Sign In or Create an Account.

By continuing, you agree to the Terms of Service and acknowledge our Privacy Policy

Economy

The DOE Has a Plan to Speed Up New Grid Connections

On the “Transmission Interconnection Roadmap,” solar tariffs, and AI

The DOE Has a Plan to Speed Up New Grid Connections
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

Current conditions: Parts of Dubai remain waterlogged after this week’s epic rainfall • A volcanic eruption in Indonesia produced a 1.6-mile ash column • Severe thunderstorms are headed for the Midwest and Southern Plains.

THE TOP FIVE

1. DOE unveils roadmap to speed up clean energy grid connections

The Department of Energy yesterday unveiled its plans to help solve a problem plaguing the clean energy sector: the backlog of grid connections. According to Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm, nearly 12,000 solar, wind, and storage projects are ready and waiting to be connected to the grid. “The high volume of projects and inadequate existing procedures for interconnection has led to uncertainties, delays, inequities, and added costs for developers, consumers, utilities, and their regulators,” the DOE said in its announcement. The new “Transmission Interconnection Roadmap” aims to speed up connection times by providing more transparency on data for existing projects, creating fast-track options for interconnection, and adopting requirements and standards for generation interconnection, among other initiatives. The Biden administration has a goal of 100% clean electricity by 2035.

DOE

2. Study: Rising temperatures will cost global economy $38 trillion a year

A new study published in the journal Nature concludes that global incomes will be at least 20% lower over the next 26 years due to climate change compared to what The Associated Press called “a fictional world that’s not warming.” These income losses will amount to $38 trillion per year by 2049, and that’s regardless of how much we limit emissions going forward, or whether per capita income increases – in other words, this financial toll is already baked in and could grow dramatically depending on how much or little we cut emissions now. The researchers from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research also said the losses will be six times more expensive than it would be to cut emissions and limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius. “Protecting our climate is much cheaper than not doing so,” said Leonie Wenz, who led the study. Lower-latitude areas and countries least responsible for man-made climate change will be hit the hardest, but everyone will be affected.

3. U.S. expected to restore tariffs on imported solar tech

For two years, the solar panel technologies imported into the U.S. from China and other countries have been exempt from tariffs, but that policy will soon be reversed, according toReuters. Two sources familiar with the Biden administration’s plans say the change comes at the request of Hanwha Qcells, a South Korean company investing billions in manufacturing in the U.S., and several other U.S. solar manufacturers. There’s no clear timeline for when the tariffs will be reinstated. The report propelled shares of America’s biggest solar manufacturer, First Solar. Bloombergnoted that the existing exemption applies to imported two-sided solar panels, resulting in those panels being installed all over the place, including on rooftops “where the attribute offers no benefit.”

First Solar shares, up as of pre-market trading on Thursday morning.CNBC

4. Research links West Africa heat wave to burning of fossil fuels

An intense heat wave that hit West Africa and the Sahel recently “would have been impossible without human-caused climate change,” according to analysis from climate scientists from the World Weather Attribution. Temperatures soared above 113 degrees Fahrenheit in late March and early April, at one point reaching 119 degrees in Mali. At least 102 heat-related deaths were recorded in the first four days of April. The researchers analyzed weather data and climate models and concluded that such extremes wouldn’t have occurred without increased global temperatures from burning fossil fuels. “Events like these will become much more common, and even more dangerous, unless the world moves away from fossil fuels and countries rapidly reduce emissions to net zero,” the report said. “If global warming reaches 2°C, as is expected to occur in the 2040s or 2050s unless emissions are rapidly halted, similar events will occur 10 times more frequently.”

