Free Republic

* The growth in EV demand is outpacing the infrastructure needed to charge them, with experts predicting the need for more than a million new public EV charging stations in the U.S. by 2030 to accommodate the demand. * Both cobalt and silicon, which are crucial for renewable energy sources like EV batteries, are in oversupply, causing bearish pressure on their prices; increased output from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and China is a key reason behind this. * The production of grain-oriented electrical steel (GOES), necessary for the power sector and increasingly hard to source, is facing difficulties...

Some energy experts are raising a red flag that Illinois’ transition to clean energy may prompt reliability issues. With more coal and gas plants going offline under Illinois' Climate and Equitable Jobs Act, some lawmakers are concerned of possible brownouts. During a recent Senate Energy Committee hearing, Brian Thiry, external affairs director with Reliability First Corporation, said retirements of old power sources are outpacing new power sources coming online. “As we shrink these margins, it is a reliability risk, so it is just something we need to consider. It is a risk that we are seeing and it's a risk...

Western embassies including the United States and Australia have advised their citizens in the country to stock up on “several days worth” of food and water and be on high alert during extended blackouts sweeping the country. South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa declared a national “state of disaster” on February 9 in response to the record electricity shortage, which has seen state-owned power company Eskom institute rolling blackouts

The nation's largest grid operator is warning it may face a major coming shortfall in electric generating capacity as utilities retire more and more traditional fossil fuel power plants. It's a challenge facing grid operators across the country as power generators mothball coal and natural gas-fired plants for various reasons, such as reducing high maintenance and regulatory compliance costs or cutting greenhouse gas emissions. ... PJM Interconnection, which manages grid operations across 13 states and the District of Columbia, published new analysis Friday showing retirements outpacing new additions in the coming years that could leave its service area short of...

COLUMBUS, Ind. — An energy grid operator has warned Indiana and other Midwestern states of the possibility of rolling blackouts this summer as extreme heat combines with a projected power capacity shortage and increased demand. Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO), an independent, not-for-profit organization that delivers electric power across 15 U.S. states — including Indiana — and the Canadian province of Manitoba, is warning that power-generating capacity is struggling to keep up with demand, according to Bartholomew County REMC.

Critics of Illinois’ aggressive effort to shift to renewable sources for making electricity have long said it’s like flying an airplane while trying to build it. That airplane crashed faster than even they expected. Electricity bills and the risk of brownouts are jumping quickly in Illinois, and it’s not just green energy skeptics saying so. The most significant warning came recently from the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, or MISO, which oversees the power grid for Illinois and much of the Midwest. Their warning was contained in a recent forecast by the North American Electric Reliability Corp., a regulatory authority that...

Millions of Americans across the Midwest, Southwest and West are expected to face blackouts throughout the summer months, an industry analysis concluded. A variety of factors, including drought conditions and low wind conditions, are expected to put Americans in roughly 28 states at risk of experiencing blackouts this summer, according to a report from the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), a U.S. regulatory authority, published Wednesday. The region managed by the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) across 15 Midwest states is at the highest risk of “energy emergencies” during the summer due to capacity shortfalls, the analysis showed.

A leading environmental lawmaker from Torrance has proposed a bill that would create a state fund to support and retrain thousands of oil industry workers as California tries to phase out fossil fuel production. The idea of guiding California’s 112,000 oil industry workers out of their current field and into other careers is often referred to as “just transition,” and is considered by policy researchers a necessary step to counter job losses as the state strives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But even with a Democratic supermajority in the state Legislature, such a proposal faces an uphill battle because it’s...

“Load sixteen tons, and what do you get? Another day older and deeper in debt… ” — Tennessee Ernie Ford Coal is very low on the scale of subjects for ballads or charming folklore. Like Rodney Dangerfield, it just doesn’t get any respect. What does a naughty boy get in his Christmas stocking? A lump of coal. As a career, few brave souls outside Appalachia would have a goal in life of riding a rail car several miles — down several thousand feet below the surface — to attack the “face” of a coal seam. The thought terrifies me —...

Last week, SouthernKalifornia had a fair amount of heat. Kalifornians believe the way to solve generating capacity shortfalls is to get rid of existing generating capacity. The following is from a blog, SCE press release and KaliforniaEnergyCommission report (for some reason it is misspelled CEC, but heck it is Kalifornia). From the blog: Blog: NoPowerPlant.com Starts Signature Drive; More State Reports Show AES Redondo Not Required It's been a busy week on the AES power plant front.... NoPowerPlant.com kicked off their petition signature drive for the resident initiative that phases out the Redondo power plant and replaces it with a...

