Rick Perry’s Obama Imitation

Wall Street Journal ^ | June 5, 2018

[reaganaut1]

One Trump Administration achievement has been liberating U.S. energy producers of all kinds from federal shackles. Companies have responded with jobs and investment, but all of a sudden the Administration wants to do a Barack Obama imitation and play energy favorites.

The National Security Council on Friday reviewed a 41-page internal memo, leaked to Bloomberg News, suggesting that President Trump invoke emergency authority to require grid operators to buy nuclear and coal power. But there’s no emergency, and the political intervention will do more harm than good.

***

The supposed problem is that the U.S. is producing an abundance of cheap natural gas thanks to the shale fracking revolution. As a result, national electric wholesale prices for natural gas have plunged by half since 2008, even more in shale-rich areas like Ohio and Pennsylvania. Meanwhile, government subsidies such as the 30% federal investment tax credit have boosted solar and wind production while driving down the wholesale cost. Many nuclear and coal plants unable to compete with renewables and natural gas may have to shut down over the next few years.

Energy Secretary Rick Perry directed the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) last September to consider if power plants that store at least 90 days of fuel on site should receive additional compensation. According to DOE, natural gas is prone to supply disruptions and the country needs a stored fuel supply to ensure the lights stay on during extreme weather or cyber-attacks.

FERC in January unanimously rejected Mr. Perry’s proposal, noting that it was already improving grid reliability and cybersecurity. The commission initiated a rule-making to consider if additional actions are warranted. It also launched an investigation into whether grid operators were fairly compensating “fast-start resources” that can respond “quickly to unforeseen system needs.”

[a fool in paradise]

>>to consider if power plants that store at least 90 days of fuel on site should receive additional compensation.

Wind and solar companies don’t like that...

[MAGAthon]

“Many nuclear and coal plants unable to compete with renewables and natural gas”

4 Jun: Motley Fool: Why The Lights Went Out On Solar Stocks Today
China threw solar investors for a loop today and the impact on solar manufacturers could last for years.
What happened
Solar stocks took a beating Monday after China cut its national incentives to install solar projects. Shares of solar panel manufacturers Canadian Solar Inc. (NASDAQ:CSIQ) fell as much as 14.5%, JinkoSolar Holding Co. (NYSE:JKS) dropped as much as 17%, and Daqo New Energy Corp (NYSE:DQ) fell as much as 31.3% while inverter manufacturer Enphase Energy Inc (NASDAQ:ENPH) fell up to 13.5%. By early afternoon, most major stocks in the solar industry were down double digits...

Now what
China is arguably the most important market in the solar industry today and if it shrinks from 53 GW in 2017 to around 30 GW, as AECEA and Daiwa Capital Markets’s Dennis Ip predicts, it’ll have a widespread impact on the industry. Solar panel prices will likely fall on lower demand, which will impact margins in China and abroad. We could see companies start to lose money again and some may find it hard to stave off bankruptcy...
https://www.fool.com/investing/2018/06/04/why-the-lights-went-out-on-solar-stocks-today.aspx

17 Oct 2017: Principia-Scientific: Staggering 1,600 new Chinese coal plants set for 62 countries!
by Andrew Topf
Coal is dead. Coal mining is a sunset industry. Donald Trump is crazy if he thinks he can revive Big Coal. While all these statements have become part of global consciousness when it comes to the future of the much-maligned ‘fossil fuel,’ a report by Urgewald, a Berlin-based environmental group, casts doubt on at least the first two assertions.

Citing data gleaned from the world’s biggest developers of coal-fired power plants, Urgewald found that of all the new coal generation expected to go online over the next decade, Chinese companies will build nearly half of it. Specifically, that means 700 new coal plants, with most to be built in China, and about a fifth outside the country, according to figures provided by Urgewald and reported by the New York Times....
https://principia-scientific.org/staggering-1600-new-chinese-coal-plants-set-for-62-countries/

if you want baseload power 24/7, u better keep coal and nuclear.

[MAGAthon]

even Bloomberg, which promotes intermittent wind and solar constantly, is having to face facts:

5 Jun: Bloomberg: Wind disappears in Britain leaving turbines at a stanstill
Britain’s gone seven days with almost no wind generation and forecasts show the calm conditions persisting until the middle of the month
The wind drought has pushed up day-ahead power prices to the highest levels for the time of year for at least a decade...
Low wind power isn’t a threat to supplies in June [ mid summer ] when demand is low, but on a dull, dark day in winter, this could be a different story.

The government has to make sure that there is enough back up generation for times when the wind isn’t blowing. Greg Clark, secretary of state for business energy and industrial strategy announced Monday that the U.K. will take the next step toward agreeing to help Hitachi Ltd. finance a new nuclear reactor...
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-06-05/wind-disappears-in-britain-leaving-turbines-at-a-standstill

[hadaclueonce]

Wind doesn’t like it?
I don’t like Production Tax Credits.

[sparklite2]

While I favor the ends, the means of dictating to industry suck. Dump it, Mr Trump. Just say no.