The Energy News Digest for February 3, 2021

The Energy News Digest is sponsored by the Northwest Public Power Association.

The News Digest on Facebook and Twitter will bring you breaking news throughout the week.

Subscribe to The Energy News Digest.

HOT SHOTS – TODAY’S TOP FIVE STORIES

WA State: City of Seattle OKs Measure to End Much Commercial Natural Gas Use (Oregon Public Broadcasting)

https://www.opb.org/article/2021/02/02/bc-wa-seattle-curbing-natural-gas-use/

Daily U.S. Wind Energy Generation Sets New Record in December- EIA (Yahoo News)

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/daily-u-wind-energy-generation-161007499.html

‘This Is Just the Beginning’: Southwest Power Pool Begins Operating Western Imbalance Market (Utility Dive)

https://www.utilitydive.com/news/this-is-just-the-beginning-southwest-power-pool-begins-operating-western/594334/

Study: Pandemic’s Cleaner Air Added Heat to Warming Planet (KOMO News, Seattle WA)

https://komonews.com/news/nation-world/study-pandemics-cleaner-air-added-heat-to-warming-planet

Portland General Electric Offers Electric Vehicle Charger Rebates to Residential Customers Who Cede Some Control (Portland Business Journal, OR)

https://energynewsdigest.blogspot.com/2021/02/portland-general-electric-offers.html

NEWS HIGHLIGHTS (See Stories Below)

1.      WA State: City of Seattle OKs Measure to End Much Commercial Natural Gas Use

2.      ‘This Is Just the Beginning’: Southwest Power Pool Begins Operating Western Imbalance Market

3.      Op/Ed: Federal Energy Regulatory Committee Complaint Filed Against Tennessee Valley Authority Could Cause Major Rumblings

4.      Arizona: Salt River Project Board Votes to Delay Price Increases until November

5.      Podcast – Past the Dams, Tribes Help the Columbia River Roll On

6.      As Ethiopia Fills Its Nile Dam, Regional Rivalries Overflow

7.      Alabama: What Kinds of Hazards Do Linemen Face Daily? Power Company Explains

8.      Daily U.S. Wind Energy Generation Sets New Record in December- EIA

9.      Portland, Building on Early Wind History, Teems with Renewable Energy Leadership

10.   WA State: Pandemic Slows Growth of the Clean-Tech Sector — For Now

11.   Pacific Gas & Electric Plans Utility-Owned ‘Remote Grids’ for Isolated Communities

12.   The Empire State Building Runs on the Wind Now

13.   Op/Ed: Want Environmental Justice? Look to Energy Efficiency.

14.   Washington State Wildlife Officials Ask Residents to Take Down Bird Feeders amid Outbreak of Salmonellosis

15.   Bonneville Power Administration Helps Restore & Protect Columbia River Basin Wetlands

16.   Study: Pandemic’s Cleaner Air Added Heat to Warming Planet

17.   U.S. Cities Are Vastly Undercounting Emissions, Researchers Find

18.   Biden Team in Talks with Utilities, Car Companies about Emissions: Climate Adviser

19.   WA State: Grays Harbor PUD Launches Feasibility Study for East County-SR 12 Broadband

20.   WA State: Team Seeks to Wire Adams County for Broadband

21.   Washington State Ports Lead Charge for Rural Internet Service

22.   Tribal Business, Government, & Education Efforts Boosted by Broadband Funding

23.   Charter Shares $5 Billion Broadband Plan & Pole Concerns

24.   Jeff Bezos Steps Down as Amazon’s CEO

25.   Google Wants Americans to Subsidize Its Electric Bill

26.   Portland General Electric Offers Electric Vehicle Charger Rebates to Residential Customers Who Cede Some Control

27.   Utah Legislators Advance Bill to Increase Registration Fees on Electric Cars

28.   Tesla Recalls Nearly 135,000 Model S & X Cars Because of Failing Touchscreens

29.   Editorial: Environmentalists Should Lead the Charge against Electric Vehicles

30.   Why ‘Section 230’ Is at the Heart of Fights Over Online Speech

31.   Burst of Tremor Activity Likely Won’t Pose Risk to Washington State

32.   Washington State Senate Bill 5244 – Needed Support for Nuclear Power

33.   Op/Ed: Collaboration, Not Confrontation – Setting the Stage for Success between FERC & the States

34.   Buttigieg Confirmation for U.S. Dept of Transportation Boosts Hope for Massive Infrastructure Investment

WORD OF THE DAY

Efflorescence \eff-luh-RESS-suns\ Noun - 1a: the action or process of developing and unfolding as if coming into flower b: an instance of such development c: fullness of manifestation: culmination 2: the period or state of flowering 3: the process or product of efflorescing chemically

“Blink and its gone,” bellowed the intergalactic Master Gardener to his well-behaved minions, trailing behind him like so many ducklings as they trekked across the plans of Minubious-Two on their way to observe the once millennial efflorescence of the “scavenging blink-flower.” Unfortunately for the group, their attention at the exact time of flowering was diverted at the worst time, as one of the sentient talking dogs of Canis Carnivora barked “squirrel” at a small rodent running across the remote mountain trail.

