An eclectic mix of energy and climate news stories compiled by Roger Andrews.

This week we feature the Trump EPA, which is proposing a major rollback in US coal plant emission restrictions (no details presently available). To follow we have OPEC and the Iran/Saudi standoff; Saudi Arabia denies plans to scrap the ARAMCO IPO; Nord Stream 2 to bypass Denmark; more production cuts at Groningen; rising EU carbon prices; Australia’s Turnbull ousted; nuclear in Taiwan, Sweden, South Korea, New England, the Middle East and North Africa; a slowdown in California renewables; New Zealand’s first battery storage project; Scotland’s floating wave turbine; the Brexit aftermath; Britons want more subsidized solar and how mass-produced Volkswagens cause drought in Mexico.

Blowout 243

An eclectic mix of energy and climate news stories from around the world compiled by Roger Andrews.

We lead off this week’s Blowout with Elon Musk’s impulsive tweet about how he can take Tesla private for $420/share with “funding secured”. We follow up with OPEC forecasts slower growth in oil while US refineries struggle to keep up with demand; the Permian Basin is either a major resource or it isn’t; yet another review of the Keystone XL pipeline; gas peakers in India; coal in Germany, the US and the EU; Chinese AP1000 reactor reaches full power; Australia’s NEG moves along; SMRs in UK; wood-burning at Drax; and how global warming will degrade law enforcement and cause more sewage leaks in Canada.

Blowout 242

An eclectic mix of energy and climate news stories from around the world compiled by Roger Andrews.

We begin with the $2.4 trillion battery required to keep California’s lights on and follow with OPEC; the oil tanker crisis; Kuwait fracks in Canada; Azerbaijan gas; Rio Tinto exits coal; Russia fuels its offshore nuclear plant; Moorside nuclear in doubt; blackouts in South Africa; Australia’s National Energy Guarantee; peaking plants in Europe; an “alarming collapse” in UK renewable investment; 5,000 UK churches go renewable and how heatwaves increase deaths in UK but decrease them in Spain.

Blowout 240

An eclectic mix of energy and climate news stories from around the world compiled by Roger Andrews.

…Exxon’s Guyana oil discovery; oil majors shifting into natural gas; the EU to import more US LNG; coal in Spain, India and Australia; South Africa can’t afford Russian nuclear; China, nuclear and the UK; US heatwave causes grid reliability problems; Europe and intermittent renewables; the world’s largest pumped hydro plant at the Boulder dam; the UK ditches FiTs and approves fracking; Ofgem proposes EV reforms; the UK to double offshore wind capacity how global warming causes more suicides.

Blowout 239

An eclectic mix of energy and climate news studies from around the world compiled by Roger Andrews.

Moving on we have more OPEC; record US oil & gas production; Gazprom’s next giant gas field; coal in Australia, the US, South Africa and India; nuclear in India, China, the US, Ghana, Niger and Bangladesh; falling global investment in renewables: California’s emissions down; looming EU energy efficiency fines; the ongoing UK wind drought; volcanic activity melts the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and Svalbard was 6°C warmer 10,000 years ago.

Blowout 238

An eclectic mix of energy and climate news stories from around the world compiled by Roger Andrews.

This week we feature OPEC, which has agreed to raise production without specifying by exactly how much. The market, however, appears to regard this outcome as favorable and oil prices are up. We follow with the oil potential of the northern seas; surging US gas production; leaking methane; nuclear in Japan, China and Korea, coal and Trump’s trade war; Germany puts jobs before CO2; renewables in India and California; biomass in Europe; energy storage in New York; EVs in Paris; Norway’s electric plane; pumped hydro for Loch Ness; flow tests at Horse Hill; Antarctic ice; football in Nigeria and how we humans have five years to fix climate change or face extinction.

Blowout 234

From earlier in the week:

The BP 2018 Statistical Review, electricity and CO2 emissions

An eclectic mix of energy and climate news stories from around the world compiled by Roger Andrews.

