Your guide to the political forces shaping the energy transformation
| | | | |  | | By Arianna Skibell | |  Winter Storm Elliott hit Lackawanna, New York, in 2022. | John Normile/AFP via Getty Images | A proposal aimed at protecting the electric grid from extreme weather is exposing deep divisions among some of the wonkiest energy nerds in North America. The need for reliable power is only expected to grow as climate change-fueled storms and heat waves become more frequent and disruptive to the grid. But when a grid watchdog group leaned on historical weather records to craft new standards for how power plants prepare for deep cold, it found itself berated by grid operators who found the plan too lenient, writes Peter Behr. It’s a rift that highlights growing tension in the electricity sector as companies navigate the transition to clean energy and a series of unexpected natural gas failures during recent winter weather emergencies. The stakes are high: More than 240 people died during a widespread power outage when Winter Storm Uri swept across Texas in 2021. Where critics of North American Electric Reliability have homed in is that its cold-weather proposal was drafted by committees with strong representation from power producers — the entities who’d have to deal with complying with the new rules. Grid operators say the proposal — which is awaiting approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission — allows companies to avoid weatherizing power plants if they consider the cost too high. They also argue that it would give power providers far too long to install freeze-protection equipment. The NERC-drafted cold weather standard is rife with “glaring exceptions and vague requirements” that are “subjective, unclear, and unauditable,” U.S. grid operators and a Canadian counterpart wrote in a protest document filed with FERC. NERC has countered, saying the grid operators are asking for requirements that could be “unduly burdensome” by imposing prohibitive costs, particularly on generators close to retirement. FERC will decide whether to accept NERC’s proposal as is — or send it back for more revisions. While the details of the disagreement may be technical, the consequences are not. In addition to killing hundreds, Uri left 4 million customers without electricity in below-freezing temperatures. Less than two years later, Winter Storm Elliott knocked out 13 percent of the generation east of the Rocky Mountains. And recent record heat waves in the western United States — like the 31 consecutive days Phoenix spent last summer with temperatures above 110 degrees Fahrenheit — have added more urgency to the call for extreme weather grid protection.
| | | It's Wednesday — thank you for tuning in to POLITICO's Power Switch. I'm your host, Arianna Skibell. Power Switch is brought to you by the journalists behind E&E News and POLITICO Energy. Send your tips, comments, questions to askibell@eenews.net.
| | | | Access New York bill updates and Congressional activity in areas that matter to you, and use our exclusive insights to see what’s on the Albany agenda. Learn more. | | | | | | | | Today in POLITICO Energy’s podcast: James Bikales and Alex Guillén break down the major energy implications of the collapse of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge.
| | Biden’s uneasy energy empire | | | 
President Joe Biden’s policies have helped drive growth in renewables as well as oil and gas production. | Jamie Kelter Davis for POLITICO | | President Joe Biden is presiding over a historic boom in U.S. energy production, with oil, natural gas, solar and wind power all setting records that would have seemed unfathomable two decades ago. And almost no one is happy about it, writes Ben Lefebvre. Republicans are angry Biden has poured hundreds of billions of dollars into clean energy, and climate-minded Democrats say Biden’s approvals of pipelines and other fossil fuel projects violate his pledges to take on climate change.
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U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator Samantha Power (right) while delivering aid to Pakistan's Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari in 2022. | Pakistan Foreign Ministry Press Service via AP | A look at Trump's USAID
The U.S. Agency for International Development and dozens of agencies would be reinvented if former President Donald Trump is elected under a sweeping plan developed by conservatives including former Trump administration officials, write Scott Waldman and Sara Schonhardt. Under Trump, USAID would likely boost faith-based organizations that frequently discriminate against the LGBTQ+ community, ban abortion funding, and eliminate any agency policy that restricts or inhibits fossil fuel usage. Shining a light on shipping
The container ship that toppled Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge is almost 1,000 feet long, carrying the equivalent of 10,000 20-foot-long cargo containers. That would have been a world record 20 years ago. In the past decade, however, container ship capacity nearly doubled, writes Francisco "A.J." Camacho. The shipping industry contributes heavily to climate change, accounting for about 3 percent of global planet-warming pollution. That is comparable to the greenhouse gas emissions from aviation.
| | One man's trash: As big banks limit fossil fuel project financing, private lenders are stepping in. Impacts: At least 27 people are dead as flooding ravages southeast Brazil.
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Global warming could strengthen a powerful ocean current that regulates climate patterns. | David Keyton/AP | The world’s largest and most powerful ocean current may grow even stronger as the planet warms, scientists say. And that could make Antarctica’s ice melt even faster. The collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore disrupted major automakers' supply chains and blocked access to the nation’s second-largest port for coal exports. The majority of oil executives surveyed said the Biden administration’s new rule on methane emissions and decision to pause new natural gas export permits would harm their companies. That's it for today, folks! Thanks for reading. | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |
