Western America's Solar Boom Threatens Wildlife // EIA: Quarterly Coal Report // Gas Demand From US Power Plants Stays High

Western America's Solar Boom Threatens Wildlife

Big Solar came to Wyoming in 2019 and gobbled up federal land. But antelope needed that land. Since it wasn't theirs anymore--so they took to the highway. 

"More than 1,000 pronghorns — the “American antelope” — galloped onto Wyoming’s Highway 372 that winter, terrifying drivers and biologists alike," reports E&E news. "State officials are working now to make sure that doesn’t happen again as energy developers eye wide-open swaths of land for utility-scale solar projects."

Renewables, which take up a lot of land due to their low energy density, are now frustrating environmental conversation efforts in the American west. The Bureau of Land Management has ramped up on approving more than 29 GW of solar on federal land in the West. But wildlife agencies are up-in-arms as renewables developers trump their authority. Solar is proving especially pernicious. 

“It’s sort of shocking the level of impact solar facilities have compared to other generation facilities,” Jon Holst, wildlife and senior energy adviser for the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, told E&E. “Even wind, as another renewable energy opportunity, allows for some wildlife movement. Solar has these high-fenced facilities; the vegetation is removed; some of them are leveled and graveled. You’re talking about complete habitat removal.”

EIA: Quarterly Coal Report

The Energy Information Administration just dropped its quarterly coal report for Q1 2022. Coal's becoming a beleaguered workhorse these days, so this report's valuable to have on hand. 

Here's a rundown:

"U.S. coal production during the first quarter of 2022 totaled 149 million short tons (MMst), which was 1.7% higher than the previous quarter and 6.3% higher than the first quarter of 2021," reports EIA. "Production in the Western region, which represented about 57.1% of total U.S. coal production in the first quarter of 2022, totaled about 85 MMst (14.6% higher than the first quarter of 2021)."

Most of the coal came from Wyoming, most went to Texas.

But as production has increased, exports have fallen. "U.S. coal exports for the first quarter of 2022 (20.2 MMst) decreased 7.2% from the fourth quarter of 2021." This might be because coal has been so sorely needed at home. Though Q2 numbers might show a spike in exports in response to the Ukraine war.  

Overall, coal consumption increased 17.2% from Q4 2021 to Q1 2022. "The electric power sector accounted for about 91.7% of total U.S. coal consumption in the first quarter of 2022," the EIA reports. Electric utilities received 91.1% of all coal shipments. 

In Q1 2022, coal stocks dropped by 6.1% from Q4 2021. Importantly, the electric power sector saw its coal stocks "decreased to 86.2 MMst from 94.7 MMst at the end of the fourth quarter of 2021."

High demand and low supply don't bode well for the American electric grid. And while these numbers are only from Q1, coal has already had availability problems in ERCOT. It's not completely clear why it has been derated so frequently, but looking at the timestamps suggests rationing might already be taking place. 

And then there's what appears to be a general logistics issue on top of everything else. 

This makes us more reliant on gas than ever, as the piece below shows us. 

Gas Demand From US Power Plants Stays High

American gas plants continue to pursue record highs in demand as the summer swelters through July. 

"Month to date, gas-fired power burn has averaged 43 Bcf/d matching record levels recorded in summer 2020 and outperforming last July's average by 5.8 Bcf/d, or about 15.5%," SPG reports. "Last month, demand from US generators outpaced its June 2020 average by some 2.8 Bcf/d, or about 8%, setting a new record for the month at 38.6 Bcf/d."

Since last year, America has seen retired 34 coal power plants (~13GW). "The recent plant closures add to even larger waves of coal-plant retirements in prior years, making natural gas the US' increasingly dominant thermal fuel source," SPG reports.

Thus, if gas is tight, then electricity is tight--and vulnerable. 

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Conversation Starters

• The Swiss have restarted their oldest nuclear reactor after its scheduled maintenance. Originally built in 1969, Beznau 1 powers over half a million households, and its 3 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity should harden Switzerland against the energy crisis.

• Oil prices crashed by 7% yesterday as new lockdowns in China stoked demand destruction fears.

• Is the worst yet to come? IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol thinks so. Yesterday, at a global energy forum in Sydney, Birol said, “The world has never witnessed such a major energy crisis in terms of its depth and its complexity. We might not have seen the worst of it yet -- this is affecting the entire world.”

Crom's Blessing

"Labor­" by Manuel G. Silberger, Lithograph 1936, Federal Art Project, WPA.