Ch-ch-ch-changes ??

Good morning and happy Friday,

In this week’s headlines, natural gas’s dominance in the US is fading as the cost of electricity generated by wind farms and solar projects falls with solar now 33% cheaper than gas power — while this start up is partnering with Sunrun to recycle and reuse millions of outdated solar panels.?

Meanwhile, lawmakers are struggling to revive permitting reform (or even agree on what “permitting reform” means) disputing states’ rights from different perspectives, as Democrats want more federal power to bypass states and permit long-distance transmission lines.

Read on for more.

“The Prevailing Emotion is Fear”

This week’s installment in the facts vs. fiction drama playing out in many parts of the country features a familiar story line: a small but vocal group of local residents who are aggressively opposed to renewable energy development in their area. Here are a few representative scenes:

• The project’s opponents give many reasons for their stance, including concerns about noise from substations, hazardous waste from mismanaged panels, and disbelief that the project will benefit the local economy.
• The opposition is organized and motivated, a combination that gets the attention of local elected officials. As such, public discourse on the topic is characterized by a “prevailing emotion (of) fear, whether it’s fear of the solar projects – or fear of upsetting the people who oppose the projects.”
• “ Meanwhile, the supporters of solar feel like they have been pushed to the margins, with officials unwilling to consider the projects’ benefits, like a sizable boost in tax income for local governments and millions of dollars in lease payments for farmers.”?

?? The Takeaway

More facts, less fiction. The article notes that “Opponents say that solar power is a threat to the economy and to human health – assertions that often go unchallenged or barely challenged at the local level.” In this age of “alternative facts,” it’s more important than ever that communities have access to accurate information that will help ensure they make educated choices.

Transmission: The “Enabling Technology” for Renewables

Another topic familiar to Dispatch readers is the urgent need for significant investment in transmission to support the renewable energy buildout envisioned by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). While the “challenges to achieving a nationally connected grid, or ‘Macro Grid’” are well known, a new report from the National Renewable Energy Lab underscores an equally important point: doing so could pay for itself. Here are a few of the solutions being discussed:

• One of the biggest challenges to building out a national grid is “solving cost allocation for interregional lines.” The permitting reform bill proposed by Senator Manchin “would have enabled the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to allocate project costs to ratepayers who benefit from them, offering (a) potential path forward.”
• Another option would be “to revive an investment tax credit for sufficiently large transmission lines.” Although not included in the IRA, a transmission ITC would create massive benefits for clean energy and the economy, according to a 2021 American Council on Renewable Energy report.
• In addition to the above, a third (and intriguing) option is to use a technology that “stands out as a straightforward way to make better use of existing transmission corridors – using advanced conductors.” This would “help create a significant amount of new transmission capacity more quickly and more cost-effectively than trying to build new, large-scale transmission” and is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy.

?? The Takeaway

All of the above, please! The IRA represents a major opportunity to reinvent our nation’s clean energy economy. “But to realize those savings, the modeling shows we will need to double, if not triple, the level of transmission capacity currently available in America by 2035. This will require thousands of miles of new high-capacity lines being built per year, with a total projected increase of 91,000 miles of new transmission lines in the U.S. within the next 13 years.”

• Two Becomes One: Consolidated Edison sells renewable energy businesses to RWE
• The Windy Wy: Wyoming sees big increase in wind-power generating capacity
• Upgrade: This company is fixing the US grid
• Keep up, Kansas: Environmental group gives Kansas low marks for clean energy
• Layoffs: GE is laying off 20% of its U.S. workforce devoted to onshore wind

• EDPR Begins Construction on 200 MW Indiana Wind Farm
• A Clean Energy Trifecta: Wind, Solar and Storage in the Same Project
• Lightsource bp’s 250 MW Entergy Arkansas Driver Solar Project Approved
• Linn County, Iowa Supervisors Vote 3-0 for Moratorium on Large Solar Projects

Ouch! Chevron Gets Blasted in Mock Commercial

For those of us still able to enjoy the many benefits of WFH, the ability to watch videos that contain F-bombs without fear of upsetting our colleagues is definitely appreciated. In that spirit, we present a new commercial from Adam McKay, who directed the movie Don’t Look Up. Dripping with irony, this parody of fossil-fuel advertising – does that make it a “mock-mercial?” – takes “savage” aim at oil company ads that feature “cheesy stock footage of newborn babies, frolicking elephants, and wind-turbine-filled mountainscapes.”

The voiceover explains that the purpose of this technique – known as “nature rinsing” – is to lull the viewer “into a catatonic state” because “these emotionally loaded scenes will always push aside other thoughts like ‘Chevron is murdering me.’” Ouch! For perspective / balance, check out this 2021 ad from Energy Transfer Partners, the company behind the Dakota Access pipeline.