Get Heatmap AM directly in your inbox every morning:

* indicates required
  • 5. Bezos Earth Fund to award $100 million for AI climate change solutions

    Jeff Bezos wants ideas for how the power of artificial intelligence can be harnessed to help address climate change and nature loss, and he’s willing to throw some money at the best ones. His Bezos Earth Fund announced this week its “AI for Climate and Nature Grand Challenge,” which will award $100 million in grants to help support proposals from “practitioners, researchers, and innovators in universities, NGOs, private companies, and organizations.” It’s starting with projects that focus on “sustainable proteins, biodiversity conservation, and power grid optimization” plus one “wild card” category. Up to 30 seed grants will be awarded. Applications open in May and the recipients will be unveiled in September.

    THE KICKER

    Researchers say installing reflective materials called “retroflectors” on roads and buildings could reduce surface temperatures in cities by up to 20 degrees Celsius.

    Yellow

    You’re out of free articles.

    Subscribe today to experience Heatmap’s expert analysis 
of climate change, clean energy, and sustainability.
    To continue reading
    Create a free account or sign in to unlock more free articles.
    or
    Please enter an email address
    By continuing, you agree to the Terms of Service and acknowledge our Privacy Policy
    Electric Vehicles

    Tesla Is Now a Culture War Totem (Plus Some AI)

    The EV-maker is now a culture war totem, plus some AI.

    A Tesla taking an exit.
    Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images, Tesla

    During Alan Greenspan’s decade-plus run leading the Federal Reserve, investors and the financial media were convinced that there was a “Greenspan put” underlying the stock market. The basic idea was that if the markets fell too much or too sharply, the Fed would intervene and put a floor on prices analogous to a “put” option on a stock, which allows an investor to sell a stock at a specific price, even if it’s currently selling for less. The existence of this put — which was, to be clear, never a stated policy — was thought to push stock prices up, as it gave investors more confidence that their assets could only fall so far.

    While current Fed Chair Jerome Powell would be loath to comment on a specific volatile security, we may be seeing the emergence of a kind of sociopolitical put for Tesla, one coming from the White House and conservative media instead of the Federal Reserve.

    Keep reading...Show less
    Green
    Climate Tech

    Climate Tech Is Facing a ‘Moment of Truth’

    The uncertainty created by Trump’s erratic policymaking could not have come at a worse time for the industry.

    Cliimate tech.
    Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

    This is the second story in a Heatmap series on the “green freeze” under Trump.

    Climate tech investment rode to record highs during the Biden administration, supercharged by a surge in ESG investing and net-zero commitments, the passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and Inflation Reduction Act, and at least initially, low interest rates. Though the market had already dropped somewhat from its recent peak, climate tech investors told me that the Trump administration is now shepherding in a detrimental overcorrection. The president’s fossil fuel-friendly rhetoric, dubiously legal IIJA and IRA funding freezes, and aggressive tariffs, have left climate tech startups in the worst possible place: a state of deep uncertainty.

    Keep reading...Show less
    Blue
    Energy

    AM Briefing: Overheard at CERAWeek

    On the energy secretary’s keynote, Ontario’s electricity surcharge, and record solar power

    CERAWeek Loves Chris Wright
    Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

    Current conditions: Critical fire weather returns to New Mexico and Texas and will remain through Saturday • Sharks have been spotted in flooded canals along Australia’s Gold Coast after Cyclone Alfred dropped more than two feet of rain • A tanker carrying jet fuel is still burning after it collided with a cargo ship in the North Sea yesterday. The ship was transporting toxic chemicals that could devastate ecosystems along England’s northeast coast.

    THE TOP FIVE

    1. Chris Wright says climate change is a ‘side effect of building the modern world’

    In a keynote speech at the energy industry’s annual CERAWeek conference, Energy Secretary Chris Wright told executives and policymakers that the Trump administration sees climate change as “a side effect of building the modern world,” and said that “everything in life involves trade-offs." He pledged to “end the Biden administration’s irrational, quasi-religious policies on climate change” and insisted he’s not a climate change denier, but rather a “climate realist.” According toThe New York Times, “Mr. Wright’s speech was greeted with enthusiastic applause.” Wright also reportedly told fossil fuel bosses he intended to speed up permitting for their projects.

    Keep reading...Show less
    Yellow