2. Deadly Baltimore bridge collapse halts coal shipments
Six people are presumed dead after Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed yesterday. The search continues for their remains. The disaster has halted the flow of ships in and out of the Port of Baltimore indefinitely, and this could have knock-on economic effects. It’s already throwing the U.S. coal market for a loop, reported Heatmap’s Matthew Zeitlin. The port plays a pivotal role in the energy trade, as it is the second largest coal export facility in the country. One coal shipping executive told Bloomberg the disruption could last more than a month. Shares of Consol Energy, which ships more than 10 million tons of coal annually through a terminal at the Port of Baltimore, were down 7% yesterday. In terms of its effects on the overall energy market, the port’s indefinite closure could be mild and may actually result in lower energy prices in the Northeast, as coal that would have been exported becomes, essentially, stranded stateside, Greg Brew, an analyst at the Eurasia Group, told Zeitlin. But even this effect may be muted, Brew explained, because the weather is warming up with the end of winter, meaning there’s less demand on natural gas for heating.
3. Cocoa prices reach historic highs
Cocoa futures were trading above $10,000 a tonne yesterday for the first time, more than double their price from two months ago, the Financial Timesreported. Prices dropped slightly later in the day, but the overall trend is not good: Cocoa has more than tripled in cost over the past year, according to CNBC. Two countries in West Africa – Ivory Coast and Ghana – produce around two-thirds of the world’s cocoa beans. Heavy rainfall followed by dry heat in the region has hurt crop yields, and many farmers are abandoning the trade for other crops. “It rains outside of the rainy seasons now,” one cocoa plantation owner in Ghana told the FT. “Dry seasons are hotter than they used to be.” Consumers could start to feel the pinch soon in the form of smaller chocolate bars for higher prices. Dark chocolate, which has a high cocoa content, will likely see the biggest price hike.
Price of cocoa futures over the last five years.CNBC
4. Western U.S. hydropower dips due to drought
The amount of hydropower generated in the western U.S. plummeted last year because of drought, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA). Eleven states – Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming, California, Oregon, and Washington – produce nearly 60% of the nation’s hydroelectricity. Between October 1, 2022, and September 30, 2023, they produced 141.6 million megawatthours (MWh) of hydropower, 11% below the year prior, and the smallest amount since 2001. Drought and heat waves meant less rainfall and rapidly melting snowpack in the Pacific Northwest. Hydropower in Washington fell by 23% compared to the year before. California, on the other hand, saw hydropower grow thanks to repeated atmospheric rivers, but not enough to make up for the overall regional deficit. The EIA forecasts that western hydropower production will fall by another 12% this year. The Verge succinctly explained why a drop in hydropower is bad for the planet: “Drought reduces the amount of clean energy available from hydroelectric dams. To avoid energy shortfalls, utilities wind up relying on fossil fuels to make up the difference. That leads to more of the greenhouse gas emissions causing climate change, which makes droughts worse.”
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5. Wisconsin utilities pledge to use union labor to build clean energy infrastructure
Wisconsin’s major utilities this week announced a commitment to employing local union workers to build clean energy projects. The state is embarking on a major renewables expansion, including new solar installations, onshore wind, and battery storage. The projects will require about 19,000 construction jobs, and the biggest power providers in the state – Alliant Energy, Madison Gas & Electric, WEC Energy Group, and Xcel Energy – say they’ll rely on workers from five labor unions to fill those roles. The pledge “reflects the power of the federal Inflation Reduction Act's tax incentives for large-scale renewable energy projects,” wrote Karl Ebert at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “The IRA provides additional incentives for projects that are built with union labor or pay the local prevailing wage.”
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Price of cocoa futures over the last five years.