LONDON, Jan 23 (Reuters) – Britain’s National Grid (NG.L) said it would pay customers to use less power on Monday evening and that it had asked for three coal-powered generators to be warmed up in case they are needed as the country faces a snap of cold weather.
The group said that it would activate a new scheme called the Demand Flexibility Service where customers get incentives if they agree to use less power during crunch periods.
The service, which has been trialled but not run in a live situation before, would run from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Monday, it said, adding that the move did not mean electricity supplies were at risk and advised people not to worry.
The measures were announced in order to “ensure that everyone gets the electricity they need,” Craig Dyke, Head of National Control at National Grid ESO, told BBC Radio on Monday, adding that 26 suppliers had signed up for the scheme.
[1/2] A British government advert offering people help with winter energy bills is seen on the side of a bus in Stockport, Britain, November 16, 2022. REUTERS/Phil Noble
Below freezing temperatures have been recorded across much of the UK in recent days with the national weather service, the Met Office, last week issuing severe weather warnings for snow and ice.
National Grid’s Dyke said consumers could make small changes to make money by reducing their energy usage, such as delaying cooking or putting on the washing machine until after 6 p.m.
National Grid said in December that over a million British households had signed up to the scheme, which is one of its strategies to help prevent power cuts.
The announcement about the coal-powered generators did not mean they would definitely be used, it said in a separate statement.
Coal-powered generators were last put on stand-by in December when temperatures dropped and demand for energy rose, but they were not needed on that occasion.
Reporting by William Schomberg and Muvija M in London, and Sneha Bhowmik in Bengaluru; editing by Tomasz Janowski, Andrew Heavens, Kirsten Donovan
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Dec 7 (Reuters) – The first ever auction of offshore wind development rights off the coast of California entered its second day on Wednesday, with high bids topping $460 million.
The Biden administration’s sale is a major milestone in the its goal to put turbines along every U.S. coastline and a critical test of developer appetite for investment in floating wind turbines, an emerging technology necessary in locations where the ocean floor is too deep for fixed equipment.
The Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is auctioning five lease areas equal to a combined 373,267 acres (151,056 hectares) off the state’s north and central coasts. Previous federal offshore wind auctions have all been for leases in shallower waters of the Atlantic Ocean.
After 22 rounds of bidding, high bids totaled a combined $462.1 million. Two leases off the central coast had commanded high bids of more than $100 million, with the remaining leases attracting high bids in a range of $62.7 million to $98.8 million, according to live auction results on the BOEM web site.
The identities of the bidders are not disclosed during the auction, but 43 companies had been approved to participate.
They include established offshore wind players like Avangrid Inc (AGR.N), Orsted (ORSTED.CO) and Equinor (EQNR.OL), which are all developing projects on the U.S. East Coast, as well as potential new entrants including Swedish floating wind developer Hexicon (HEXI.ST) and Macquarie (MQG.AX) unit Corio.
Reporting by Nichola Groom; Editing by Alexander Smith
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SHANGHAI, Dec 5 (Reuters) – Tesla (TSLA.O) plans to cut December output of the Model Y at its Shanghai plant by more than 20% from the previous month, two people with knowledge of electric vehicle (EV) giant’s production plan said on Monday.
Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the planned cut, first reported by Bloomberg, and Reuters was unable to immediately ascertain the reason for reduction.
Inventory levels at Tesla’s Shanghai plant rose sharply after it completed an upgrade of the manufacturing facilities in summer, with EV inventory increasing at its fastest pace ever in October.
The U.S. automaker has cut prices for Model 3 and Model Y cars by up to 9% in China and offered insurance incentives, which helped boost the November sales of its China-made cars by 40% from October and 89.7% more compared to a year ago.
Tesla delivered 100,291 China-made EVs in November, the highest monthly sales since its Shanghai factory opened in late 2020, Xinhua reported on Monday citing Tesla.
Tesla’s high inventory levels in Shanghai come as China’s auto market faces slowing demand and disruptions to local supply chains.
Uncertainty over when China will make significant move to relax its “dynamic zero-COVID” strategy have clouded the outlook for the world’s largest car market, though some Chinese cities have taken steps to ease some restrictions following protests in recent weeks.
Globally, Tesla had planned to push production of the Model Y and Model 3 EVs sharply higher in the fourth quarter as newer factories in Austin, Texas and Berlin ramp production, Reuters reported in September.
