Full Text: –>DOWNLOAD DOCUMENT<–

Description (excerpt):

The aggressive acquisition spree of utilities several years ago now seems a very distant memory. Indeed the past year has been notable for a series of divestments of renewable energy assets on the part of the major European utilities. E.ON and RWE disposed French onshore wind operations in 2011 and 2012, while SSE sold over 100 MW of UK operational onshore wind capacity in 2011. Italian utilities Terna and Sorgenia have been equally active, both having completed divestments of large tracts of solar PV assets to financial investors in 2011.

In line with this new cautious spirit, it should also be noted utilities are reining in new acquisition activity. Some 40% of survey respondents expect utilities to be ‘very active’ in acquiring and investing in renewable energy assets during the next 18 months, which makes them less active than independent power producers (45%) and infrastructure and private equity funds (44%). This is in contrast to last year, when utilities were nominated the most likely acquirers of renewable energy assets.

Full Text: –>DOWNLOAD DOCUMENT<–

Description (excerpt):

S.S. Papadopulos & Associates (SSP&A) has reviewed the Draft Report by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) “Investigation of Ground Water Contamination near Pavillion, Wyoming” (Draft Report), which was released on December 8, 2011. SSP&A’s review indicates that EPA has not provided sufficient data nor analysis to support most of the report’s conclusions. The data in the Draft Report do demonstrate the existence of shallow groundwater contamination associated with surface activities at gas drilling and production locations. This contamination was already known, however, and is being actively investigated by Encana Oil & Gas USA, Inc. under the direction of the Wyoming Oil & Gas Conservation Commission (WOGCC) and the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality Voluntary Remediation Program (WDEQ VRP). Notably, EPA has not been able to identify the source of taste and odor problems in domestic wells that initiated the study.

Scott Segal, executive director of the Electric Reliability Coordinating Council, which represents utility interests, warns that EPA’s rule will disrupt utility hedging by eliminating coal from the fuel mix and “depriving the market of its flexibility.” [E&E News]

The Bloomberg report argues that coal had already largely lost its price advantage, and that even without the new rule natural gas, which accounts for 77% of power capacity additions since 1990, currently enjoys a compelling price advantage over coal. According to the report, power plants that incorporate carbon capture and sequestration technology – which may allow oil and coal plants to meet EPA’s standards – are unlikely to be built without government subsidies due to their high costs, which are about 50% greater than conventional coal and almost twice as expensive as natural gas.

But while U.S. coal plants may struggle due to new competition and regulation, the report suggests that U.S. coal mining will continue to meet growing demand from coal-hungry markets like China and India.

What’s the upshot of coal’s declining prominence? Should federal regulation be blamed for this decline? Will exports be enough to keep the U.S. coal mining industry afloat?

Full Text: –>DOWNLOAD DOCUMENT<–

Description (excerpt):

Surprisingly little comprehensive analysis exists to quantify the success or failure of states in effectively and safely managing natural gas development. Without such information, it is very difficult for regulators, elected officials, and citizens to engage in productive dialogue around natural gas development and the process of hydraulic fracturing. Whether considering regulatory changes in a state where development is already under way, or debating the permitting of natural gas development where it has not yet occurred, quantifying measurements of success are neces- sary for building consensus and making sound decisions.

To address this question, this study provides a detailed analysis of notices of violations (NOVs) from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PA DEP) from January 2008 through August 2011, categorizing each violation. Of the 2,988 violations, 1,844, or 62 percent, were for administrative or preventative reasons. The remaining 38 percent, or 1,144 NOVs, were for environmental violations. The number of these environmental violations, however, is a misleading metric because an individual event may be associated with multiple environmental violations. As such, the 845 unique environmental events considered in this study were associated with 1,144 NOVs.

Full Text: –>DOWNLOAD DOCUMENT<–

Description (excerpt):

In 2011, use of coal for U.S. power generation dropped to its lowest level in more than a decade, according to the federal government’s independent U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). In fact, the EIA reported earlier in 2012 that coal’s share of total U.S. electric power generation dropped below 40% for the last two months of 2011, the lowest level since 1978.

To understand the cause of this decline, it is important to examine contributing market forces. Doing so provides important context for recent coal plant retirement announcements, particularly given that some companies have attributed retirements to EPA rules that are still years away from going into force. For example, FirstEnergy Corp. announced in late January 2012 that it would retire several of its smaller coal-fired power plants, explaining that the decision was “based on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS), which were recently finalized, and other environmental regulations.” FirstEnergy, however, had previously cited a range of reasons for its decision to reduce operations at many of its smaller coal plants.

