Hot And Cold Cause Problems. Heat waves spike demand but it’s the cold that is showing stressers on generation that the grid withstood on the heat opposite this summer. FERC is concerned about the resilience of generation in multiple ISOs, with the latest PJM report from Winter Storm Elliot sparking new questions. 90GW of generation failed to deliver its dispatches which has a ripple effect on the rest of the stability. Speaking of stability, ERCOT underestimated the grid demand by 4GW this weekend, which almost sparked another emergency as that operator has been running a rather lean reserve.

• Utility Dive: Record 13% of Eastern Interconnect capacity failed in Winter Storm Elliott – FERC, NERC
• Bloomberg: US Says It Can’t Cut China Out of Critical-Minerals Supply Chain
• Washington Post: As disasters spike, superpowers face mounting calls to forge climate deal
• Renew Economy: Rooftop solar meets all of South Australia demand in major new milestone
• PV-Tech: Maxeon buys shingled solar cell IP from Complete Solaria for US production
• Energy Storage News: Record growth for US BESS industry, but ‘2GW impacted by supply chain, interconnection challenges’
• Canary Media: Long-duration storage gets big boost with $325M from DOE
• PV-Magazine: U.S. and Canada to spend $12 trillion on renewables and grid by 2050

Opinion

• Axios: Feds urged by Biden to widen use of “social cost” on climate change

Best, Yann

Climate Week Thoughts. It’s climate week in NYC, an event I’ve never attended but it’s always full of news for those of us interested in the headlines. The arguments have changed a bit, early days centered around what’s possible, what technology is ready for primetime and how much subsidy would be available. Today, we’re arguing what date of impact we should target, i.e. shifting the EV requirement from 2030 to 2035 in the UK. Without much debate, I would say that progress has manifested a real transition to electrification. Now, the collective we, need to focus on making it all work within the grid and keep the grid operational. We’ll talk about how NERC feels about some of that next week.

• Axios: In a shift, fossil fuels take center stage at UN Climate Summit
• New York Times: Climate Forward Live Event -Discussing the Threats of a Rapidly Warming Planet
• Bloomberg: The US Wants a Piece of China’s Solar Business
• Utility Dive: NERC wants smaller renewables, batteries to register as bulk-power assets over reliability concerns
• Reuters: Exclusive – Tesla proposes building battery storage factory in India -sources
• PV-Tech: “More lines, more digitalisation, more climate resilience” – Grids must be priority for Europe’s net zero plans
• Renewable Energy World: Biden uses executive power to create a New Deal-style American Climate Corps
• Energy Storage News: Lithium supply chain much improved but transformers and other components a headache for BESS industry
• PV-Magazine: HVDC transmission serves mostly wind and hydro power, not solar

Opinion

• Canary Media: Four advocates share how to make electrification more equitable in cities

Best, Yann

• Reuters: Europe’s power industry warns ageing grids risk green goals
• PV-Tech: Utility says California needs US$370 billion for grids and generation to meet net zero
• Axios: Biden’s new “American Climate Corps” aims to enlist 20,000 young people
• Utility Dive: Rising electrification requires a dramatic shift to integrated planning of DER, bulk resources: Xcel VP
• Renewable Energy World: NEM 3.0 – What’s next for solar and storage in California?
• Energy Storage News: Texas utility CPS issues 500MW energy storage RFP
• Canary Media: Major steel users band together to place first big ​‘green steel’ order
• PV-Magazine: The top 10 states for residential solar
• Bloomberg: Sunak Was Told Diluting Green Policies Would Risk Net Zero

Opinion

• New York Times: Climate Experts Weigh In on Obstacles, Priorities and Hope

Best, Yann

• PV-Magazine: Silfab Solar announces U.S. cell manufacturing, new line of TOPCon panels
• Axios: Lowercarbon raises $550 million, blasts VC rivals for taking “blood money”
• Reuters: US Treasury – Financiers’ ‘net zero’ pledges must align with temperature limits
• PV-Tech: “A deeply precarious situation” – SolarPower Europe calls for reversal in falling European solar prices
• Energy Storage News: Kore Power, Nidec in multi-year agreement for up to 2.2GWh battery cells, racks and modules
• Renew Economy: Rooftop solar smashes records, sends coal and demand to new lows as it reshapes the grid
• Bloomberg: What Is COP28 and Why Is It Important?

Opinion

• Canary Media: What do EVs have to do with the autoworker strike? A lot, it turns out

Best, Yann