The company is planning to start production of a revamped version of Model 3 in the third quarter of 2023 in Shanghai, as it aims to cut production costs and boost the appeal of the five-year-old electric sedan. read more
Reporting by Zhang Yan and Brenda Goh; Editing by Kim Coghill, Kenneth Maxwell and Simon Cameron-Moore
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LONDON, Dec 5 (Reuters) – Britain’s economy is on course to shrink 0.4% next year as inflation remains high and companies put investment on hold, with gloomy implications for longer-term growth, the Confederation of Business Industry forecast on Monday.
“Britain is in stagflation – with rocketing inflation, negative growth, falling productivity and business investment. Firms see potential growth opportunities but … headwinds are causing them to pause investing in 2023,” CBI Director-General Tony Danker said.
The CBI’s forecast marks a sharp downgrade from its last forecast in June, when it predicted growth of 1.0% for 2023, and it does not expect gross domestic product (GDP) to return to its pre-COVID level until mid-2024.
Britain has been hit hard by a surge in natural gas prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as well as an incomplete labour market recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic and persistently weak investment and productivity.
Unemployment would rise to peak at 5.0% in late 2023 and early 2024, up from 3.6% currently, the CBI said.
British inflation hit a 41-year high of 11.1% in October, sharply squeezing consumer demand, and the CBI predicts it will be slow to fall, averaging 6.7% next year and 2.9% in 2024.
The CBI’s GDP forecast is less gloomy than that of the British government’s Office for Budget Responsibility – which last month forecast a 1.4% decline for 2023.
But the CBI forecast is in line with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which expects Britain to be Europe’s weakest performing economy bar Russia next year.
The CBI forecast business investment at the end of 2024 will be 9% below its pre-pandemic level, and output per worker 2% lower.
To avoid this, the CBI called on the government to make Britain’s post-Brexit work visa system more flexible, end what it sees as an effective ban on constructing onshore wind turbines, and give greater tax incentives for investment.
“We will see a lost decade of growth if action isn’t taken. GDP is a simple multiplier of two factors: people and their productivity. But we don’t have people we need, nor the productivity,” Danker said.
Reporting by David Milliken; editing by Diane Craft
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Announces plans to buy further $4 billion in shares
Profit hit by weak LNG trading and refining
LONDON, Oct 27 (Reuters) – Shell (SHEL.L) on Thursday posted a third-quarter profit of $9.45 billion, slightly below the second quarter’s record high, due to weaker refining and gas trading, and said it will sharply boost its dividend by the end of 2022 when its CEO departs.
The British oil and gas giant also extended its share repurchasing programme, announcing plans to buy $4 billion of stock over the next three months after completing $6 billion in purchases in the second quarter.
Shell said it intends to increase its dividend by 15% in the fourth quarter, when Chief Executive Officer Ben van Beurden will step down after nine years at the helm. The dividend will be paid in March 2023.
It will be the fifth time that Shell will have raised its dividend since slashing it by more than 60% in the wake of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.
Shell shares were up nearly 6% by 1430 GMT, compared with a 3.5% gain for the broader European energy sector (.SXEP).
Van Beurden will be succeeded by Wael Sawan, the current head of Shell’s natural gas and low-carbon division.
With a profit of $30.5 billion so far this year, Shell is well on track to exceed its record annual profit of $31 billion in 2008.
The strong earnings were likely to intensify calls in Britain and the European Union to impose further windfall taxes on energy companies as governments struggle with soaring gas and power bills.
Van Beurden said the energy industry “should be prepared and accept” that it will face higher taxes to help struggling parts of society.
Shell’s shares have gained more than 40% so far this year, lifted by soaring oil and gas prices in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February and amid tightening global oil and gas supplies.
French rival TotalEnergies posted a record profit in the third quarter.
[1/2] A view shows a board with the logo of Shell at the company’s fuel station in Saint Petersburg, Russia May 6, 2022. REUTERS/Anton Vaganov/File Photo
Reuters Graphics Reuters Graphics
LNG WOES
Shell’s quarterly adjusted earnings of $9.45 billion, which slightly exceeded forecasts, were hit by a sharp 38% quarterly drop in the gas and renewables division, the company’s largest.
Earnings for the second quarter were a record $11.5 billion.
The world’s largest trader of liquefied natural gas (LNG) produced 7.2 million tonnes of LNG in the period, 5% less than in the previous quarter, mainly due to ongoing strikes at its Australian Prelude facility.