ENERGY & UTILITY ISSUES

1.      WA State: City of Seattle OKs Measure to End Much Commercial Natural Gas Use (Oregon Public Broadcasting)

https://www.opb.org/article/2021/02/02/bc-wa-seattle-curbing-natural-gas-use/

2.      ‘This Is Just the Beginning’: Southwest Power Pool Begins Operating Western Imbalance Market (Utility Dive)

https://www.utilitydive.com/news/this-is-just-the-beginning-southwest-power-pool-begins-operating-western/594334/

3.      Op/Ed: Federal Energy Regulatory Committee Complaint Filed Against Tennessee Valley Authority Could Cause Major Rumblings (The Tennessean, Nashville, TN)

https://www.tennessean.com/story/opinion/2021/02/02/complaint-filed-against-tva-could-cause-major-rumbling-s-memphis-deal/4348933001/

4.      Arizona: Salt River Project Board Votes to Delay Price Increases until November (KTAR News, Phoenix, AZ)

https://ktar.com/story/3961258/srp-board-votes-to-delay-price-increases-until-november/

5.      Podcast – Past the Dams, Tribes Help the Columbia River Roll On (Crosscut Seattle)

https://crosscut.com/podcast/crosscut-escapes/1/6/podcast-past-dams-tribes-help-columbia-river-roll

6.      As Ethiopia Fills Its Nile Dam, Regional Rivalries Overflow (Christian Science Monitor)

https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2021/0201/As-Ethiopia-fills-its-Nile-dam-regional-rivalries-overflow

7.      Alabama: What Kinds of Hazards Do Linemen Face Daily? Power Company Explains (WDHN-TV, Dothan, AL)

https://www.dothanfirst.com/news/local-news/what-kinds-of-hazards-do-linemen-face-daily-power-company-explains/

RENEWABLE ENERGY & SELF STORAGE

8.      Daily U.S. Wind Energy Generation Sets New Record in December- EIA (Yahoo News)

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/daily-u-wind-energy-generation-161007499.html

9.      Portland, Building on Early Wind History, Teems with Renewable Energy Leadership (Portland Business Journal, OR)

https://energynewsdigest.blogspot.com/2021/02/portland-building-on-early-wind-history.html

10.   WA State: Pandemic Slows Growth of the Clean-Tech Sector — For Now (Everett Herald, WA)

https://www.heraldnet.com/business/pandemic-slows-growth-of-the-clean-tech-sector-for-now/

11.   Pacific Gas & Electric Plans Utility-Owned ‘Remote Grids’ for Isolated Communities (GreenTech Media)

https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/pge-plans-utility-owned-remote-grids-for-isolated-communities

12.   The Empire State Building Runs on the Wind Now (Gizmodo)

https://earther.gizmodo.com/the-empire-state-building-runs-on-the-wind-now-1846189711

CONSERVATION & EFFICIENCY

13.   Op/Ed: Want Environmental Justice? Look to Energy Efficiency. (Politico)

https://www.politico.com/news/agenda/2021/02/01/you-want-environmental-justice-look-to-energy-efficiency-463839

FISH & WILDLIFE

14.   Washington State Wildlife Officials Ask Residents to Take Down Bird Feeders amid Outbreak of Salmonellosis (Seattle Post-Intelligencer, WA)

https://www.seattlepi.com/local/seattlenews/article/take-down-bird-feeders-in-washington-outbreak-15918454.php

15.   Bonneville Power Administration Helps Restore & Protect Columbia River Basin Wetlands (Bonneville Power Administration)

https://www.bpa.gov/news/newsroom/Pages/BPA-helps-restore-and-protect-Columbia-River-Basin-wetlands.aspx

CLIMATE CHANGE SEQUESTRATION VAULT

16.   Study: Pandemic’s Cleaner Air Added Heat to Warming Planet (KOMO News, Seattle WA)

https://komonews.com/news/nation-world/study-pandemics-cleaner-air-added-heat-to-warming-planet

17.   U.S. Cities Are Vastly Undercounting Emissions, Researchers Find (NY Times)

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/02/climate/cities-greenhouse-gas-emissions.html

18.   Biden Team in Talks with Utilities, Car Companies about Emissions: Climate Adviser (Reuters)

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-climate-biden-idUSKBN2A31JH

TELECOMMUNICATIONS

19.   WA State: Grays Harbor PUD Launches Feasibility Study for East County-SR 12 Broadband (KXRO Radio, Aberdeen, WA)

https://www.kxro.com/pud-launches-feasibility-study-for-east-county-sr-12-broadband/