Currently, most fracking occurs on private lands, and is subject only to state regulations. A recent report found that only 5% of active shale wells in the past decade were on federal lands.

An earlier version of the newly proposed rule would have required developers to disclose fracking chemicals before starting a well, but the more recent version allows companies to disclose chemicals after the well is closed. The New York Times reports that industry objected to the advanced disclosure rules, arguing that the permitting process would be slowed and industry trade secrets were at risk. Government officials have defended the new ex post reporting requirement, explaining that a record of the chemicals will allow them to trace contamination regardless of when the chemicals are disclosed.

A CNBC report outlines the new rule:

All the same, some in the industry are unhappy with the new rule, which the DOI estimates will cost $11,833 per well to implement. Barry Russel of the Independent Petroleum Association of America said in a statement that “B.L.M.’s proposed regulations, which would mandate one-size-fits-all regulations on well construction and hydraulic fracturing operations on these lands, are redundant. They will undoubtedly insert an unnecessary layer of rigidity into the permitting and development process.”

Native American tribes working to encourage natural gas development on tribal lands are also frustrated by the proposed rules. In a letter to the Department of the Interior, the National Congress of American Indians requested that the regulations exclude Tribal lands until a more involved consultation process can take place.

The BLM has acknowledged the potential for regulatory overlap between the federal and state rules and said “it is the intention of the BLM to implement on public lands whichever rules, state or Federal, are most protective of Federal lands and resources and the environment.”

Are these new rules redundant? What’s the optimal role of federal regulation of shale oil and gas as domestic production moves forward?

Full Text: –>DOWNLOAD DOCUMENT<–

Description (excerpt):

In 2010, wind energy generated more than 2% of U.S. electricity, with some states generating more than 10% of their power from wind. The United States installed 5,116 megawatts (MW) of wind (American Wind Energy Association, AWEA 2011), which was one-quarter of all new electric capacity additions for that year. Wind energy capacity additions trailed the 6,000 MW of new coal and 7,200 MW of new natural gas additions in 2010 (Wiser and Bolinger 2011). With today’s economic downturn, decision-makers are weighing the costs of different electric- generation resources with careful scrutiny. It is vital that we understand what those costs include and do not include when comparing technologies, analyzing the costs of wind energy over time, and seeking cost-improvement opportunities.

Full Text: –>DOWNLOAD DOCUMENT<–

Description (excerpt):

Solar energy technologies continue to be deployed at unprecedented levels, aided significantly by the advent of large-scale projects that sell their power directly to electric utilities. Such utility- scale systems can deploy solar technologies far faster than traditional “behind-the-meter” projects designed to offset retail load. These systems achieve significant economies of scale during construction and operation, and in attracting financial capital, which can in turn reduce the delivered cost of power.

This is the first in a series of three reports on utility-scale solar installation in the United States. This report serves as: (1) a primer on utility-scale solar technologies and (2) a summary of the current state of the U.S. utility-scale solar market. The second report overviews policies and financing of utility-scale solar systems; the third report assesses the impact of financial structures on the cost of energy from utility-scale systems.

Full Text: –>DOWNLOAD DOCUMENT<–

Description (excerpt):

Over the past two decades, state and federal policymakers have enacted numerous policies to support new renewable energy development. The following report evaluates those policies based on industry literature, publicly available data, and questionnaires conducted by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). As such, the report is relevant to policymakers who want to enable project financing via effective legislation, to regulators interested in supporting new project development, and to new investors interested in entering the renewable energy project finance space.

Full Text: –>DOWNLOAD DOCUMENT<–

Description (excerpt):

This report provides a baseline description of the transmission issues affecting geothermal technologies. It is intended for geothermal experts in either the private or public sector who are less familiar with how the electricity system operates beyond the geothermal plant. The report begins with a comprehensive overview of the grid, how it is planned, how it is used, and how it is paid for. The report then overlays onto this “big picture” three types of geothermal technologies: conventional hydrothermal systems; emerging technologies such as enhanced engineered geothermal systems (EGS) and geopressured geothermal; and geothermal co-production with existing oil and gas wells. Each category of geothermal technology has its own set of interconnection issues, and these are examined separately for each. The report draws conclusions about each technology’s market affinities as defined by factors related to transmission and distribution infrastructure. It finishes with an assessment of selected markets with known geothermal potential, identifying those that offer the best prospects for near-term commercial development and for demonstration projects.