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Fulfilling one of his central campaign promises, President Biden signed a wide-ranging Executive Order last week addressing climate change through energy, infrastructure, national security, foreign affairs, and social justice policies, to be implemented across the federal government. The Executive Order on Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad (“Order”) lays out objectives and requirements for federal agencies to prioritize climate in implementing both foreign and domestic policies. President Biden makes clear…

FocusCalifornia’s looming decision on grid reliability: expand supply or manage demand? Greentech Media – January 5California is facing a major decision under a tight deadline — whether it should push for large-scale power plants and batteries to prevent a repeat of its August 2020 rolling blackouts this coming summer or turn to behind-the-meter resources such as batteries and demand response. Last week, the California Public Utilities Commission (“CPUC”) issued a ruling…

Now that our new president has been elected (Proud Boys, its over!), let’s take a look at what people smarter than I are predicting it will mean for the domestic oil and gas industry and the climate. In summary: bad for one, no meaningful help for the other, and the fury of the fiscal kraken will be unleashed. (As usual these are summaries; see the articles for a fuller picture).…

FocusU.S. Senate approves Allison Clements and Mark Christie for FERC PV-Tech – December 2The U.S. Senate has approved two candidates for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) that were nominated by President Donald Trump, bringing the agency to a full complement of five commissioners. The move was welcomed by the American Council on Renewable Energy, which said that an “invigorated, independent” Commission would be more motivated to make regulatory reforms that…

Americans have already voted en masse, and – hopefully – will know the identity of their next president on November 3 or shortly thereafter. Currently, former Vice President Joe Biden appears to be leading in the polls. It is thus worth considering what a Biden administration might mean for solar, wind, energy storage, and other renewable projects here in New York.  In New York, as in many other states, most…

In the midst of a chaotic year and a tense campaign season, issues such as COVID-19, race relations, and healthcare seem to be at the forefront of Americans’ minds as they head to the polls on November 3.  But the oil and gas industry stands to be impacted regardless of the election outcome in November, and those impacts will have wide-reaching effects on the U.S. economy, its energy independence, and…

We’re constantly hearing about the “energy transition” in the corporate and public domain. There’s a general understanding of the energy transition, yet there are several questions we first need to consider: From a historical context, when did the U.S begin the energy transition? Where are we today? What’s the impact on fossil fuels? There’s no shortage of media articles referring to companies and their stated goal(s) of striving to be carbon neutral by…

On September 16, 2020, the newly created Office of Renewable Energy Siting (“ORES”) issued the much-anticipated proposed regulations implementing New York State’s new large-scale renewable energy permitting process.[1] The proposed regulations represent significant progress regarding implementing the details of that improved process, setting out application requirements and uniform standards and conditions for designing, engineering, and operating new major renewable energy facilities in the State. The full text of the regulations are…

The Latest Crude oil prices rose last week and continued to gain on Monday, trading around $42.50 a barrel. Investors were optimistic after reports showed coronavirus infections had decreased to their lowest level in two months on Sunday. Fears of an extended shortage in supply due to the coming hurricane season also offered some support to prices. Over the weekend, crude producers in the Gulf of Mexico shut down over…

FocusCCAs eye PPAs for 1 TWh of renewable power Renewables Now – August 3California community choice aggregators (CCAs) San Jose Clean Energy and Peninsula Clean Energy are jointly seeking proposals to buy 1 million megawatt-hours of renewable power annually. The CCAs have issued a joint request for offers and announced their readiness to sign power purchase agreements (PPAs) for at least 10 years, they said this Tuesday. The contracted power, which…