NOTABLE FACTS ABOUT THE ENERGY TRANSITION: Carbon emissions are down, the wind market is struggling, and the U.S. has been eclipsed by China in being the largest energy storage market, according to a new report by Bloomberg NEF.
The annual Sustainable Energy in America Factbook outlines U.S. progress in transitioning to cleaner energy, and how federal policies are helping to support the transition.
As Nancy outlines, a staggering statistic is tucked in the report: U.S. carbon emissions dropped in 2023 for the first time since the pandemic, with the fall in emissions mainly concentrated in the power sector. The U.S. emitted 6.2 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions, a 1.8% drop from the year before, with emissions falling in almost every sector except transportation. The last time the U.S. has had emissions this low, besides 2020, was nearly four decades ago in 1987.
Other nuggets worth highlighting:
- Although the industry faces higher costs and supply chain disruptions, the solar market is still setting records. The U.S. saw a near-doubling of imports, with 50 gigawatts of modules imported in 2023. The report points to a temporary tariff waiver issued by the Biden administration for solar panels from Southeast Asian nations as the reason for the growth. However, a decision from a federal appeals court argued that presidents have the authority to tighten existing trade controls – adding uncertainty to the future of the tariffs.
- However, this same growth was not seen in the wind market. Interconnection delays and a lack of early-stage development projects were the main complications for the buildout of onshore wind last year. Offshore wind also saw issues, with the industry facing project cancellations, high costs, inflation, and supply chain constraints, and uncertainty over their qualifications for a tax credit. However, the report notes that tax credit implementation will take time to translate to new capacity additions.
- Renewables generally – and that includes wind, solar, biomass, waste-to-energy, geothermal and hydro energy – contributed 972 terawatt hours to the grid, or 23% of total U.S. power generation – the highest ever recorded.
- Although the U.S. had a record number of additions in battery storage, it was eclipsed by China as the largest energy storage market globally, and stands in second place. Tax credits and incentives passed through the Inflation Reduction Act spurred growth in the sector, however, with a 62% rise over the previous year.
- Corporations buying clean power slowed their pace in 2023, signing up to buy 17.1 gigawatts of zero-carbon power, compared to 20 GW in 2022. According to the report, less than 100 agreements were signed as prices for power purchase agreements increased in response to inflation.
Welcome to Daily on Energy, written by Washington Examiner Energy and Environment writers Breanne Deppisch (@breanne_dep) and Nancy Vu (@NancyVu99). Email bdeppisch@washingtonexaminer dot com or nancy.vu@washingtonexaminer dot com for tips, suggestions, calendar items, and anything else. If a friend sent this to you and you’d like to sign up, click here. If signing up doesn’t work, shoot us an email, and we’ll add you to our list.
GAO REPORT CALLS FOR IMPROVEMENT IN DECOMMISSIONING OIL AND GAS: Two new GAO reports took aim at a number of U.S. agencies for failing to properly enforce decommissioning deadlines for oil and gas “gathering pipelines,” noting the risks of failing to take the projects out of commission, including various environmental and safety hazards.
“If operators do not decommission gathering lines properly or in a timely manner, they could pose various safety and environmental risks, including spills, emissions, and explosions,” one GAO report said, noting a 2017 example during which homeowners accidentally struck an improperly decommissioned gathering line on their property, resulting in a deadly explosion.
According to the reports, federal agencies lack a detailed plan for decommissioning gathering pipelines across the country, and recommended the heads of various Interior Department agencies—including BLM, FWS, and the NPS—take certain steps to collect data on the lines and how to best maintain them or ensure they can be properly decommissioned at a certain date.
At least 384,000 miles of onshore gathering lines have been installed across the U.S., sparking the need for an assessment of safety risks and investigation into decommissioning efforts across the country. Read the reports in full here and here.
CHICAGO FILES CLIMATE LAWSUIT AGAINST OIL INDUSTRY: The city of Chicago filed a lawsuit yesterday against the oil industry, accusing six oil majors and the trade group American Petroleum Institute of lying about the contributions of their products to climate change and harming the city’s residents.
The lawsuit takes aim at BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Exxon, Phillips 66, Shell, and API, accusing them of engaging in an effort of “climate deception” that has exposed residents to extreme heat and precipitation, shoreline erosion, flooding along Lake Michigan, damage to city infrastructure, and more.
As a result, the lawsuit alleges, the city has been forced to shell out roughly $188 million in climate mitigation projects and remediation efforts.
“The fossil fuel industry should be able to pay for the damage they’ve caused,” Angela Tovar, Chicago’s chief sustainability officer, told the Chicago Sun-Times in an interview.
Chicago joins New York, California, and other state and local governments that have taken legal action against oil companies over climate damages.
MANCHIN-BACKED MVP PIPELINE DELAYED AGAIN: Completion of the Mountain Valley Pipeline has been delayed until the second quarter, developer Equitrans said yesterday, following a string of court delays, price hikes, and adverse weather.
Equitrans also boosted projected costs for the pipeline from $7.2 billion to somewhere between $7.57 billion and $7.63 billion.
Delays have pushed back the pipeline’s planned start date by more than five years and nearly doubled the original $3.7 billion expected price tag for the project. Read more from Breanne here.
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