Warren Buffett is apparently not an unadorned green but instead falls in the category of self-interested capitalist. Shocker, right? The billionaire is under scrutiny because one arm of his vast Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate – the Nevada utility NV Energy – is trying to keep a 3 percent ceiling on net-metered solar in the state. Meanwhile, other arms of Berkshire… Keep reading →
Two years ago, before it was even built, the Macho Springs Solar Facility in New Mexico made headlines thanks to a 20-year, 5.7-cents per kilowatt-hour power purchase agreement with El Paso Electric. The 30 percent federal investment tax credit and a generous New Mexico production tax credit helped make that price possible, but another factor… Keep reading →
Desert Sunlight is online and the U.S. Department of Energy has dropped the mic. The world-record-tying 550-megawatt photovoltaic solar plant in Southern California, formally dedicated on Monday, is the last of the big PV plants supported through the DOE’s loan guarantee program, the one that Republicans love to malign but which keeps showing solid results.… Keep reading →
The amount of electricity generated by U.S. utility-scale solar photovoltaic power plants is up more than 100 percent in 2014 over the same period in 2013, thanks to big projects, many of them highly productive, that have been coming online. Four major factors have made the solar surge possible: The eight-year extension of the Investment… Keep reading →
Wave energy – recently characterized by one leading academic in the field as being “in kindergarten” compared to fossil fuels – isn’t about to graduate to the big time, but the effort to build a meaningful industry in the U.S. could advance several grades in the next few years. Not one, not two, but at… Keep reading →
There is enormous market opportunity for grid-scale energy storage solutions on both the power supply and demand side, but historically low US natural gas prices appear to represent a headwind moderating widespread energy storage deployment. Importantly, today’s quote comes from a GE representative whose company is a major manufacturer of “fast-reacting turbines,” and others contend… Keep reading →
Breaking Energy featured the Top 10 New York Energy Entrepreneurs back in June as part of an extremely popular top 10 series that ran during New York Energy Week. The entrepreneurs were chosen by their energy industry peers via an open nomination process that returned a robust list of candidates. Whittling the impressive list of… Keep reading →
With growing awareness of the risks from cyber attacks, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) this past April took steps to enhance U.S. cyber security standards. Their plan seeks to improve the resiliency of critical network operations in electric generation, distribution and transmission systems. The ripple effects of compliance will be felt throughout the U.S.… Keep reading →
Quick Take: We’ve talked a lot about the dangers utilities face if they ignore disruptive technologies such as solar + storage. Here’s another challenge. They could end up paying more for the cost of capital. Some analysts think utilities are blind to the coming realities and they are warning investors to stay away. – Jesse Berst Barclays… Keep reading →
The Short-term Energy Outlook is the EIA’s periodic analysis of where energy fundamentals appear to be heading based on current data and assumptions. The reports cover supply/demand dynamics and pricing for oil, natural gas, refined products, coal, power, renewables, emissions and the US economy. This edition of the EIA’s STEO – released earlier this week… Keep reading →
