Renewable energy development in the Southeast U.S. has been largely non-existent, with the notable exception of North Carolina. Even there, wind development has been scarce, but the state has emerged as the nation’s second largest state for utility scale solar, behind only California. Having added 828 MW in 2015 and 758 MW in 2016, North […]
Sabine Pass LNG fills the tanks while waiting for Harvey to pass
Despite devastating much of Texas’ Gulf Coast, Hurricane Harvey has by all accounts spared Sabine Pass LNG, located on the Texas-Louisiana border. Owner and operator Cheniere has said operations were largely unaffected by the storm and corresponding deluge. Yet, no LNG cargoes have been loaded at the facility since Thursday 8/24 (just before the storm […]
Iranian Oil: Not Quite Open for Business
With the UN sanctions relief, Iran is seeking to revitalize its oil industry and already has raised oil production to near pre-sanction levels. The National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) aims to increase production capacity through 2021 to 4.8 MMBD by appealing to global oil majors for capital investments and renovations to their drilling and production […]
Retail NEM: Still controversial, but a consensus begins to emerge on this key driver of rooftop solar installations
Rooftop PV installations have soared in the U.S. over the past several years, but activity has been heavily concentrated in just a few states offering strong policy support. Retail net energy metering (NEM), which allows the homeowner to sell surplus solar power back to the grid at retail rates, has been a particularly critical driver […]
OPEC Fails to Reduce Global Oil Production Putting Downward Pressure on Oil Prices
While global oil production data for June is still preliminary, it indicates that global oil production is now above Oct. 2016 levels, despite OPEC’s plan to reduce supply. As illustrated in Exhibit 1, despite OPEC’s Big 4 reducing production levels 1.45 MBD, production increases for OPEC’s two wild cards and Non-OPEC’s Big 4, which is […]
New Coal & Gas Price Sensitivity Outlook Projects 2017 Coal Generation to Actualize Lower than Expected
EVA has published its July Coal & Gas Price Sensitivity Outlook. The report provides insight into how Coal-to-Gas (C2G) competition may evolve given pending changes to fuel pricing and the fundamental structure of the electric power markets. EVA’s Scenario Analysis (SCAN) of modeled assumptions provides high-level insight into a broad range of market-driven outcomes. Highlights […]
First Ozone Season Under the CSAPR Update Rule Begins Amid Uncertain Market Conditions
This month marks the official start of the 2017 ozone season. 22 eastern U.S. states will have to comply with much tighter emission budgets than over the last two ozone seasons. Emission budget reductions for CSAPR states, required by the EPA as part of the 2016 CSAPR Update Rule, have created very delicate market conditions […]
Structural changes over the past 12 months set to increase power burn by 0.75 – 1.00 BCFD over next year
The advent of low natural gas prices as a result of the shale revolution led to a major structural shift from coal to gas in the power markets. Based on EVA’s proprietary Power Plant Tracking Database, almost 47 GW of gas-fired capacity has been added till date starting 2012. Nearly 13 GW of new gas […]
New EPA under President Trump: Obama-Era Regulatory Rollbacks are in Full Swing
After last month’s issue of the long-awaited Executive Order (EO) on “Promoting Energy Independence” (see March Newsletter), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) headed by Administrator Scott Pruitt is in full force to undo some of the regulations supporting the “War on Coal.” As part of his EO issued last month, President Trump requested that the […]
Quick Trip: Despite increasing pipeline connections, Mexico emerges as the largest importer of U.S. LNG
As of late-April, Sabine Pass has exported more than 100 LNG cargoes to 17 different countries. Regionally, the shipments have been split almost equally between South American, Asian and Middle Eastern markets, fluctuating based on seasonal demand. Yet somewhat unexpectedly, the single largest importer of U.S. LNG is the country that would otherwise seem to […]