This week’s feature story returns us to the UK, which despite previous failures is once more looking into carbon capture & storage. But this time it will be done with a “profoundly large scale sequestration system” big enough to ” arrest the progression of climate change”. This is a hard act to follow, but we do our best with stories on OPEC; renewables, solar subsidies, coal and Rosatom in China; Germany finally sets up a coal phaseout commission; Sweden approves Nordstream 2; too much solar in California and Australia; not enough wind in UK; Drax plans more biomass; Swansea tidal lagoon numbers are “awful”; another way of extracting CO2 from air; liquid air energy storage and why we haven’t found aliens yet – climate change killed them.

Blowout 232

Earlier in the week:

3 Billion will die from global warming

An eclectic mix of energy and climate news stories from around the world compiled by Roger Andrews.

Topping the list this week is Germany, which has again delayed setting up the committee that will decide how to phase out its coal plants. Could it be that Germany is finally coming to realize that it can’t phase out its coal (and nuclear) plants and keep the lights on? We follow up with stories on OPEC; Venezuela and Russia; the North Sea makes a comeback; the “Bulgarian Stream” pipeline; the US-led international alliance to push nuclear power; cheap coal edging out gas generation in Europe; India running out of coal; the UK to pay to stay in Euratom; synchronous condensers instead of batteries in South Australia; solar panels that generate energy from raindrops and a renewed search for the Loch Ness Monster.

Blowout 230

An eclectic mix of energy and climate news stories from around the world compiled by Roger Andrews.

The big news this week is Trump’s re-imposition of sanctions on Iran, which will cut Iran’s oil production to the point where, combined with cratering oil production from Venezuela, it could cause another oil price spike. We follow with our usual mix – more on Iran, Venezuela and OPEC; oil in Norway; gas pipeline constraints in Europe; Japan moves to coal; British Columbia misses its renewables target; stalemate at the Bonn Climate Conference; California to mandate rooftop solar on new houses; Tesla’s 1GW battery; hydrogen storage in UK; the Swansea Bay tidal standoff; more cracks at Hunterston and how the ravages of climate change threaten historical records.

Blowout 228

An eclectic mix of energy and climate news stories from around the world compiled by Roger Andrews.

This week’s lead story features media hysteria over the alleged dangers of nuclear power. Russia’s first floating nuclear plant has begun its journey from St. Petersburg to Murmansk and is already being described as a “floating Chernobyl” even though it doesn’t have any fuel loaded. We follow up with a mix of hopefully more educational stories on OPEC and Angola; oil company profits rise; Nord Stream; US nuclear plant closures;  Allianz to stop insuring coal miners; coal miners making money because of the “war on coal”; Denmark’s EV debacle; Mercedes exits the US home battery market; the enormous pumped hydro potential of Indonesia; frustration at the Bonn Climate Conference; Ireland faces EU emissions fines; energy efficiency rollouts in the UK and how you can now earn UN carbon credits by riding your bicycle:

Blowout 227

An eclectic mix of energy and climate news stories from around the world compiled by Roger Andrews.

This week we feature the impact of renewable energy on electricity prices. The question is, if renewables are so cheap why are electricity rates increasing? To follow: OPEC achieves 150% production cut compliance; 2018 oil price to average $65; US gas pipelines under threat; Gazprom pumps record gas to Europe; more US nuclear plant shutdowns; more gas plants for sale in UK; US EPA agrees biomass is carbon neutral; Taiwan’s energy shortage, hydro and geothermal in Kenya; Australia’s NEG to kill renewables; South Africa explores energy storage; Brexit won’t change UK’s “climate ambition”; cracks in Hunterston reactor; the UK’s first blockchain energy transfer (all of 1kWh), and how climate change shrinks birds.

