand increases, can utilities and cities keep up?

Where: Colorado

Who is buying up water rights that concerns Colorado legislators?

• Wall Street investment firms
• local finance groups 

What’s the overall framework for selling water rights in Colorado?

• CO has anti-speculation laws
• CO permits the sale of water rights, if a water court approves

The Gazette | Colorado lawmakers consider tougher rules to stop water profiteering

Where: San Jose, CA

Why does San Jose want to buy its power grid from PG&E?

• improve resiliency
• fewer blackouts

How does San Jose envision its power delivery?

• multiple micro grid generating systems throughout San Jose
• potentially use eminent domain to acquire PG&Es utility property

KTVU 2 | San Jose looking to build and maintain its own electrical grid, dumping PG&E in the process

Where: Arizona cities of Phoenix, Peoria & Surprise

Why did these 3 cities act? A fire at a battery storage facility

What rules did the cities implement? Safety standards for battery storage

Who do the battery storage rules apply to?

• homeowners
• businesses
• schools
• utilities

What do the rules require?

• notification to cities when building battery storage facilities
• local permits
• local inspections
• local building requirements with certain safety features

AZ Central | After APS explosion injures 4 firefighters, Arizona cities enact battery storage laws for utilities, homeowners

Where: California

What: SB 378 (2019 | CA)

How does SB 378 allow for cost recovery for stakeholders?

• require the California Public Utilities Commission to create a cost recovery process
• allow for the recovery of lost costs associated with planned blackouts
• mandate greater risk assessment
• require more utilities to report the consequences that resulted from planned power outages 

What are people saying in support?

• The Governor:“Californians should not pay the price for decades of PG&E’s greed and neglect
• The bill author: “we can’t let PG&E normalize these blackouts.”

Sacramento Bee | Reducing blackout risks + Lawmakers convene to talk vaping

Where? Fredericksburg Texas

What? Voters in the city will have fluoride on their Nov. 5th ballot

Have other Texas cities banned Fluoride? Yes,  Buda and San Marcos 

How did they get there? Citizen petition on the issue

KUT | Fredericksburg Could Be The Next City In Central Texas To Ban Fluoride From Drinking Water

Where: The Netherlands

Who: Urban Crossovers

How? kerosene, made from passing electricity through a mixture of carbon dioxide and water taken from ambient air

Marketplace | A new jet fuel offers the prospect of no-carbon, “guilt-free” flying