20.   WA State: Team Seeks to Wire Adams County for Broadband (Columbia Basin Herald, Moses Lake, WA)

https://columbiabasinherald.com/news/2021/feb/03/team-seeks-wire-adams-county-broad/

21.   Washington State Ports Lead Charge for Rural Internet Service (Government Technology)

https://www.govtech.com/network/Washington-Ports-Lead-Charge-for-Rural-Internet-Service.html

22.   Tribal Business, Government, & Education Efforts Boosted by Broadband Funding (KLCC Radio, Eugene, OR)

https://www.klcc.org/post/tribal-business-government-and-education-efforts-boosted-broadband-funding

23.   Charter Shares $5 Billion Broadband Plan & Pole Concerns (Telecoms)

https://telecoms.com/508474/charter-shares-5-billion-broadband-plan-and-pole-concerns/

THE WIZARDING WORLD OF TECHNOLOGY

24.   Jeff Bezos Steps Down as Amazon’s CEO (Gizmodo)

https://gizmodo.com/jeff-bezos-steps-down-as-amazons-ceo-1846184340

25.   Google Wants Americans to Subsidize Its Electric Bill (Forbes Magazine)

https://www.forbes.com/sites/ikebrannon/2021/02/02/google-wants-americans-to-subsidize-their-electric-bill/

I SING THE CAR ELECTRIC

26.   Portland General Electric Offers Electric Vehicle Charger Rebates to Residential Customers Who Cede Some Control (Portland Business Journal, OR)

https://energynewsdigest.blogspot.com/2021/02/portland-general-electric-offers.html

27.   Utah Legislators Advance Bill to Increase Registration Fees on Electric Cars (KUTV-TV, Salt Lake City, UT)

https://kutv.com/news/local/utah-legislators-advance-bill-to-increase-registration-fees-on-electric-cars

28.   Tesla Recalls Nearly 135,000 Model S & X Cars Because of Failing Touchscreens (Mashable)

https://mashable.com/article/tesla-model-x-s-recall-touchscreen/

29.   Editorial: Environmentalists Should Lead the Charge against Electric Vehicles (The Hill, Washington, DC)

https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/536296-environmentalists-should-lead-the-charge-against-electric-vehicles

PUBLIC RELATIONS, MARKETING & MEDIA

30.   Why ‘Section 230’ Is at the Heart of Fights Over Online Speech (Washington Post)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/why-section-230-is-at-the-heartof-fights-over-online-speech/2021/02/02/7296c794-65b1-11eb-bab8-707f8769d785_story.html

BARREL O’ GREEN POTPOURRI – SEETHING STEW OF SCIENCE

31.   Burst of Tremor Activity Likely Won’t Pose Risk to Washington State (KING-TV – Seattle, WA)

https://www.king5.com/article/weather/earthquakes/unlikely-change-to-tremor-activity-poses-risk-to-washington-state/281-08e35663-1c94-4d65-88f5-d7444072fde8

GOVERNANCE & MANAGEMENT

32.   Washington State Senate Bill 5244 – Needed Support for Nuclear Power (Forbes Magazine)

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2021/02/03/washington-state-senate-bill-5244--needed-support-for-nuclear-power/?sh=6ee0333e3b8b

33.   Op/Ed: Collaboration, Not Confrontation – Setting the Stage for Success between FERC & the States (Utility Dive)

https://www.utilitydive.com/news/collaboration-not-confrontation-setting-the-stage-for-success-between-fer/594319/

34.   Buttigieg Confirmation for U.S. Dept of Transportation Boosts Hope for Massive Infrastructure Investment (Utility Dive)

https://www.utilitydive.com/news/buttigieg-confirmation-boosts-hope-for-massive-infrastructure-investment/594453/

ALLIGATORS IN THE SEWER – DIVERSIONS

Ancient Mummies with Golden Tongues Unearthed in Egypt

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-55902631

Migratory Birds in Texas Getting Drunk on Fermented Berries

https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2021/02/02/Migratory-birds-getting-drunk-on-fermented-berries-in-Texas/9441612297443/

At the Ilani Casino – Edible Race Cars Break Guinness Records in Washington State

https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2021/02/03/Edible-race-cars-break-Guinness-records-in-Washington-state/9461612374466/

The Live Cam That Shows You the Emerald Northern Lights Is Back

https://mashable.com/article/northern-lights-live-cam-aurora-borealis/

SONG OF THE DAY

Journey – Lights

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlYhoFVogFo

LINKS & PAYWALL ADVISORY

Links in The Energy News Digest lead to current stories. Media organizations update their websites regularly, which may result in broken links. Media attribution includes information about possible paywall restrictions.

