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Welcome to Grid Brief! Today, we’re taking a break from our weekly coverage of what’s happening in America’s monopoly utility areas, as the Energy Information Administration’s national generation data hasn’t updated in a week due to maintenance. Instead, we’re looking at Germany’s bailout of the Siemens wind turbine division, how Florida’s population influx is increasing its fuel consumption, and more.

Germany to Bail Out Siemens Wind Division

Since mid-June, Siemens shares have cratered by 70%, causing it to ditch its profit outlook for this year. Although Siemens also has a highly successful and profitable gas turbine arm, its wind turbine division has tanked the whole boat. The company is in talks for 15 billion euros in guarantees, with the German government covering 80% of the initial funding.

While some close to the deal have told Reuters that the German government agrees with the deal in principle, its details still need to be ironed out. But news of the deal lifted the stock price by 5% last week.

Offshore wind is suffering worldwide. As we covered earlier this month, Ørsted has abandoned its New Jersey wind projects, citing massive delays in shipping vessel availability as a major contributor to the failures. But the company is also considering abandoning its offshore projects in the UK, while the UK government is offering yet higher subsidies to offshore wind projects to make them viable.

Offshore wind isn’t alone. Last week, the Utah Associated Municipal Power System and NuScale mutually agreed to terminate the first small modular reactor project in America.

Florida: Population & Fuel Consumption Rise

Florida is among the fastest-growing states in America. Between 2010 and 2022, its population has boomed by 18% to about 22.2 million residents. Its population growth is also driving more consumption of fuel.

“Most of Florida’s fuels arrive by water vessels from refiners on the U.S. Gulf Coast,” reports the Energy Information Administration. “The state has no direct access to the two major pipelines that serve other East Coast states, Colonial and Products (SE), although some portions of the state receive shipments by truck from Colonial Pipeline spurs that end in southern Georgia. The rest of the state’s fuels are imports, most of which come from Europe.”

This year, just over a fifth of gasoline, distillate fuel oil, and jet fuel moving from the Gulf Coast to the East Coast moved by tanker or barge. Florida was the recipient of almost all of those tank and barge shipments.

If Florida’s population influx is driving up fuel consumption, it is likely increasing electricity consumption, too.

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• Indonesia launches a massive floating solar project. “Indonesia's President Joko Widodo on Wednesday inaugurated a 192 megawatt peak (MWp) floating solar power plant on a reservoir in West Java province as part of a drive to increase renewable energy sources and switch away from coal,” reports Reuters. “The 1.7 trillion rupiah ($108.70 million) project was developed by PLN Nusantara Power, a unit of Indonesia's state utility company Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) and United Arab Emirates renewable energy company Masdar, a unit of Mubadala Investment Company.”

• China rolls out capacity payments for coal plants. “China will start guaranteeing payments to coal-fired power plants based on their installed capacity as of January 2024, as the world’s top coal consumer looks to ensure stability of electricity supply amid soaring renewable energy output,” reports Oilprice.com. “The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the state planner, said on Friday that thermal power plants in most of China would be able to recover about 30% of their capital costs in the next two years.”

• Ukraine bears responsibility for the Nordstream pipeline explosion. “A senior Ukrainian military officer with deep ties to the country’s intelligence services played a central role in the bombing of the Nord Stream natural gas pipelines last year, according to officials in Ukraine and elsewhere in Europe, as well as other people knowledgeable about the details of the covert operation,” reports the Washington Post. “The officer’s role provides the most direct evidence to date tying Ukraine’s military and security leadership to a controversial act of sabotage that has spawned multiple criminal investigations and that U.S. and Western officials have called a dangerous attack on Europe’s energy infrastructure.”

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