Welcome to Grid Brief! Here’s what we’re looking at today: Oklahoma considers narrowing its anti-ESG law, solar PPAs seems to have stabilized for now, and more.

Oklahoma Ponders Anti-ESG Rollback

Lawmakers in Oklahoma are having doubts about the state’s 2022 Energy Discrimination Elimination Act, which forbids state agencies and political subdivisions from dealing with companies without written verification that they don’t boycott fossil fuel companies.

Thus, banks that ascribe to ESG aren’t allowed to ink contracts with Oklahoma municipalities, including Wells Fargo, JP Morgan, and Bank of America. Borrowing costs are now going up according to a recent report from the Oklahoma Rural Association. According to the group’s findings, borrowing costs have leapt 15.7% and “the state has incurred nearly $185 million in additional expenses” since the act became law. That’s about $11 million each month.

So, Senate Bill 1510 aims to narrow the law’s scope by exempting cities and counties. “The bill was introduced by Republican state senator Chuck Hall, who is the chief executive officer of Exchange Bank and Trust Co,” reports Bloomberg.

The legislation has advanced to the state house, which the Oklahoma Rural Association sees as a move in the right direction.

Solar PPAs Stabilize, Threaten Rise

New data from LevelTen: solar PPAs have stabilized after rising for several quarters in a row, falling 1.4% over Q1 of this year.

But that doesn’t mean it’s all roses going forward. Samuel Mumford, an analyst at LevelTen, told Utility Dive that he doesn’t predict prices to fall any further. In fact, they might rise.

“Following years of volatility in global and domestic energy markets, 2024 has thus far provided some degree of respite for market participants,” Mumford said. “As PPA prices moderate but regulatory challenges and high demand loom on the horizon, the market may not grant PPA buyers with a better procurement window than right now for a very long time.”

Ongoing inflation and lengthy interconnection queues could still drive prices up. Mumford told Utility Dive that the bottlenecked queues could be creating a mirage of renewable capacity abundance and that PPAs that have interconnection agreements are now a separate product from those without.

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Conversation Starters

• Polish coal production takes a dive. “A 26% plunge in coal mining weighed on Poland’s industrial output in March 2024, casting a shadow over the expectations that the biggest emerging-market economy in Europe would grow by the expected 3% this year. Coal mining output slumped by 25.9% year-over-year in March, contributing to a 6% decline in Poland’s industrial production last month, government data showed on Monday. This was the steepest decline in Poland’s industrial output since April 2023, per Bloomberg’s estimates. It was also much worse than expectations of a 2.2% drop in industrial production,” reports Oilprice.com. “The steep drop in the Polish industry last month raises questions about whether the EU’s most coal-dependent economy would manage to see a 3% rebound in its economy this year, as the central bank and the finance ministry expect.”  

• Oman LNG inks deal with TotalEnergies. “Oman LNG and TotalEnergies, one of its shareholders, have signed a sale and purchase agreement to supply 800,000 metric tons per year of liquefied natural gas, the companies said on Monday. TotalEnergies, which owns 5.54% of Oman LNG, will be supplied by the company for 10 years from 2025, they said in separate statements,” reports Reuters. “Oman LNG last week signed an agreement with Turkey's state gas grid operator Botas to supply about 1 million tons per annum (mtpa) of LNG for 10 years from 2025. It also signed a 10-year deal with Shell to supply 1.6 mtpa from 2025.”

• Denmark kicks off its largest offshore wind tender. “Denmark on Monday launched its biggest offshore wind tender to date, offering no subsidies to companies competing for the right to erect turbines on six sites with a combined capacity of up to 10 gigawatt (GW), the energy and climate ministry said,” reports Reuters. “The wind farms, to be completed by 2030, are crucial if Denmark, home to industry leaders Vestas and Orsted, is to meet its target to reduce CO2 emissions by 70% from 1990 levels by the end of this decade. Participants must offer the price they are willing to pay to the state over 30 years in order to win the right to establish the wind farms. The state would own a 20% stake in each of the tendered projects. ‘The next chapter must now be written and executed by the market,’ Climate and Energy Minister Lars Aagaard said in a statement.”

Crom’s Blessing

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