Obstruction needs to stop!

The interconnection queue (click here) is a collection of power generation and transmission projects requesting to connect to the power grid. Generation projects can be pre-construction, construction, built/non-operational and operating.

April 10, 2024

The backlog of new power generation and energy storage seeking transmission connections (click here) across the U.S. grew again in 2023, with nearly 2,600 gigawatts (GW) of generation and storage capacity now actively seeking grid interconnection, according to new research from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab). Active capacity in U.S. interconnection queues increased nearly eight-fold over the last decade, and is now more than twice the total installed capacity of the existing U.S. power plant fleet. The queues indicate particularly strong interest in solar, battery storage, and wind energy, which together accounted for over 95% of all active capacity at the end of 2023.

But this growing backlog has become a major bottleneck for project development: proposed projects are mired in lengthy and uncertain interconnection study processes, and most interconnection requests are ultimately cancelled and withdrawn. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) adopted major interconnection reforms in 2023 that have not yet taken effect in most regions; project developers continue to cite grid interconnection as a leading cause of project delays and cancellations....

... The total capacity active in the queues (click here) is growing year-over-year, with over 1,570 GW of generation and an estimated 1,030 GW of storage capacity as of the end of 2023.

- In total, over 1,480 GW of zero-carbon generating capacity is currently seeking transmission access. Solar (1,086 GW) accounts for the largest share of generation capacity in the queues. Substantial wind (366 GW) capacity is also seeking interconnection, 1/3 of which is for offshore projects (120 GW).

- Solar and battery storage are – by far – the fastest growing resources in the queues. Combined, they account for over 80% of new capacity entering the queues in 2023.

- Proposed fossil fuel generation much lower, with 79 GW of natural gas and 1.5 GW of coal currently proposed. 

These fossil fuel projects need to move to the bottom of the list and quite possibly be eliminated. They are part of the problem, not the solution.

Hybrid projects (co-locating multiple generation and/or storage types) comprise a large – and increasing – share of proposed projects, particularly in CAISO and the non-ISO West. 571 GW of solar hybrids (primarily solar+battery) and 48 GW of wind hybrids are currently active in the queues. Over half of the battery storage capacity in the queues is paired with some form of generation (mostly solar).

However, much of this proposed capacity will not ultimately be built. Among a subset of queues for which data are available, only 19% of the projects (and 14% of capacity) seeking connection from 2000 to 2018 have been built as of the end of 2023.

- Interconnection wait times are also on the rise: The typical duration from connection request to commercial operation increased from <2 years for projects built in 2000-2007 to over 4 years for those built in 2018-2023 (with a median of 5 years for projects built in 2023)....

April 10, 2024
By Jason Plautz

As concerns grow (click here) about what a flood of new computers, data centers and artificial intelligence operations means for the electric grid, one industry remains a massive question mark: cryptocurrency.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates that mining for bitcoin and other digital currencies accounts for 0.6 to 2.3 percent of the nation’s electricity use. But that figure is just an approximation based on worldwide data collected by Cambridge University and publicly available information about 52 crypto mining sites.

A bid to have the agency — a nonpartisan data arm of the Department of Energy — collect more detailed information on how crypto miners use electricity was stymied by a lawsuit and won’t be revived until after a public review. That means regulators, legislators and even power providers don’t have detailed data about how an industry that has exploded in just a decade could affect the grid in the future....

Carbon Removal Projects are far too late. The operative word is IF. Greenhouse gas capture has to be measurable, exact, and reliable in it's CAPTURE of the gases that bring about warming. 

An example of a real joke is the packaging industry that uses dry ice in  shipping. Dry ice is solid carbon dioxide. Back in the day, due to the dangers of exposure to dry ice, it was packaged in cans. The cans were full of solid carbon dioxide and  was an effective cooler for picnic baskets. The cans were always marked "do not open." Over time they rust, but, then they were discarded because no rust should come in contact with food.

Today, (click here) this is CO2 Dry Ice. It is open to air and when not it is in a container that is not sealed to prevent leakage. Sometimes this type of dry ice will be in the shipping container inside of a plastic bag that is not sealed so it leaks back to the troposphere.

This is not a sustainable practice. It should never be considered a greenhouse gas capture protocol for investment or tax advantages.