Energy: It won't matter which light bulbs we use as the administration's implementation of cross-state pollution rules shuts down coal plants across the country. Where will the jobs be when the lights go out? It's called the Cross-State Pollution Rule, announced last month, and its implementation over the next 18 months will likely result in the loss of a fifth of the nation's electricity-generating capacity. The result will be likely power shortages, skyrocketing rates and inevitable brownouts and rolling blackouts. Based on Bush-era EPA proposals that the federal courts threw out in 2008, this latest example of legislation is designed...

Houston, February 3, 2011 — Federal regulators will investigate why about 50 electricity generating units in Texas failed during the past week's snowstorms. The power plant failures caused demand to exceed available power, leading the Electric Reliability Council of Texas to order planned rolling blackouts that affected hundreds of thousands of people. The North American Electric Reliability Corp. told reporters that they will investigate the adequacy of current cold weather preparations and safeguards used by plant operators in Texas. It is not unusual for power plants in the northern U.S. to be more thoroughly weatherized against the cold than plants...

When University of California President Mark Yudof announced a massive furlough plan last month, the idea was that almost all UC employees would have their salaries reduced this year by taking some days off without pay. But a third of UC's 180,000 employees haven't faced the furloughs yet. They're represented by about a dozen labor unions that are fighting Yudof's plan. Speaking Thursday to the Sacramento Press Club, Yudof said UC's unionized workers received 4 percent raises this year, while non-union employees are taking pay cuts ranging from 4 to 10 percent. He said the university would lay off some...

City Government Closed For Business On Monday The City of Chicago will basically be closed for business on Aug. 17, a reduced-service day in which most city employees are off without pay, according to a release from the Office of Budget and Management. City Hall, public libraries, health clinics and most city offices will be closed. Emergency service providers including police, firefighters and paramedics will be working at full strength, but most services not directly related to public safety, including street sweeping, will not be provided, the release said. That also includes garbage pickup. Residents who receive regular collection on...

Conservation: The Chevy Volt is said to be able to get 230 miles per gallon. That's if it's continually plugged into a fragile and overburdened power grid. Where will you be when the lights go out? Since most U.S. electricity generation is not carbon-free, the Congressional Research Service agrees. The "widespread adoption of plug-in hybrid vehicles through 2030 may have only a small effect on, and might actually increase, carbon emissions," it observes. "If you are using coal-fired power plants and half the country's electricity comes from coal powered plants, are you just trading one greenhouse gas emitter for another?"...

Enviro Group Lawsuits, Cost Concerns, Climate Regulation Uncertainty Cited As Major Obstacles To Grid Improvements Denver, CO (Oct. 1, 2008) -- A new study released this week highlights what experts have been saying for years: the U.S. faces significant risk of power brownouts and blackouts as early as next summer that may cost tens of billions of dollars and threaten lives. The study, "Lights Out In 2009?" warns that the U.S. "faces potentially crippling electricity brownouts and blackouts beginning in the summer of 2009, which may cost tens of billions of dollars and threaten lives." "If particularly vulnerable regions, like...

Throughout the record-breaking heat wave last week, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg used his pulpit to underscore the urgency of saving electricity. He repeated his advice like a mantra, urging New Yorkers to set their thermostats at 78 degrees, to keep air-conditioners on only when at home and to avoid using household appliances like washers, dryers and dishwashers during peak periods. “If we want to keep the power going, we’re all just going to have to conserve,” Mr. Bloomberg said on Wednesday. “I’ve done it in my house. Please — I cannot stress it enough — do it in yours.” That...

SAN FRANCISCO - Power companies worked to restore electricity to thousands of customers throughout California early Monday as a scorching heat wave threatened to push the state into a power emergency with the potential for more blackouts. Authorities were looking into several deaths possibly related to the high temperatures, which hit the triple digits in some areas on Sunday. With temperatures again expected to top 100 degrees, power demand was projected to reach an all-time high Monday and prompt some voluntary blackouts, in which some businesses agree to have their power shut off temporarily in exchange for lower rates, according...