Pakistan's Natural Gas Tragedy // Power Loss: Florida After Ian // California Copycat: NY's Gas Car Ban

Pakistan's Natural Gas Tragedy

What does it cost to keep Europe in natural gas over the winter? Ask Pakistan. It's been priced out of the LNG market.

"Pakistan’s acute energy shortage is at risk of lasting years after the government was unable to secure a long-term supply of liquefied natural gas," reports Bloomberg. "Not one supplier responded to Pakistan LNG Ltd.’s tender to buy the power-plant fuel for between four to six years starting January, said traders with knowledge of the matter."

Pakistan's grid is heavily reliant on natural gas. The country's inability to secure natural gas supplies has already triggered blackouts this year. It was hoping to secure long-term contracts to stabilize its electricity sector and ease the pain of the horrible floods that have washed over the region, high inflation, and low currency reserves. Traders aren't confident Pakistan will be able to pay.

"There’s little LNG supply available until 2026 when massive new export projects start up," reports Bloomberg. "Many spot cargoes are currently going to Europe, where buyers are willing to pay high prices in the rush to secure gas to replace dwindling Russian pipeline flows. That’s leaving developing nations facing energy shortages and economic uncertainty for years."

Europe's energy meltdown grabs a lot of eyeballs because watching developed countries crash their own economies is a bleak spectacle to behold. But the real nightmare will be developing countries, left in the outer dark to make it on their own.

Power Loss: Florida After Ian

Florida took a beating from Hurricane Ian. Here's a rundown of what's going on in the Sunshine State's recovery. 

The Energy Information Administration reports that the hurricane has disrupted the state's gasoline supply lines. "Florida does not have any refineries or gasoline pipelines that connect it to states with excess supply. Florida's gasoline is delivered by ship from domestic and international sources," the EIA reports. "Because of the storm, several ports were temporarily closed, and the remaining ports were open with restrictions."

The administration also points out that the fallout from Ian may impact direct supply in other states, like Georgia and South Carolina, which import fossil fuels via pipeline from the Gulf of Mexico. 

Meanwhile, about 600,000 people are without power. Florida Power & Light Co. was one of the hardest hit of all utilities in the state. The company announced on Sunday that it had restored power to about 80% of its customers, but 459,000 still don't have power.  

And despite the swarm of utility workers that has poured into the state, it may take a while for things to get back to normal.

“This will be a lengthy rebuilding effort,” Jim Matheson, CEO of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association told Utility Dive. “Some systems have been significantly damaged and will need to be rebuilt one pole at a time.”

California Copycat: NY's Gas Car Ban

The Empire State wants to be like the Golden State. New York is pursuing a plan to phase out gas cars. 

"Governor Kathy Hochul on Thursday directed the N.Y. Department of Environmental Conservation to develop draft rules requiring a growing percentage of new light-duty vehicle sales to be zero-emission vehicles, beginning with 35% in model year 2026," reports Utility Dive.

“With sustained state and federal investments ... we’re driving New York’s transition to clean transportation forward, and today’s announcement will benefit our climate and the health of our communities for generations to come,” Hochul said.

But like California, New York's grid is becoming increasingly fragile. As I've written elsewhere, "The state has aggressively pursued the green vision for de­carbonization: close profitable nuclear plants, phase out fossil fuels, and build out renewables. But on July 1 of this year, NYISO announced that the system was 'already close to minimum reliability requirements' and warned of potential systemic risks: 'While the state’s bulk electric system meets current reliability requirements, risks to reliability and system resilience remain.' NYISO’s Power Trends report for 2022 revealed that the New York grid’s installed reserve margin dropped from 20.7 percent to 19.6 percent over the last year. The grid operator also pointed out that in order to reach New York’s climate goal of a carbon-free grid by 2040, 10 percent of the state’s generation will have to come from resources that 'are not commercially available at this time.'"

Adding demand to the grid while it suffers from underinvestment in reliable, robust generation continues a fateful pattern of cavalier policies only hard consequences appears capable of correcting.

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Conversations Starters

1. Comanche Peak, a two-unit nuclear power plant in Texas, has applied for an operating license extension. Its units are currently set to expire in 2030 and 2033. "The plant - owned and operated by Vistra subsidiary Luminant Generation - comprises two 1200 MWe (net) pressurised water reactors, which began operating in 1990 and 1993, respectively," reports World Nuclear News. "The plant has a capacity to power about 1.2 million homes in normal conditions and 480,000 homes in periods of peak demand, Vistra noted. Since it began operating, Comanche Peak has generated more than 582 million megawatt-hours of electricity."

2. Consolidated Edison has sold its renewables arm to Germany's RWE. "Consolidated Edison over the weekend announced it reached an agreement to sell its Con Edison Clean Energy Businesses toRWERenewables Americas in a deal valued at $6.8 billion," reports Utility Dive. "Con Ed’s Clean Energy Businesses includes three principal subsidiaries: Con Edison Development, Con Edison Energy and Con Edison Solutions. The group says it owns and operates more than 4 GW of renewables projects and is the second largest solar energy owner and operator in North America."

3. I appeared on the Subversive podcast to talk about the energy crisis, the American grid, the contradictions of modernity, and more. Check it out here:

Crom's Blessing