Its gas trading business was hit this quarter by “supply constraints, coupled with substantial differences between paper and physical realisations in a volatile and dislocated market.”
Earnings from the refining, chemicals and oil trading division also dropped sharply by 62% in the quarter due to weaker refining margins.
Shell said it would stick to its plans to spend $23 billion to $27 billion this year.
Shell’s cash flow in the third quarter dropped sharply to $12.5 billion from $18.6 billion in the second quarter due to a large working capital outflow of $4.2 billion as a result of changes in the value of European gas inventories.
Shell’s net debt rose by around $2 billion to $46.4 billion due to lower cash flow from operations and to pay for a recent acquisition. Its debt-to-capital ratio, known as gearing, also rose above 20%.
Reuters Graphics
Reporting by Ron Bousso and Shadia Nasralla; editing by Jason Neely, Simon Cameron-Moore and Paul Simao
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Shadia Nasralla
Thomson Reuters
Writes about the intersection of corporate oil and climate policy. Has reported on politics, economics, migration, nuclear diplomacy and business from Cairo, Vienna and elsewhere.
STAVANGER, Norway, Aug 29 (Reuters) – Tesla (TSLA.O) chief Elon Musk said on Monday he aimed to get the electric auto maker’s self-driving technology ready by year-end and hopes it could be in wide release in the United States and possibly in Europe, depending on regulatory approval.
Speaking at an energy conference in Norway, Musk said his attention was currently focused on his SpaceX Starship spacecraft and self-driving Tesla electric cars.
“The two technologies I am focused on, trying to ideally get done before the end of the year, are getting our Starship into orbit … and then having Tesla cars to be able to do self-driving.
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“Have self-driving in wide release at least in the U.S., and … potentially in Europe, depending on regulatory approval,” Musk told the audience.
OIL AND GAS NEEDED
Earlier, Musk said the world must continue to extract oil and gas in order to sustain civilisation, while also developing sustainable sources of energy.
“Realistically I think we need to use oil and gas in the short term, because otherwise civilisation will crumble,” Musk told reporters on the sidelines of the conference.
Asked if Norway should continue to drill for oil and gas, Musk said: “I think some additional exploration is warranted at this time.”
“One of the biggest challenges the world has ever faced is the transition to sustainable energy and to a sustainable economy,” he said. “That will take some decades to complete.”
He said offshore wind power generation in the North Sea, combined with stationary battery packs, could become a key source of energy. “It could provide a strong, sustainable energy source in winter,” he said.
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Additional reporting by Terje Solsvik, editing by Gwladys Fouche, Jan Harvey and Louise Heavens
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Average age of vessels up more than two years since 2017
New emissions rules may force older ships to go slower
One-fifth of ships fitted with energy saving devices
New vessels and alternative fuels the long-term solution
LONDON, July 11 (Reuters) – If shipping is the beating heart of global trade, its pulse is about to get slower.
Faced with uncertainty about which fuels to use in the long term to cut greenhouse gas emissions, many shipping firms are sticking with ageing fleets, but older vessels may soon have to start sailing slower to comply with new environmental rules.
From next year, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) requires all ships to calculate their annual carbon intensity based on a vessel’s emissions for the cargo it carries – and show that it is progressively coming down.
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While older ships can be retrofitted with devices to lower emissions, analysts say the quickest fix is just to go slower, with a 10% drop in cruising speeds slashing fuel usage by almost 30%, according to marine sector lender Danish Ship Finance.
“They’re basically being told to either improve the ship or slow down,” said Jan Dieleman, president of Cargill Ocean Transportation, the freight division of commodities trading house Cargill, which leases more than 600 vessels to ferry mainly food and energy products around the world.
Supply chains are already strained due to a surge in demand as economies rebound from lockdowns, pandemic disruptions at ports and a lack of new ships. If older vessels move into the slow lane as well, shipping capacity could take another hit at a time when record freight rates are driving up inflation. read more
At the moment, only about 5% of the world’s fleet can run on less-polluting alternatives to fuel oil, even though more than 40% of new ship orders will have that option, according to data from shipping analytics firm Clarksons Research.
But the new orders are not coming in fast enough to halt the trend of an ageing fleet across all three main types of cargo vessels: tankers, container ships and bulk carriers, the data provided to Reuters by Clarksons Research shows.
