Tag Archives: natural gas

No New Natural Gas Plants For Vistra, Dominion, As Solar Soars, Reuters Reports

Vistra

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

Solar’s continued ascendancy – now reaching nearly 2% of all electrical generation in the United States – is coming at the expense of combined-cycle natural gas plants.

Two of the nation’s largest utilities – Dominion Energy and Vistra Energy Corp. have announced they will no longer build natural gas plants because the underlying economic case for them is disappearing in solar’s shadow, Reuters reported late last week.

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Vistra and Dominion are only the latest utilities to bow to the new electrical-generation reality. In states like California, Arizona and New Mexico, public utilities commissions are increasingly skeptical of the need for natural gas plants as “baseload power sources.” Instead, they are insisting utilities begin the process of transforming power generation mixes to include renewable energy + storage instead.

As the price for utility-scale solar continues its downward trend, the need for more expensive natural gas peaker plants is disappearing. It’s having a real effect on the producers of natural gas plant component providers like GE Power and Siemens.

As Reuters reported:

This bearish view of fossil-fuel energy, reflective of a growing acceptance by utilities of renewable power sources, poses a hurdle to John Flannery’s plan to turn around General Electric Co’s (GE.N) $35 billion-a-year power unit.

Dominion’s plans are particularly aggressive. From Reuters:

In Virginia, Dominion Energy ended several maintenance contracts it had with GE this year when it mothballed a large gas-fired plant built by companies GE later acquired and idled seven other coal and natural gas units in the state.

Dominion aims to build 4,720 megawatts of solar by 2033, the equivalent of about five large combined-cycle power plants.

It is opening a new combined-cycle natural-gas plant in Virginia this year, built with GE and Mitsubishi equipment. It said it has no current plans to build more such plants.

“Solar is very cheap,” spokesman Dan Genest said. “These units were just not cutting it.”

As SolarWakeup has reported, some experts are predicting the natural gas boom that had been anticipated as utilities transitioned to renewable power may no longer be a reality.

More:

General Electric’s power unit fights for growth as wind, solar gain (Reuters)

Renewables, FTW! Price Drops Send Natural Gas Reeling (SolarWakeup)

Will Natural Gas Lose Its Place As A Transition Energy? (SolarWakeup)

Natural Gas Plans Hit Snag For Arizona Utility (SolarWakeup)

Madam Secretary: Don’t Just Spout Pro-Nuclear Talking Points

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

What Happened: One of my favorite TV shows, CBS’ Madam Secretary, used an entire episode about an energy summit they are attending to spout pro-nuclear talking points.

  • Ironically, the discussion starts because one character is arguing strongly that natural gas needs to be included in a “Future of Energy” pavilion and that nuclear has too big a space.
  • Meanwhile, solar and wind – the two sources that actually are the future of energy – are shunted off into an “annex.”
  • Seriously, my jaw dropped as I watched the episode. The show’s writers are usually so careful to portray the state of the world accurately – how could they get the energy state of play so spectacularly wrong?

    • Madam Secretary

    SolarWakeup’s View:  If you know anything about me, know this: I grew up wanting to be a member of the State Department. I wanted desperately to be a diplomat. I did Model United Nations for seven years in high school and college. I wanted to be a diplomat.

    Alas and alack, it wasn’t to be (so now you’re stuck reading me here at SolarWakeup). But it does explain why I love the CBS’ Madam Secretary so much – and why I’m so hurt and dismayed when I discovered the latest episode might as well have been written by nuclear energy lobbyists.

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    The plot isn’t so much about energy as it is about climate change, but one of the important subplots is an energy trade show the State Department will be attending to sell other countries on purchasing their renewable energy equipment from the United States. An initial look at the model pavilion is appalling enough – nuclear has by far the largest section of the display, and solar and wind are, I kid you not, shunted off into what they call an “annex.”

    An annex, for Pete’s sake. An annex for an industry that employs more people than the coal and oil industries combined.

    But that’s not even the worst of it. Then a character for whom I have the greatest respect argues that nuclear is clean, produces no more waste than the size of a football field and that nuclear power has never killed anyone when it’s melted down (see Three Mile Island and Davis Besse). These argument are repeated throughout the show without a hint of doubt about nuclear as an energy alternative.

    Here are just three arguments I would have made had I been in the room with the Secretary, and these are just off the top of my head:

  • It may be “clean,” but nuclear plants are incredibly expensive to build and maintain. By the time new plants are built, who knows what revolutionary breakthroughs we’ll have made in truly clean energies like solar and wind? Do we really want to invest in technologies that will be obsolete by the time the plants are built?
  • It may be a small amount of waste, but it’s RADIOACTIVE. Raise your hand if you want to live next to a nuclear energy waste disposal unit? Mind if we put one next to your tony Georgetown duplex, Madam Secretary? Yeah, I didn’t think so. Plus, if you’re building more plants, that means more waste. It won’t stay football-field sized for long.
  • “It hasn’t killed anyone yet” should never be an argument to invest in a potentially dangerous energy source. After all, there’s always a first time, isn’t there?