Portland General Electric Offers Electric Vehicle Charger Rebates to Residential Customers Who Cede Some Control (Portland Business Journal, OR)

Portland General Electric has begun offering residential electric vehicle charger rebates of $500 — $1,000 for low-income households — with a catch that reflects a key concern of a switch to EVs that the state is eager to see happen.

Participants in the $17 million pilot program, approved by state regulators last October after long negotiations with ratepayer advocates and other stakeholders, are required to cede some control of their EV charger to the utility.

The concept is known in electricity circles as demand response. It’s commonly used with big customers who get paid to reduce their electricity use when trimming demand is more economical than increasing supply.

Because EVs represent a potentially big new power draw, utilities and ratepayer advocates are eager to shift demand from peak periods and toward times when energy, particularly from renewable sources, is abundant.

So the rebate program requires charging devices that are demand-response enabled, and enrollment in a program PGE calls “Smart Charging.” Under the program, the utility can call “managed charging events” during which it takes control of the customer’s charging device.

Customers can bow out of a particular event, but if they participate in three during a Smart Charging “season” — seasons run October to March and April to September — they get a $25 bill credit.

PGE believes the rebate program could pay for itself by boosting revenue through increased sales, and by trimming the likely increase to peak demand, thus avoiding new capacity costs.

The utility had originally proposed a program that would use time-of-use rates to manage demand. That remains a voluntary option under the adopted program.

PGE aims to sign up 5,000 customers in the rebate program by February 2024. That spring, a final report on the project is due, which regulators expect to use in deciding whether to make the program permanent.

In filings, PGE said the basic $500 rebate for a Level 2 home charging station would cover a bit more than a quarter of the estimated $1,840 total cost for the equipment and installation. The higher rebate is available to households that have income less than 80% of the area median.

Portland, Building on Early Wind History, Teems with Renewable Energy Leadership (Portland Business Journal, OR)

Much has been written about the state of Portland recently, but here’s a fresh take: There are a heck of a lot of renewable energy movers and shakers kicking around town.

That’s the realization after taking a closer look at announcements in January by two previously under-the-radar companies, reporting on news from another pair last fall, and factoring in familiar longtime players like Avangrid Renewables and Vestas (not to mention PacifiCorp, Portland General Electric and the Bonneville Power Administration, all of which have significant renewables sides).

“There is a really strong diaspora of energy executives here and, and I think more and more these days, they're all kind of pivoting into renewable energy,” Alex Ellis said.

Ellis is one of four partners at Excelsior Energy Capital. He forms the Portland outpost of a company headquartered in the Minneapolis suburb for which it’s named.

In early January, Excelsior announced a $504 million renewable energy investment fund that it’s using to buy, develop and operate solar and energy-storage projects in North America.

A couple of weeks later, Primergy Solar put out news about its growth, including a raft of new executive hirings as it builds a portfolio of projects for Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners.

Primergy is officially based in Oakland, but the guy heading that burgeoning executive team, CEO Ty Daul, is in, you guessed it, Portland.

“I think a lot of that Portland concentration stems from the early days of wind,” Daul said.

That was at PPM Energy, a Portland-based arm of Scottish Power that developed wind projects in the Pacific Northwest and elsewhere when the modern industry was really getting going in the 2000s. In 2007, the Spanish utility company Iberdrola acquired Scottish Power (two years after Berkshire Hathaway bought PacifiCorp from Scottish Power). PPM Energy became Iberdrola Renewables and later morphed into Avangrid Renewables.

“A lot of the individuals and professionals here in Portland either were part of that original group or competed directly with PPM Energy back in the early 2000s,” Daul said.

Ellis wasn’t among them. Looking to get into renewables, he arrived in Portland in 2009 — to work for Daul at Element Power.

That was a Portland-based company that, with Daul as CEO and another PPMer, Raimund Grube, as president and chief operating officer in North America, built a portfolio of solar and wind projects for the private equity firm Hudson Clean Energy Partners.

Jesse Gronner is another Portland exec with PPM roots, which extended into a run at Iberdrola/Avangrid Renewables, where he led renewable energy development for several years until early 2020. Later in the year he founded Triple Oak Power, a wind power development company focused on onshore wind with majority backing from EnCap Investments L.P., a Houston-based oil-and-gas private equity firm that’s growing a clean energy side.

About the same time, Portland-based Skyline Renewables — headed by Martin Mugica, a former chief executive at Iberdrola Renewables — announced a move into solar in Texas, adding to a growing portfolio of wind farms mostly in the Lone Star state.

The companies these executives help run haven’t brought new renewables to Oregon, at least yet.

“We haven't made an investment here,” Ellis, of Excelsior, said, “but we do have an exciting partnership with Unico Solar Investors.” That’s the solar investment and development unit of Unico Investments Group, which is based in Seattle — not Portland, but pretty close.

“Unico has a big presence here in Oregon, and we're hoping to do more with them in the state,” Ellis said.