7 To 10 Days. On the Sunday shows and heading into the weekend, the infrastructure bill made headlines again. Biden lowered the price tag of his proposal by $500mm, mostly by eliminating GOP priorities in the bill, in order to get GOP back to the table and negotiate in earnest. The White House, through Cedric Richmond, said there was no big rush on the pushing the bill into reconciliation which Senator Sanders threatened. On the other hand, Missouri’s Roy Blunt said that the bill would need to find agreement in the next 7 to 10 days. Wait and see who does what and who makes the next move, though it appears that a $400bb reauthorization for surface transportation has bipartisan support in the committee as of late last night.
A Federal RPS. The climate crisis certainly needs bold policies like a federal RPS, which if it comes in a ‘well-designed policy’ is supported by EEI, the utility trade association. Show me 60 votes in the Senate that would allow a federal reach into state regulations and I’ll bite into the feasibility of this. In reality, an EPA driven carbon and methane reduction from power plants is the only way to back into the result sought in the RPS.
Governmentwide Review. Biden unveiled an executive order which pushes Deese (National Economic Council) and McCarthy (domestic climate czar) to conduct a governmentwide review on how climate risk is being accounted for in financial transactions within government. This is likely the initial step to start slowing any funding, loans or other guarantees for projects that do not advance climate policy.
Elliott, The Utility Evaluator. A headline from last week but Elliott Management is pushing for Duke Energy to be split up. Elliott is famously involved in utility and IPP activism including when NRG’s green efforts were thwarted 5 years ago. This is often a value now versus value later project but Elliott can be quite effective in its work.
The Dry West. We are about to head into the Summer and the entire western US is very dry, moisture levels are record lows. Not only does this produce fire risk but also storm and heat wave situations. Hydroelectric capacity is likely to be limited as well which has pushed natural gas prices up and could create additional pricing peaks or blackouts during demand related peaking events.
- Politico: White House willing to let infrastructure talks ‘play out,’ Richmond says
- New York Times: It’s Crunch Time and Biden’s Climate Gambit Faces Steep Hurdles
- Canary Media: Biden administration takes aim at the financial risks of climate change
- PV-Magazine: The U.S. shines as a market ripe for renewable investment, EY says
- Utility Dive: Elliott’s proposed Duke split untimely, analysts say, as advocates warn of ‘dangerous can of worms’
- Axios: Worsening Western drought forces states to shore up power grids
- Reuters: Pope Francis to get first electric popemobile from U.S. firm Fisker
- PV-Tech: Germany deploying more PV systems facing east and west
- Solar Power World: Colorado PUC adopts SEIA request to simplify solar + storage interconnection
Opinion
Best, Yann