    • You know, what I’m realizing is that while it’s easy to dismiss these dangerous arguments as inside baseball that no one cares about, it’s also really easy for them to get into the mainstream, unevaluated and unchallenged. So when shows like Madam Secretary take on complex issues like this and get it wrong, it’s on us to push back.

    More:

    Madam Secretary (CBS)

    Madam Secretary (Wikipedia)

    The Energy Show: Gigawatt Scale Solar Installations

    We often talk about smaller solar power systems on homes or commercial buildings. On this week’s Energy Show we are discussing gigawatt scale solar installations. The logic is simple: solar panels are getting cheaper and installation costs are declining. At the same time, utility electric prices keep increasing. When prices go up and costs go down profits can skyrocket – so it’s no surprise that there is a big market for large-scale solar installations.

    When I started doing PV installations in 2001 the biggest projects were about 5 MW. Now there are several 500 MW installations proceeding in the U.S., and several 1,000+ MW (a gigawatt) installations are under way in India and China. Solar power plants in the gigawatt range are now being planned in the U.S. To put a gigawatt solar power plant in perspective, it is twice the capacity of most natural gas plants, covers about ten square miles, uses over three million solar panels, and employees thousands of people during construction.

    To fill us in on the details of projects of this size, my special guests are Mark Cox and Shola Ashiru with the New Energy Fund II. Mark and Shola have been financing solar companies and projects for almost 20 years. They are currently working on a 1.2 gigawatt project which would be one of the largest systems in the world and the biggest in the U.S.

    MPSC Issues Most Unsurprising Ruling Ever (And Approves $1 Billion DTE Energy Plant)

    By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

    What Happened:The Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC), in a decision that surprised no one, awarded DTE Energy the right to build its $1 billion boondoggle natural gas plant.

  • The commission appears to have ignored, you know, the evidence that showed renewable energy – specifically solar – would provide a much better bang for ratepayers’ bucks than this natural gas plant.
  • The action comes as a blow to solar advocates across the country, who were watching this case to see if the aggressive tactics would stop the plant.
  • Proposed natural gas plants are increasingly being denied in various states as unnecessary, particularly in solar-friendly states like California and Arizona. But the DTE Energy plant is a victory utilities desperately needed to keep putting these monstrous proposals forward.
    • MPSC

    Proof that, given the choice, public utilities commissions will protecct the utilities’ right to do whatever they want, even in the light of evidence.

    SolarWakeup’s View:  That was as predictable a 4-win season for the Cleveland Browns, wasn’t it? Despite strong, well-reasoned and evidence-supported opposition, the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) decided to cave to DTE Energy’s desire to build a $1 billion natural gas plant instead of investing in renewable energy technologies, which evidence from critics of the plant prove would have been a better investment for everyone involved.

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    This is the second crushing blow to the state’s solar industry within a week after the MPSC replaced net metering – the most effective pro-solar policy ever invented – with an inflow/outflow system that penalizes solar users and eliminates retail net metering.

    In particular, Vote Solar, which had led the opposition to the plant in a striking departure from their usual strategies of intervening solely in solar cases, expressed disappointment in the decision.

    “This is a rotten deal for customers and terrible precedent for utility planning in Michigan,” said Becky Stanfield, senior director of Western States for Vote Solar. Stanfield oversaw the Michigan fight for the group. “Everyone in this case knows that there is a better way for DTE customers than this expensive, inflexible and polluting plant. The record was solid against approval.”

    The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) also weighed in – and they weren’t happy, either.

    “We are extremely disappointed with the Michigan Public Service Commission’s decision in this case,” said Sean Gallagher, vice president of state affairs for SEIA. “Despite the overwhelming evidence that DTE failed to adequately consider alternatives, including a portfolio of renewable energy solutions that would lead to greater savings, more jobs, reduced risk, and environmental benefits, the Commission authorized a $1 billion plant that would not pass muster with Michigan’s laws if it were proposed today.”

    I gotta throw in with Becky and Sean. This decision doesn’t make any sense on any level and deals a significant blow to chances of building a robust solar industry in the state. Meanwhile, Illinois and Minnesota get to keep their lead in Midwest solar development. It’s perplexing, though it’s not surprising.

    As more consumers are finding as these battles play out across the country, most public utilities commissions are naturally inclined to support utilities over consumers and, although that is changing, it’s not changing fast enough, as today’s decision in Michigan shows.

    More:

    Michigan Utility Under Fire For Alleged PURPA Violations

    Decision On Fate Of $1 Billion DTE Natural Gas Plant Looms

    Coalition Delivers 10,000 Michigander Letters Calling on DTE to Drop Its Gas Plan and Choose Clean Energy (Vote Solar)

    Power Up Michigan

    Michigan Public Service Commission

    Bonus:

    “I’m shocked, SHOCKED…..”