The average age of bulk carriers, which carry loose cargo such as grain and coal, had jumped to 11.4 years by June 2022 from 8.7 five years ago. Container ships now average 14.1 years, up from 11.6, while for tankers the average age was 12 years, up from 10.3 in 2017, according to the data.
“Some ship owners have preferred to buy second-hand vessels because of the uncertainties around future fuels,” said Stephen Gordon, managing director at Clarksons Research.
TALL ORDER
Orders for new container ships surged to a record high in 2021 and are still coming in at healthy clip this year, but as the appetite for new tankers and bulk carriers is much lower, the current order book across all three types of vessel only stands at about 10% of the fleet, down from over 50% in 2008.
Shipping companies are responsible for about 2.5% of the world’s carbon emissions and they are coming under increasing pressure to reduce both air and marine pollution.
The industry’s emissions rose last year, underlining the scale of the challenge in meeting the IMO’s target of halving emissions by 2050 from 2008 levels. The organization is now facing calls to go further and commit to net zero by 2050.
Some companies are testing and ordering vessels using alternative fuels such as methanol. Others are developing ships that can be retrofitted for fuels beyond oil, such as hydrogen or ammonia. There’s even a return to wind with vast, high-tech sails being tested by companies such as Cargill and Berge Bulk. read more
But many of the potential low-carbon technologies are in the early stages of development with limited commercial application, meaning the majority of new orders are still for vessels powered by fuel oil and other fossil fuels.
Of the vessels on order, more than a third, or 741, are set to use liquefied natural gas (LNG), 24 can be driven by methanol and six by hydrogen. Another 180 have some form of hybrid propulsion using batteries, Clarksons data shows.
Many shipping firms are hedging their bets mainly because prolonging the life span of vessels is cheaper and lower risk than new builds. They also gain breathing space while waiting for the winning new technologies to become mainstream.
“We have a clash between an industry that is very long-term investment oriented and a very fast pace of change,” said John Hatley, general manager of market innovation in North America at Finnish marine technology company Wartsila (WRT1V.HE).
Cargill says that as of now it doesn’t expect to have many new-build ships in its fleet, instead fitting energy saving devices to older vessels and prolonging their use, while there’s still uncertainty about future technology.
They’re not alone, with more than a fifth of global shipping capacity fitted with such devices, according to Clarksons.
Devices include Flettner rotors, tail spinning cylinders that act like a sail and let ships throttle back when it’s windy, or air lubrication systems that save fuel by covering the hull with small bubbles to reduce friction with seawater.
While energy saving devices go a long way to tackling emissions, ultimately, newer vessels are a better bet, said Peter Sand, analyst at shipping and air cargo data firm Xeneta.
“The next generation of fuel oil ships will be much more carbon efficient, they will be able to transport the same amount of cargo emitting only half of the emissions that they did over a decade ago,” he said.
THE POSEIDON PRINCIPLES
Shipping firms are set to come under growing pressure to comply with targets set by the IMO, which will rate the energy efficiency of ships on a scale of A to E, as the ratings will have a knock-on effect when it comes to finance and insurance.
In 2019, a group of banks agreed to consider efforts to cut carbon emissions when lending to shipping companies and established a global framework known as the Poseidon Principles.
The Poseidon Principles website shows that 28 banks, which include BNP Paribas (BNPP.PA), Citi , Danske Bank (DANSKE.CO), Societe Generale (SOGN.PA) and Standard Chartered (STAN.L), have committed to being consistent with IMO policies when assessing shipping portfolios on environmental grounds.
“Lending decisions on second-hand ships are going to become an issue on older tonnage,” said Michael Parker, chairman of Citigroup’s global shipping, logistics and offshore business, adding that environmental factors would be taken into account when lenders decided whether to refinance vessels.
“Second-hand ships will continue to get financing, provided that the owner is doing the right things about keeping that vessel as environmentally efficient as possible,” he said.
One early adopter of new technology is shipping giant A.P. Moller-Maersk . It has ordered 12 vessels which can run on green methanol produced from sources such as biomass, as well as fuel oil as there is not yet enough low carbon fuel available.
The Danish company doesn’t intend to use LNG because it is still a fossil fuel and it would prefer to shift directly to a lower carbon alternative.
Wartsila, meanwhile, is launching an ammonia-fueled engine next year, which it says is generating a lot of interest from customers, as well as a hydrogen engine in 2025.
Ship owners are facing a lot of uncertainty over how to “future proof” their fleets and avoid regretting investment decisions now within a couple of years, said Wartsila’s Hatley.
