@newsletter

Renewable Energy Loan Fail, Again?

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Just as the White House announced that it would form an independent oversight team to review the overall health of the Department of Energy loan guarantee program, yet another clean energy company that profited from its piggy bank fell this week.

This time the company is not a solar photovoltaic (PV) manufacturing company like Solyndra–which received $535 million loan guarantee from the program and filed for bankruptcy this September– but a Massachusetts-based energy storage company called Beacon Power that designs and manufactures various devices for electric grid reliability and efficiency. Beacon Power was awarded a $43 million guarantee in August 2010 for the construction of a 20 MW flywheel energy storage plant in Stephentown, New York. Keep reading →

 /  Published November 2, 2011 at 10:40 AM

Bulls Amid The Bears: AOL Energy Week In Review

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The energy sector has turned upbeat in recent weeks despite still-strong economic headwinds and widespread complaints about political and regulatory uncertainty.

Surviving the financial crisis largely intact has bred a sense of having passed through the worst among the power companies, fuel providers and service firms that keep the energy sector ticking. Although there was widespread acknowledgment this week–at energy industry events in Florida and New York–among bankers, analysts and operators that the business cycle remains stuck at a low, the stress was on fundamental support for new investment and new deals to support continued consolidation. Keep reading →

 /  Published October 28, 2011 at 1:30 PM

Putting The US Energy Picture In Context

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The US already has a diversified domestic energy mix for power production but would face challenges in moving beyond its dependence on global oil markets.

Moving to a fully renewable energy future in the US is more than 25-35 years away, BP Americas head of supply and trading Andy Milnes said, speaking at the CME Global Financial Leadership Conference in Naples, Florida. Technology would need to make significant leaps before the US could move away from coal, and with natural gas supply in the country set to expand significantly, fossil fuels will remain in the domestic energy mix for the foreseeable future. Keep reading →

 /  Published October 26, 2011 at 10:00 AM

The ‘I’ Word: AOL Energy Week In Review

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Every few years a word comes along that means more in the context of the day than it usually does in the dictionary; it becomes the catch-all term that encompasses and typifies a cultural moment, and business leaders and regulators find themselves using it constantly as a kind of shorthand.

In the media business that word has been “social,” in the internet business it has been “cloud” and in the financial business it has been “securitization.” Each speaks to an underlying set of assumptions and practices that force change in industries and reflect shifts in the broader world’s understanding of an organization’s role and purpose. Keep reading →

 /  Published October 21, 2011 at 2:00 PM

Cuba Sanctions Would Prevent Oil Spill Response

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US oil companies would be hobbled in their response to an oil spill from wells off the cost of Cuba, a Senate committee heard this week.

If there’s an oil spill from wells being drilled off the Cuban coast, US companies have sophisticated response equipment just 100 miles away – but couldn’t use it due to long-standing sanctions against Cuba. Keep reading →

 /  Published October 19, 2011 at 6:00 AM

Paid To Worry: AOL Energy Week In Review

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The energy business increasingly operates in a world of “black swans.”

In one year, earthquakes, floods, financial chaos and political deadlock all at enormous scale have rocked the energy industry. While most firms remain functioning, or even prosperous, and regulators have responded with speed, the analysts charged with finding logic in data are scrambling to figure out how to price and plan for a new future filled with “unusual” events. Keep reading →

 /  Published October 14, 2011 at 2:30 PM

Have Politics Battered Climate Change Talk?

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Climate change solutions were battered by the recession and political shifts have pushed the issue to the sidelines of the US energy debate, while international climate talks remain mired in the same arguments that have derailed consensus for years.

That was the message from speakers at the US Association of Energy Economists conference October 11 in Washington, DC. In the US, they say the only climate-related action in the next few years will probably come from the Environmental Protection Agency, while internationally, there’s no sign of any progress for December’s UN Framework Convention on Climate Change meeting in Durban, South Africa. Keep reading →

 /  Published October 11, 2011 at 3:45 PM

AOL Energy Week In Review

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The roles of government and business in driving energy investment are areas of continual debate, but this week brought the turmoil to a new high.

The Department of Energy and the Obama Administration went on the offensive to defend their renewable energy and clean tech programs, many of them funded or arranged under previous administrations but implemented and promoted by current leaders. Keep reading →

 /  Published October 7, 2011 at 3:30 PM

Senate Focuses On ‘Responsible Development’ For Natural Gas

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With promises that American stores of natural gas are plentiful, the focus now is on “responsible development.”

To bring some clarity to the disarray presented by industry groups clashing with environmentalists and state reports competing with potential nationwide regulations, President Obama requested a report on shale gas production as part of the Secretary of Energy’s Advisory Board. The 90-day report was presented Tuesday morning to the US Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Keep reading →

 /  Published October 5, 2011 at 6:00 AM

Making The Numbers Sing In DC

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If there is a dearth of strategic thinking at your energy company in early October, blame the US Association for Energy Economics.

The energy industry’s deepest thinkers will be gathering in Washington, DC for the Association’s annual summit, a meeting of the minds for the economists whose analysis guides top decision makers at energy firms, regulators at all levels of government and the financiers and consultants moving projects forward across the sector. Keep reading →

 /  Published October 1, 2011 at 10:00 AM
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