U.S. Allows Oil Shipment into Cuba

Current conditions: Temperatures in the Carolinas are forecast to soar as high as 80 degrees Fahrenheit before dropping by as much as 40 degrees • Heavy rain coming off the Pacific is set to break the feverish temperatures in the Southwest, where the heat wave is continuing • It’s pouring rain in Tehran, and hovering around 50 degrees for the next two days.

THE TOP FIVE

1. U.S. allows oil supplies to reach Cuba, breaking its blockade

The world may be enduring an energy shock on a scale that makes the 1973 oil embargo appear modest. But Cuba has spent months with rolling blackouts as the United States blockaded the island and blocked Mexico from delivering fuel as humanitarian relief. Now Washington is letting up enough to allow a Russian tanker full of crude oil to deliver supplies to Cuba. The Kremlin-owned tanker, which is carrying an estimated 730,000 barrels of oil, was “within several miles of Cuban territorial waters on Sunday evening,” according to The New York Times’ read of the vessel’s locations on a maritime tracking service. “At its speed of 12 knots, the tanker could reach its expected destination of Matanzas, Cuba, by Monday night.”

Cuba’s grid has suffered a series of sweeping blackouts in recent weeks due to the blockade, which have taken a devastating toll on the island nation. Patients are dying in Cuban hospitals as generators struggle to keep the lights on and medical equipment functional.

2. Japan will join U.S. in deep sea mining effort

Scattered across the deep ocean floor are egg-like nuggets dense with the minerals we need for the energy transition and modern technology. A handful of companies are racing to get permission to start an industry collecting, processing, and selling those mineral-rich nodules, particularly The Metals Company, a U.S.-backed Canadian enterprise that has been lobbying hard for American licenses to move forward. A little-known United Nations agency called the International Seabed Authority struggled last year to come up with a framework for regulating a commercial mining industry in international waters, and, as I told you last month, its leader has vowed to get a deal done this year. In the meantime, the Trump administration has said it would go it alone and legalize deep sea mining without a global agreement. Now Washington won’t have to: Japan last week brokered a deal with the U.S. to work together on commercializing the industry, The New York Times reported.

3. Quebec considering buying offshore wind power from Nova Scotia

Quebec’s state-owned utility, Hydro-Quebec, is now supplying more electricity than ever to the New York and New England grids. Now the inland Francophone hub is looking to procure electricity supplies from its neighboring province. In a statement to offshoreWIND.biz, Hydro-Quebec said “ties with neighboring provinces are part of a broader strategic vision aimed at optimizing regional energy systems.” In particular, Nova Scotia is drawing investments from the offshore wind industry as developers look north for stabler policies than in the U.S.

Meanwhile, just days after agreeing to a $1 billion deal with the Trump administration to kill off its American offshore wind projects, the French energy giant TotalEnergies dropped its net zero plans.

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4. U.S. coking coal production plunged nearly 80% since 1980

U.S. production of coking coal used for steelmaking came out to about 10 million short tons last year. That represents a drop of 78% compared to 1980, when the U.S. generated 46 short tons, according to the latest Energy Information Administration analysis. The milestone comes as the Iran War fuels a “coal comeback,” as Heatmap’s Matthew Zeitlin wrote, even as old coal stations in the U.S. keep breaking down.

5. Solar equipment market set to grow by 2.5X in the next decade

Global spending on solar manufacturing equipment is set to more than double to $43.8 billion over the next decade, according to a PV Tech write-up of an analysis from the German industrial group VDMA Services. That’s up from around $17 billion today. While China dominates solar manufacturing, the report listed the U.S., India, and the Middle East as emerging hubs. The war in Iran may end up boosting solar even more, as Matthew wrote.

THE KICKER

It only took one major energy crisis for Taiwan’s government to try to reverse its nuclear phaseout. Barely a year after shutting down its last reactor, the government in Taipei is officially considering turning at least one plant back on. On Friday, the state-owned Taipower utility submitted plans to the Nuclear Safety Commission to restart the decommissioned Maanshan Nuclear Power Plant on the island’s southern tip.