“They would rather wait for maybe the whole life of the ship of 20 years, but that’s even more uncertain now because of the pace of change.”
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Reporting by Sarah McFarlane; Editing by Veronica Brown and David Clarke
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June 23 (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden rarely mentions electric car maker Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) in public. But privately his administration has leaned on the company to help craft a new policy to allow electric vehicles (EVs) to benefit from the nation’s lucrative renewable fuel subsidies, according to emails reviewed by Reuters.
The Biden administration contacted Tesla on its first day in office, marking the start of a series of meetings on the topic between federal officials and companies linked to the EV industry over the months that followed, according to the emails.
The administration’s early and extensive outreach reflects that expanding the scope of the U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) to make it a tool for electrifying the nation’s automobile fleet is one of Biden’s priorities in the fight against climate change.
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The RFS, which dates back to 2005, is a federal program that requires transportation fuel sold in the United States to contain a minimum volume of renewable fuels. Until now, it has been primarily a subsidy for corn-based ethanol.
The White House’s outreach to Tesla also shows that, despite a public grudge match between Biden and Tesla founder Elon Musk, the Biden team tried early on to involve the carmaker in one of its key policy pushes. Biden has set a target to make half of all new vehicles sold in 2030 zero-emissions vehicles.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which administers the RFS, is expected to unveil proposed changes to the policy sometime this year, defining new winners and losers in a multibillion-dollar market for credits, known as RINs, that has supported corn growers and biofuels producers for more than a decade.
Early signs are that the administration is leaning toward a rule that benefits carmakers like Tesla, giving them the greatest access to so-called e-RINS, or electric RINs. But the reform could also spread the subsidy to related industries too, like car charging companies and landfills that supply renewable biogas to power plants, according to industry players.
“We have heard through the grapevine that car companies are really, really going to like this rule,” said Maureen Walsh, director of federal policy with the American Biogas Council, speaking at a conference in May. But she added: “We have all been scrapping at that pile.”
The idea of including electric vehicles in the RFS has been under consideration for years, but gained steam as Biden’s transition team zeroed in on EVs as a job-friendly solution to the climate crisis. Transport accounts for more than a quarter of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.
The White House did not respond to requests for comment.
The EPA said it was consulting “all interested stakeholders” in its RFS policy review.
The current RFS requires oil refiners to blend ethanol and other biofuels into the fuel pool or buy RINs from those who do. That policy has spurred an economic boom in Farm Belt states. But it has also angered environmental groups who say the extra corn production damages land and water while prolonging the era of the internal-combustion engine.
Friends of the Earth, an environmental group, has voiced disapproval over an e-RIN program. The group sees the RFS as a policy that has failed to increase production of new generation lower-carbon fuels, while also harming the environment. It also sees expanding the program as a slippery slope toward increasing the use of feedstocks for wood and wood waste, which can generate electricity.
“The RFS should be reformed to tackle giveaways for dirty corn ethanol. It shouldn’t be expanded to include new giveaways for factory farming and woody biomass,” said Friends of the Earth spokesman Lukas Ross.
TURN TO TESLA
On the morning of Biden’s presidential inauguration in January 2021, EPA staffer Dallas Burkholder emailed a top Tesla lobbyist, Rohan Patel, to set up a meeting on how to incorporate electric cars into the RFS, according to the documents reviewed by Reuters. They scheduled a meeting for a week later, records show.
Since then, the Biden EPA has had additional meetings on the topic with Tesla, groups representing biogas producers like Waste Management Inc (WM.N) and Republic Services Inc (RSG.N) and charging station companies like ChargePoint Holdings Inc (CHPT.N), according to the documents.
The EPA has also set up at least one meeting with White House staff members, including climate adviser Ali Zaidi, to discuss the reforms, according to the emails.
The Biden White House has been an unapologetic supporter of the EV industry, pinning much of its climate hopes on getting more electric cars on the road. The bipartisan infrastructure bill that passed last year included $7.5 billion for new EV charging stations and Biden has sought to reinstate expired tax credits to help consumers pay for new vehicles.
Even so, Tesla’s CEO, Musk, has often been at odds with the White House, sending out harsh tweets directed at Biden. In February, Biden publicly acknowledged the role of Tesla in EV manufacturing, after Musk repeatedly complained about being ignored. read more
WHAT EVERYONE WANTS
Tesla is seeking changes to the RFS that will allow it to earn renewable fuel credits based on kilowatt hours driven or similar metrics, according to two sources familiar with the plan. The company has also explored partnerships with biogas-producers to give them leverage in whatever market emerges from the new rule, the sources say.
