Renewables Have a Conservation Problem

Climate and energy outlet Heatmap discovered something surprising in a recent poll: about 80% of American adults think conservation is more important than a rapid renewable energy rollout.

“An overwhelming majority of Americans say that conserving local land and wildlife is more important than building new sources of renewable electricity, even if that slows down the world’s response to climate change,” reports Heatmap. “The poll finds that even though Americans love renewables in the abstract — with 94% endorsing the benefits of rooftop solar and 88% embracing large-scale solar farms — they are skittish about their potential trade-offs. Some 79% of Americans said that new renewable energy should be rolled out ‘slowly’ rather than ‘quickly’ and that the conservation of land and wild animals should be prioritized above rapid greenhouse-gas reductions.”

This spells trouble for the Inflation Reduction Act, which hopes to put an unprecedented amount of renewable energy onto the American grid.

But as Robert Bryce likes to say, “The lower your power density, the higher yours resource intensity.” Wind and solar’s intermittency makes it so that they demand a high level of inputs to approach the scale of output fossil fuels or nuclear energy achieve. One of those inputs is land. And it is land and thus wildlife conservation that many Americans care about.

Ironically, American worries about wildlife conservation are one of the great victories of the environmental movement. In fact, as Heatmap reports, it is environmentalists who are leading the charge against wind and solar.

Heatmap’s findings are consistent with how utility-scale renewables projects are being received on the ground in America. Here’s a screengrab of the Renewables Rejection Database taken on 3/23/23:

Power of Siberia 2 Pipeline Deal Could Be Made Soon

Russia and China may cut a deal on the Power of Siberia 2 natural gas pipeline by the end of the year, according to Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak.

“The planned Power of Siberia pipeline will carry 50 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year from Russia to China across Mongolia, along the pipeline's 1,620 miles,” reports Oilprice.com. “The pipeline was one of the topics of discussion between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping at a summit this week, Reuters said on Thursday.”

Power of Siberia 2 will move 50 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year from Russia to China across Mongolia. While the first Power of Siberia pipeline is already up and running, its sibling will need substantial investments—$67 billion directly, $27 billion to adjacent industries.

China is thought to have secured gas supplies through 2030 and may have the upper hand in negotiations due to West’s sanctions and embargoes on Russian energy. Both countries have released a vague, but positive joint statement on their collaboration.

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Conversation Starters

1. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm believes it will take years to replenish the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. “When the Biden Administration sold off 221 million barrels of crude oil from the SPR last year, the idea was to buy oil to replace what was withdrawn. In October of last year, the Administration announced that it would repurchase crude oil for the reserve when prices were at or below about $67-$72 per barrel. The move would be dual purpose in that not only would it replenish the nation’s depleted reserves, but it would boost demand when prices were low instead of sending them into orbit at a time or regular prices,” reports Oilprice.com. “In December, the Administration said that it had plans to make the first of these repurchases. The Administration issued a solicitation for 3 million barrels of sour crude oil, with bids due by December 28. Contracts were to be awarded by January 13. At the time, WTI was trading around $74 per barrel. It later declined the finalize its own buyback plan, saying that it did not get offers that met its terms for price or quality.”

2. BP is pondering snapping up solar power firm Lightsource BP. “BP is considering buying the remaining 50% stake in Lightsource BP (LSBP), its solar power joint venture, as part of the British giant's drive to build up its renewable energy capacity,” reports Reuters. “The internal talks come after Chief Executive Officer Bernard Looney last month slowed down BP's shift away from oil and gas but still vowed to increase spending on renewables and low-carbon fuels by $8 billion by 2030. BP acquired in 2017 a 43% stake in Lightsource for $200 million and increased its interest to 50% two years later.”

3. LNG vessel rates aren’t what they used to be. “LNG vessel rates continue to plunge, recently hitting some of their lowest points in months, as more ships have become available to move the super-chilled fuel, particularly in the Atlantic Basin,” reports Natural Gas Intelligence. “Spark Commodities on Thursday assessed the roundtrip cost of moving an April cargo from the United States to Europe at $49,500/day, down $1,000 from Wednesday. The last time freight rates were assessed that low by Spark was Aug. 10, 2022. Rates in the Pacific Basin on Thursday also declined $1,500 to $72,250/day. Shipbroker Fearnleys AS also showed Thursday that rates to charter modern liquefied natural gas vessels slipped to $66,000/day in the Atlantic and $90,000 in the Pacific, both down about $12,000 from Wednesday.”

Crom’s Blessing