Energy News for week ending January 17, 2020

The heat is on | To exit or not to exit | Single option

Happy Friday afternoon folks.

While today actually feels like winter, the trend over the past decade has been toward warmer temperatures. From the AP in the New York Times, “The decade that just ended was by far the hottest ever measured on Earth, capped off by the second-warmest year on record, two U.S. agencies reported Wednesday. And scientists said they see no end to the way man-made climate change keeps shattering records. “If you think you’ve heard this story before, you haven’t seen anything yet,” Gavin Schmidt, director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, said at the close of a decade plagued by raging wildfires, melting ice and extreme weather that researchers have repeatedly tied to human activity. Schmidt said Earth as a whole is probably the hottest it has been during the Holocene — the past 11,500 years or so — meaning this could be the warmest period since the dawn of civilization. But scientists’ estimates of ancient global temperatures, based on tree rings, ice cores and other telltale signs, are not precise enough to say that with certainty. The 2010s averaged 58.4 degrees Fahrenheit (14.7 degrees Celsius) worldwide, or 1.4 degrees (0.8 C) higher than the 20th century average and more than one-third of a degree (one-fifth of a degree C) warmer than the previous decade, which had been the hottest on record, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.”

Climate change is giving Connecticut energy leaders second thoughts about staying with the regional electric grid. From WNPR, “The state’s commissioner of energy and environmental protection said Wednesday that Connecticut is being forced to invest in natural gas plants it doesn’t want or need. Katie Dykes’ comments on the future of Connecticut’s energy policy came up during a forum at Trinity College, and they come as the legislature prepares to convene next month. Speaking to a crowd at the Connecticut League of Conservation Voters, Dykes said a ‘lack of leadership’ at ISO New England, which oversees the regional power grid, is hindering the state’s fight against climate change. ‘We are at the mercy of a regional capacity market that is driving investment in more natural gas and fossil fuel power plants that we don’t want and we don’t need,’ Dykes said. ‘This is forcing us to take a serious look at the cost and benefits of participating in the ISO New England markets.’ The department has scheduled a meeting on the issue for Wednesday, Jan. 22.”

The last highlight for this week comes from the Cape Cod Times, “State officials are taking the first steps toward having a single underwater transmission line that could feed electricity generated by multiple offshore wind farms into the regional power grid. The Department of Energy Resources is asking for comments on the idea of it putting out to bid ‘offshore wind energy transmission sufficient to deliver energy generation procured under’ a 2018 clean energy law that signaled Massachusetts’ intent to pursue enough additional renewable energy to double its amount of possible offshore wind power. The department will accept all comments, but is particularly interested in thoughts on ‘the general cost and benefits of coordinated offshore wind transmission for the region and/or a potential independent transmission procurement in Massachusetts.’…One primary transmission system ‘has the potential benefit of minimizing impacts on fisheries, optimizing the transmission grid, and reducing costs,’ a department report concluded.”

That’s the recap for this week. Stay warm, be careful in tomorrow’s snowstorm, and have a great weekend!

Natural Gas/Oil/Pipeline/Drilling

Natural gas prices in 2019 were the lowest in the past three years

UPDATE: Technicians going door to door restoring gas after major leak in Salem (NH), Eagle Tribune

Massachusetts holding hearings on gas disaster, Eagle Tribune

2020 outlook: Natural gas faces regulatory, environmental scrutiny but still wants role in carbon-free grid, Utility Dive

Green hydrogen could price gas out of power markets by 2050, Energy Voice

Ashland Conservation Commission, citing impact on wetlands, denies Eversource pipe plan, MetroWest Daily News

15 states oppose Trump plan to allow LNG shipments by rail, AP

BlackRock to sell $500 million in coal investments in climate change push, CBS News

Communities weigh closing off gas hookups, Eagle-Tribune

Residents fume as Nat Grid builds north Brooklyn pipeline, Brooklyn Paper