Tesla did not respond to requests for comment for this story.
Members of the car-charging industry, meanwhile, are also pushing for a share.
Matthew Nelson, a lobbyist with Electrify America, a charging company trade group, wrote to the EPA in October and told them that e-RINs would do more to enable Biden’s 2030 goals of 500,000 charging stations and 50% EV sales than any other policy, according to the emails. He added that charging companies need the credit to compete with gasoline.
The United States currently has about 48,000 charging stations, concentrated around coastal regions, according to Department of Energy data.
Biogas producers, like landfills, also want credits, arguing they provide renewable fuel to the grid that generates the power for electric vehicles.
Biogas-derived electricity is already eligible for generating RINs. But the EPA has never approved an application from the industry because it has yet to determine the best way to trace the power entering EVs back to its origin.
In 2020, landfill gas generated about 10 billion kilowatt hours of electricity, or 0.3% of U.S. utility-scale power.
“We feel that implementing the electricity program in the RFS aligns well with the Biden administration’s climate goals,” Carrie Annand, executive director of the Biomass Power Association, wrote to the EPA, according to the documents.
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Reporting by Jarrett Renshaw in Philadelphia and Stephanie Kelly in New York
Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Matthew Lewis
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WASHINGTON, April 12 (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden will unveil plans on Tuesday to extend the availability of higher biofuel blends of gasoline during the summer to curb soaring fuel costs and to cut reliance on foreign energy sources, the White House said.
The move represents the administration’s latest attempt to tamp down inflation, which hit a new 40-year high on Tuesday.
Biden’s poll numbers have sagged under the weight of higher consumer costs and inflation is seen as a significant liability heading into the November mid-term elections.
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The decision represents a win for the U.S. corn lobby by likely expanding demand for corn-based ethanol and a setback for oil refiners, which view ethanol as competition.
The measure will allow Americans to keep buying E15, a gasoline that uses a 15% ethanol blend, from June 1 to Sept. 15. While E15 is only 10 cents cheaper on average and is less “energy dense,” meaning drivers would need to buy more fuel, it should still help lower expenses, senior administration officials told reporters on a Monday call previewing the announcement.
“Those savings can add up, especially during the summer months, when fuel is elevated and as the supply emergency caused by (Russian President Vladimir) Putin aggression continues,” a senior administration official said.
White House spokesperon Jen Psaki later confirmed the move to reporters on Air Force One en route to Iowa, where Biden planned to make the announcement.
The decision comes after several weeks of internal debate within the White House that pitted environmental advocates like Gina McCarthy against Agricultural Secretary Tom Vilsack, a former governor of Iowa, according to two sources familiar with the discussions.
The summertime ban on E15 was imposed over concerns it contributes to smog in hot weather, though research has shown that the 15% blend may not increase smog relative to the more common 10% blends sold year-round.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and sanctions and boycotts that followed launched retail gasoline prices to record highs, a vulnerability for Biden’s fellow Democrats in November’s congressional elections.
Biden last month announced that the United States would sell 180 million barrels of crude from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve at a rate of 1 million barrels per day starting in May, the biggest release from the stockpile since it was created in the 1970s.
CORN VS OIL
Biden will make the E15 extension announcement during a visit to POET Bioprocessing, the largest biofuels producer in the United States in major corn producing state Iowa.
“We applaud President Biden and his administration for recognizing that low-cost, low-carbon ethanol should be given a fair opportunity to strengthen our energy security and reduce record-high pump prices,” Renewable Fuels Association President Geoff Cooper said.
Representatives of the oil industry slammed the administration for the decision.
“Americans are looking for long-term solutions, not short-term political fixes (to high gas prices)” said Ron Chit, a spokesman for the American Petroleum Institute, the oil industry’s main lobbying organization.
“The best way to ensure Americans have access to the affordable and reliable energy they need is to promote policies that incentive U.S. production and send a clear message that America is open for energy investment,” he said.
The American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFP) industry group questioned whether the expansion of E15 sales was lawful.
To make the change, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is planning to issue a national emergency waiver closer to June, the administration officials said. The EPA is also considering additional action to allow for the use of E15 year-round, the White House said.