Blowout 226

An eclectic mix of energy and climate news stories from around the world compiled by Roger Andrews:

For our lead story this week we return to the UK, which is reviewing the question of whether its 80%-by-2050 emissions reduction target will be enough to meet its Paris commitments and whether it shouldn’t target 100% instead. We follow with our usual mix of stories from the energy and climate patch: Trump slams OPEC; fracking in China; Canada’s oil pipeline crisis; rising world demand for Russian nuclear power stations; Germany confirms LNG plans; Australia’s clean coal plan collapses; EU denounces the “Belt & Road” initiative; hydro in Indonesia; biomass at Drax; electricity price hikes in Scotland; gravity-based energy storage and California Governor Jerry Brown says global warming will kill 3 billion people.

Blowout 225

An eclectic mix of energy and climate news from around the world compiled by Roger Andrews. A bit delayed this week because I have a job 🙂 Finding it difficult to keep all the strands running.

This week we again feature Tesla’s Big South Australian Battery (BSAB), which Tesla claims is not getting paid for 30-40% of the energy it delivers to the grid. Stories to follow include: OPEC and Russia to stick together: Gazprom can’t do without Ukraine’s pipelines; Germany to convert to LNG; the Cyprus gas field conflict; blackout warnings in NSW; the Gulf’s first hydro plant; the EU’s “stupid” climate targets; the Europe-China interconnector; climate concerns can a UK coal mine; more climate change lawsuits on the cards in the US; thermal energy storage in crushed rock; global CO2 emissions rise in 2017 and palm trees in Canada.

Blowout 221

An ecelctic mix of energy and climate news stories from around the world compiled by Roger Andrews.

This week we feature the one technology that could solve all the world’s energy problems – nuclear fusion – which MIT scientists claim can be supplying grid power within 15 years. We follow with OPEC and Venezuela; Europe’s oil future; the UK/Russia standoff; Canada to go nuclear; Ireland to ban coal; South African coal miners put renewables on hold; Russia hacks US power plants; New York commits $1.4 billion to renewables; Czech tycoon commits $1.2 billion to buying old coal plants; Europe’s hydropower drying up; smart grids in UK; an Even Bigger South Australian Battery; electricity from raindrops and how the Permo-Triassic mass extinction was caused by burning coal.

Blowout 220

An eclectic mix of energy and climate news stories from around the world compiled by Roger Andrews.

This week’s lead story picks itself. Finally we have a study from a respected academic institution which concludes that 100% – or even 77% – renewable energy won’t keep the lights on. We follow with OPEC’s nightmare scenario; Saudi Arabia gets into fracking; oil majors and climate change; another Ukraine-Russia gas dispute; Germany’s coal phase-out stalls again; Canada’s climate targets; cheap power from Snowy 2.0; competition for Tesla; Theresa May seeks energy cooperation with EU; Labour backs Mersey tidal; Scotland’s world-beating wind farm and how Serbia and Kosovo made you late for work.

Blowout 219

An eclectic mix of energy and climate news stories from around the world.

This weeks’ lead story inevitably features the Beast from the East. Was it caused by climate change? Of course it was. Stories to follow include OPEC meets the US shale producers; the plight of Venezuela’s oil workers; North Sea oil & gas; Australia buys Snowy Hydro; Fukushima nuclear releases; the Arab World’s first nuclear plant; coal in China; yet another 100% renewable study; surplus solar and cryptocurrency mining in Japan; UK zero-CO2 ad banned; a diesel car ban in Germany; GE’s gigantic new wind turbine and airdrops for starving polar bears.

Blowout 219

And eclectic mix of energy and climate news stories from around The World

This week’s lead article features the “imminent end of cheap finance” – does this mean disaster for the renewable energy sector? We follow up with our usual mix of stories from around the world – OPEC; oil in California; Europe’s gas supplies and the “Beast from the East”; India needs 300 more nuclear reactors; Trump wants to sell off BPA; South Australia ramps up its renewable target; CCS in South Dakota; Elon Musk’s virtual power plant; a new offer on Swansea Tidal; Jacobson withdraws his defamation lawsuit; solar-powered rail for the UK and how CO2 dissolves Scottish starfish.

Blowout 217
Also last week:
Is Volatility in Oil Price on the Way, Again?

Oil price volatility exhibits periodic characteristics which correlate to that of general stock market volatility.