April 10, 2024
By Emily Pontecorvo

Money (click here) seems to be pouring into the field of carbon removal (click here) from every direction. Every other week there’s an announcement about a new project. Multimillion dollar carbon removal procurement deals are on the rise. The Department of Energy is rolling out grants as part of its $3.5 billion “direct air capture” hubs program and also funding research and development. Some carbon removal companies can even start claiming a $130 tax credit for every ton of CO2 they suck up and store underground.

The federal government alone spends just under $1 billion per year on carbon removal research, development, and deployment. According to a new report from the Rhodium Group, however, the U.S. is going to have to spend a lot more — roughly $100 billion per year by 2050 — if carbon dioxide removal, or CDR, is ever going to become a viable climate solution....

Money is more important than life is it?

April 9, 2024

By Bjorn Lomborg

...Unfortunately, (click here) as the huge subsidies show, the claim is wildly deceptive....

The media picks and chooses the facts they present to attract whomever they believe will be a customer or whichever advertiser brings it the most income per inch.

August 22, 2023

...Heat waves (click here) — defined by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration as periods of two or more days where the weather is “abnormally and uncomfortably hot” and “outside the historical averages for a given area”— have become more frequent and longer in duration since the middle of the 20th century. In April 2023, 69.7 million Americans lived in counties experiencing higher temperatures than the 20th-century normal.

In 2023, Americans are increasingly grappling with prolonged heat waves — sometimes dubbed “heat domes” or “heat islands” by the Environmental Protection Agency — even in areas accustomed to particularly high heat. Phoenix, Arizona, for example, registered an average daily high temperature of 114.7 degrees Fahrenheit in July.

In 2004, 297 Americans died from excessive natural heat, the lowest figure recorded over the past two decades. In 2018, 1,008 Americans died as a direct result of heat exposure. But in 2021, heat-related deaths increased to 1,600, a 59% uptick from only four years earlier, and a 439% increase from 2004.

Provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which actively tracks daily and weekly heat-related illnesses, shows that 1,714 US deaths in 2022 were due to “heat-related” causes....

It is time to bring about equity in the energy sector to allow the rapid construction of solar and wind projects. We are talking about a deadly trend of Earth's climate that has already killed Americans. There is no excuse for complaining. These changes in the energy sector in the USA should have taken place over 40 years ago! 

Our children should not be looking at a world so very different than the one most Americans inherited from their parents due to a very dangerous climate. Heat deaths are only one aspect of the climate crisis. The death count is actually much higher.

Consumers pay for procrastinating, both with their lives and their fortunes. If the solar fields and wind farms had been built in the 1960s when scientists made testimony to Congress we would not be facing high costs or high GHG emissions.

Maybe there is a "caste system" in the USA where some lives are more important than others. Deaths are deaths and they are occurring in larger and larger numbers every year. THAT MATTERS! Too bad if costs are going up. It is time to pay the piper. This cost was predicted over and over since the 1950s. 

July 29, 2019

...The United States (click here) provides a number of tax subsidies to the fossil fuel industry as a means of encouraging domestic energy production. These include both direct subsidies to corporations, as well as other tax benefits to the fossil fuel industry. Conservative estimates put U.S. direct subsidies to the fossil fuel industry at roughly $20 billion per year; with 20 percent currently allocated to coal and 80 percent to natural gas and crude oil. European Union subsidies are estimated to total 55 billion euros annually....

Another Putin Lie

(Click here)

ISIS did Putin a favor, it provided another propaganda event for more Putin lies. If Putin pins the label of “terrorist” on Ukraine it will serve to disgraced the country.

March 28, 2024

By Olivia Yanchik

The March 22 terror (click here) attack on a Moscow concert hall was the deadliest in Russia for almost two decades. While the official investigation into the attack is still underway, it is already becoming increasingly clear that the Kremlin intends to ignore overwhelming evidence of Islamic State responsibility in order to accuse the Ukrainian authorities and their Western partners of orchestrating the killings.

This opportunistic attempt to blame Ukraine is fueling widespread speculation that the attack will lead to an escalation in Russia’s ongoing invasion. Based on past experience throughout Vladimir Putin’s 24-year reign, many also anticipate that the Russian dictator will use the atrocity to launch a further domestic crackdown....