Welcome to Grid Brief! Here’s what we’re looking at today: Pakistan fails to secure new LNG deals, Kazakhstan’s Kashagan oil field beats an environmental case, NY-ISO is committing to a major Long Island transmission project, and more.

Pakistan Fails To Buy Gas

The coast seemed clear for poorer countries to re-enter the global LNG markets—prices have fall and scarcity fears have ebbed. Pakistan offered its first tenders for longterm LNG deals in over a year. No one took them up on it.

“Several overseas banks weren’t accepting letters of credit — a pledge by a lender to repay funds if the buyer can’t — from Pakistani counterparts to purchase LNG shipments, making suppliers reluctant to offer cargoes, Bloomberg reported last week,” reports Bloomberg. “The South Asian nation is struggling with a weakening currency, political turmoil, and an increasing risk of a sovereign default. The International Monetary Fund recently criticized the government’s budget as insufficient to meet the goals of its bailout program, a sign that a deadline this month to unlock aid will not be met.”

Pakistan’s grid is heavily reliant on natural gas plants. A lack of LNG will exacerbate their power shortages and drive the country to invest in alternatives: coal and nuclear. In fact, Pakistan just inked a $4.8 billion deal with China for a new reactor.

“Speaking on state-run news channel PTV following the signing of the memorandum of understanding between China National Nuclear Cooperation (CNNC) and the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC), Sharif said construction of Chashma 5 will begin immediately,” reports World Nuclear News.

Kashagan Escapes $5 Billion Environmental Case

A regional court in Kazakhstan dismissed a case the country’s Environmental Protection Ministry brought against North Caspian Operating Company (NCOC), which operates the Kashagan oil field.

“Kazakhstan’s massive oilfield Kashagan, which pumps around 400,000 barrels per day (bpd), is operated by a consortium of firms, North Caspian Operating Company (NCOC), which includes Kazakhstan’s state firm KazMunayGas, as well as Italy’s Eni, U.S. ExxonMobil, UK-based Shell, France’s TotalEnergies, China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), and Japan’s Inpex,” reports Oilprice.com. “Earlier this year, the Kazakh Environmental Protection Ministry asked the court to fine the operator of Kashagan with $5.1 billion for violation of environmental standards. The consortium was accused of keeping larger volumes of sulfur at its onshore facility in Bolashak than the amount permitted by law.”

But the story doesn’t end there. Kazakhstan and the NCOC consortium are tangled in yet another legal dispute: Kazakhstan is seeking to assert its claim for up to $16.5 billion from NCOC and Karachaganak Petroleum Operating, the operator of the vast Karachaganak oilfield in Kazakhstan. The Karachaganak consortium consists of Eni and Shell as joint operators, U.S. supermajor Chevron with an 18% stake, Russia's Lukoil, and KazMunayGas.

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NYISO’s Long Island Transmission Project

New York grid operators expects a $3.3 billion Long Island transmission project to bring 3000 MW of offshore wind energy to the Empire State by the end of the grid operator.

“Propel Alternate Solution 5 advances the state closer to its goal of 9,000 MW of offshore wind energy by 2035, NYISO said. The project will be developed by the New York Power Authority and New York Transco in a partnership called Propel NY,” reports Utility Dive. “The project is required to be in service by May 2030.”

“The selection of Propel Alternate Solution 5 is a critical step forward as the state works to meet its ambitious climate mandates,” said Rich Dewey, NYISO’s president and CEO.

Conversation Starters

• Keir Starmer has big green dreams for the UK. “UK Labour Party Leader Keir Starmer made a pitch to Scottish voters, vowing to create tens of thousands of clean energy jobs as he unveiled plans to make Britain a ‘clean energy superpower’ by 2030,” reports Bloomberg. “Britain’s main opposition party will set up a public clean energy generation company, Great British Energy, in Scotland as part of plans that aim to create half a million jobs in the UK, including 50,000 north of the border, Starmer said on Monday in a speech in the Scottish capital, Edinburgh.”

• Big floating solar is coming to France. “EDF Renouvelables, the renewable energy unit of French energy giant EDF, has commissioned its first floating PV plant in France. The 20 MW facility is located on a water surface close to a hydropower dam operated by EDF near Lazer, in the southern region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur,” reports PV Mag. “‘EDF Renewables drew on the expertise it has developed at international level, with four floating solar power plants already constructed in Israel and the USA,’ said Bruno Bensasson, EDF Group senior executive vice president, renewable energy. CRE, the country's regulator, selected the project in a tender held in 2018.”

• More solar means deeper duck curves for California, posing serious problems for its grid. “The duck curve presents two challenges related to increasing solar energy adoption. The first challenge is grid stress. The extreme swing in demand for electricity from conventional power plants from midday to late evenings, when energy demand is still high but solar generation has dropped off, means that conventional power plants (such as natural gas-fired plants) must quickly ramp up electricity production to meet consumer demand. That rapid ramp up makes it more difficult for grid operators to match grid supply (the power they are generating) with grid demand in real time. In addition, if more solar power is produced than the grid can use, operators might have to curtail solar power to prevent overgeneration,” reports the Energy Information Administration. “The other challenge is economic. The dynamics of the duck curve can challenge the traditional economics of dispatchable power plants because the factors contributing to the curve reduce the amount of time a conventional power plant operates, which results in reduced energy revenues. If the reduced revenues make the plants uneconomical to maintain, the plants may retire without a dispatchable replacement. Less dispatchable electricity makes it harder for grid managers to balance electricity supply and demand in a system with wide swings in net demand.”

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