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Instead of a preholiday news slowdown, NetZero Insider reporters have been riding a wave of preholiday headlines.
President Joe Biden announced he is raising the country’s greenhouse gas emissions reduction target ― submitted to the U.N. as the U.S.’ “nationally determined contribution” to limiting climate change to 1.5 degrees Celsius ― from the 50 to 52% goal he set for 2030 to 61 to 66% less than 2005 levels by 2035, Washington correspondent K Kaufmann reported.
K also wrote about DOE’s selection of three potential National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors (NIETCs), a major decrease from the 10 potentials the department announced in May. “Transmission development in these areas is critical to address transmission needs … unmet through existing planning processes,” DOE said, noting that all three corridors have one or more transmission projects under development.
The NIETC announcement was one of a series from DOE. John Cropley had the story on the department’s report on LNG exports, which argues that the “astounding” growth of these exports may benefit the natural gas industry but will also drive higher prices for consumers for the gas itself, for electricity generated with that gas and for consumer goods produced with that gas.
DOE’s Loan Programs Office also had a major announcement: a conditional commitment for its largest-ever loan ― $15 billion to Pacific Gas and Electric to be used to operate the California utility’s hydroelectric fleet, expand battery storage, enhance transmission systems and help to deploy virtual power plants, Henrik Nilsson writes.
Moving to Massachusetts, New England correspondent Jon Lamson digs into the challenges the state is facing as it continues to collect fees ― now totaling more than $500 million ― from utilities that have not met its various clean energy standards yet is struggling to put projects online that will help it meet those goals.
That means Massachusetts is going to be focusing heavily on interconnection in 2025, Lamson heard at the recent Raab Associates’ New England Electricity Restructuring Roundtable. Another major topic was, of course, the upcoming change in administrations in Washington and what it might mean for the region, he reported.
The incoming Trump administration’s likely impact on U.S. energy policy and especially the Inflation Reduction Act remains the topic many reporters are writing about in our curated content.
CNBC has a thoroughly reported piece, with different analysts talking about what parts of the IRA and what offices at DOE might be targeted as Republicans in Congress try to find federal dollars to extend the 2017 tax cuts, passed during President Trump’s first term. At the top of the list of potential cuts: the IRA’s $7,500 tax credit for electric vehicles and the Loan Programs Office.
The Guardian visited the recent annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union, where many of the scientists in attendance expressed anxiety and, in some cases, dread about Trump’s second term, after their bruising experiences with his attacks on scientific research ― especially on climate change ― during his first.
A blog from Derrick Z. Jackson of the Union of Concerned Scientists names some of the congressional Republicans who voted against the IRA but whose districts have scored big in the competition for the law’s clean energy tax credits and other incentives.
The Daily Montanan reports that Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte hosted a roundtable discussion with the state’s energy producers and industrial consumers ― including data center developers ― where the need to “unleash” reliable, affordable baseload power was a top priority, as was a deregulated approach to permitting and emission reductions.
We will be on a holiday hiatus, but will be back on Jan. 13, to kick off 2025 with more stories in NetZero Insider’s Policy and Impacts newsletter. Happy holidays, and enjoy this week’s Intelligence Report:
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