Welcome to Grid Brief. Here’s what we’re looking at today: a renewable energy developer files a complaint with FERC against Quebec-Hydro PPAs, the DOE shells out for rare earths and critical mineral production from coal resources, Colombia’s Petro replaces his Energy and Mines Minister, and more.

Renewable Developer Attacks Quebec-Hydro PPAs

Allco Finance, a renewable energy developer, has filed a complaint with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission that claims the power purchase agreements between several Massachusetts utilities and Hydro-Quebec and Avangrid has violated the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act and should thus be invalidated.

“The Allco complaint is the latest challenge for the 320-kV New England Clean Energy Connect transmission project, a planned 145-mile power line in Maine that is designed to deliver 9.45 million MWh a year from Hydro-Québec to Massachusetts utilities,” reports Utility Dive. “In April, a Maine jury cleared the way for the project to move ahead, but construction hasn’t restarted on the power line. Avangrid expects the project will cost $1.4 billion, according to a June investor presentation. The company had previously said the line would cost about $1 billion.”

Allco has been persistent in its complaints about Massachusetts’s implementation of PURPA, which requires utilities to purchase power from smaller generators—usually renewable energy projects—if they need more capacity.

Allco says that the 20-MW minimum size limit on the PPAs with Quebec-Hydro and Avangrid excluded its solar projects. Allco owns 37 solar projects, including a 4-MW project in Massachusetts and 18 small-scale projects in Connecticut, according to Utility Dive.

DOE: $32 Million for Rare Earths From Coal Resources

The Biden administration wants to pull rare earth and critical minerals from coal-based resources.

“The Department of Energy is offering $32 million in funding for the production of rare earth and critical minerals from coal-based sources, the department announced earlier this month,” reports Utility Dive. “The funds, made possible by the bipartisan infrastructure law, will go towards projects to help build mineral processing sites as the U.S. looks to fortify its domestic supply chains.”

Coal mining is still big business in America even if it has been on the downswing. In 2021, the industry produced 577.4 million tons of coal and coal generation still made for 11% of America’s electricity generation.

The hope is that a dirty industry can be flipped into a clean one—so to speak—to cut America’s dependence on China for lithium, cobalt, nickel and manganese. Otherwise, Biden’s clean energy ambitions will continue to deepen America’s reliance on its rival for clean energy projects.

“Locations for the funding have not yet been chosen, but earlier this year, the Energy Department funded rare earth and critical mineral supply chain development in West Virginia and North Dakota,” reports Utility Dive.

Applications for the funding are due on September 11.

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Petro Replaces Energy Minister

Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro has replaced his degrowther energy minister with an electrical engineer.

Andrés Camacho will take over for Irene Valdez as Energy and Mines Minister after the latter resigned amid scandal last week.

“Camacho, who studied renewable energy and most recently worked as an adviser at the ministry, was initially set to head Colombia’s hydrocarbons agency known as ANH,” reports Bloomberg.

Camacho will carry on Valdez’s work of helping Petro wean the country off of fossil fuels. Petro has held true to his campaign promises to offer no new leases for oil exploration. He swears that hobbling Colombia’s fossil fuel industry will not come at the expense of his commitment to reduce poverty.

Colombia’s oil and gas reserves have plummeted so their lowest levels since 2007.

Conversation Starters

• Is American shale slowing down? “The first signs of a slowdown in activity in the U.S. shale patch emerged earlier this year as declining oil prices prompted drillers to reduce the number of active rigs. Then data suggested that well yields were also dropping—a sign of potential natural depletion that would make drillers think twice before going all in on output expansion,” reports Oilprice.com. “Now, the financial results of oilfield service providers are adding to the growing body of evidence that despite the EIA's upbeat forecasts about record oil production, the industry was going its own way—and it is the way of caution.”

• The Biden administration pushes for more efficient water heaters. “The Biden administration is moving forward with tightened energy efficiency standards for new residential water heaters, taking aim at what is the second-largest energy using appliances in most households,” reports Bloomberg. “The Energy Department said their proposal, which would take affect in 2030, would save consumers some $11.4 billion in energy and water costs annually, while reducing hundreds of millions of tons of greenhouse gas emissions over the rules 30 year lifetime.”

• The UN can’t agree on deep sea mining regulations. “Week-long discussions at the Council of the International Seabed Authority (ISA), a UN-backed regulator, have failed to reach a consensus on immediate permission for deep sea mining or draft regulations on seabed mineral exploitation,” reports Oilprice.com. “Some countries have been exploring the potential of seabed mining for the minerals that are key to the energy transition. However, the ISA authority said that it would ‘continue the work on the exploitation regulations with a view to adopting them during the 30th session in 2025.’”

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