“Emergency fuel waivers are short term and reserved for very specific unforeseen events and regionally acute supply disruptions, such as those resulting from a hurricane,” AFP Chief Executive Chet Thompson said.
Iowa Republican Joni Ernst also welcomed the move but echoed calls for a more lasting change.
“This is one step in the right direction,” Ernst said during a 20-minute press call, describing it as one way to combat the rising prices of fuel. “But long term, we need to make sure that this goes into place permanently and that we allow E-15 year-round, ongoing, into the future.”
The courts struck down a prior bid by Biden’s predecessor, Republican Donald Trump, in 2019 to extend a waiver that allowed year-round sales of E15.
The officials previewing Biden’s announcement said his administration would us a different “approach” and “authority” than Trump, but did not offer details.
They also said the EPA would work with states to ensure that there would be no “significant” negative impact on summer air quality due to the extended sale of E15.
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Reporting by Alexandra Alper, Jarrett Renshaw and Steve Holland; additional reporting by Stephanie Kelly and David Morgan; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman, Mark Porter and Bill Berkrot
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Feb 23 (Reuters) – The largest ever U.S. sale of offshore wind development rights – for areas off the coasts of New York and New Jersey – attracted record-setting bids on Wednesday from companies seeking to be a part of President Joe Biden’s plan to create a booming new domestic industry.
It is the first offshore wind lease sale under Biden, who has made expansion of offshore wind a cornerstone of his strategy to address global warming and decarbonize the U.S. electricity grid by 2035, all while creating thousands of jobs.
With bidding still underway, the auction was on track to easily top the $405 million U.S. offshore wind auction record set in 2018, according to updates posted on the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s (BOEM) web site.
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After 11 rounds, bidding stood at a record-setting $250 million for a single lease 32 miles (51.5 km) off the coast of New Jersey. The government had identified that 114-acre area – the largest offered in the sale – as being capable of producing power for more than 485,000 homes.
The previous record amount paid for a U.S. offshore wind lease was $135.1 million in 2018 for a lease off the coast of Massachusetts.
High bids on each of the other five areas in the auction ranged between $12.6 million and $134.3 million as of Wednesday afternoon.
The auction’s scale marks a major step forward for offshore wind power in the United States, which has lagged European nations in developing the technology. Currently, the United States has just two small offshore wind facilities, off the coasts of Rhode Island and Virginia, along with two additional commercial-scale projects recently approved for development.
BOEM, which has not held an auction for wind leases since 2018, is offering 488,201 acres (197,568 hectares) in shallow waters between New York’s Long Island and New Jersey, an area known as the New York Bight.
The area is 22% smaller than what was initially proposed last summer due to concerns about the developments’ impact to commercial fishing and military interests.
‘ENOUGH WIND TO POWER MILLIONS OF HOMES’
The sale’s 25 approved bidders include entities controlled by Equinor ASA (EQNR.OL), Avangrid Inc (AGR.N), BP Plc and Eletricite de France SA (EDF.PA), according to government documents. Each bidder may only win one lease.
The energy generated from the newly offered areas could one day power nearly 2 million homes, the administration has said.
Last year, the Biden administration set a goal of installing 30 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind by 2030 along the nation’s coastlines. Much of the current development is happening in waters off of Northeastern states.
New York and New Jersey have set targets of building more than 16 GW of offshore wind by 2035, and Wednesday’s lease areas – which lie between 20 and 69 nautical miles off the coast, according to BOEM – could deliver more than a third of that capacity.
“That’s enough wind to power millions of homes,” Ed Potosnak, executive director of the New Jersey League of Conservation Voters, said in an interview. “That’s a big deal in a state with about nine million people.”
Not everyone supports offshore wind development. The Biden administration’s ambitions have stoked concerns among commercial fishermen and coastal communities about harm to their livelihoods and property values.
In January, a group of New Jersey residents sued BOEM over its leasing plans for the New York Bight. The group, from the summer colony of Long Beach Island, is concerned about the aesthetic impacts of the turbines and potential lost tourism.
Greg Cudnik, owner of a fishing charter boat business on Long Beach Island, worries about what thousands of wind turbines will do to the ocean habitat.
“For all this that’s taking place and all this that is put in jeopardy, to me, I don’t see the net benefit,” Cudnik said.
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Reporting by Nichola Groom in Los Angeles and Christine Kiernan in Ship Bottom, New Jersey; Editing by Bill Berkrot
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