Financially troubled New Fortress Energy continues to push for Puerto Rico natural gas expansion, onerous contract terms
In October, the Puerto Rico Financial Oversight and Management Board (FOMB) commented on a major proposed natural gas contract, sending the Puerto Rican government back to continue negotiating with New Fortress Energy (NFE). The proposed contract would lock Puerto Rico into more gas than it needs—at ratepayer expense—and highlights the risks of Puerto Rico’s ongoing relationship with NFE.
More oil, fewer jobs: Employment declines in the U.S. oil and gas sector
Despite record-setting production in the U.S. oil and gas industry, increased volumes have not translated into more jobs for either the industry or the overall economy. In fact, the industry employs 20% fewer workers than it did a decade ago. Over the last 10 years the oil and gas industry has shed 252,000 jobs, and a report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas found that oil and gas regions also have underperformed on overall employment and wage growth when compared to non-oil and gas regions. The number of jobs required to produce a barrel of oil has fallen by half over the last decade.
Agrivoltaics: An economic option for farmers and rural development
Across the United States, energy demand is surging after decades of stagnant growth, due to electrification efforts, data centers, and artificial intelligence. As demand increases, the economics continue to favor wind and solar, which consistently outcompete gas and coal in affordability. As rural communities look to increase renewable energy, a unique opportunity presents itself. The expansion of agrivoltaics could boost generation from renewable energy, decrease water use, and increase yields—providing a win for renewable energy and agricultural communities.
The case for virtual power plants
Virtual power plants (VPPs) are every bit as real as conventional generation resources. Essentially collections of distributed battery storage units and other controllable devices, VPPs also can be built quickly and cost effectively—key attributes today given the recent uptick in electricity demand and projections for continued growth in the years ahead.
Single-Use Plastics (SUP): Impact of a 70% reduction findings, market dynamics, and methodology
Our strategic analysis finds that a large reduction in single-use plastics (SUP) use would substantially lower plastics demand, reshape oil consumption patterns, and compress earnings for major producers. The estimates are designed to show order-of-magnitude effects, not precise forecasts.
Puerto Rico’s virtual power plant contributes to grid reliability during summer peak
The aggregation of distributed batteries as a “virtual power plant” has proved to be the fastest solution to begin addressing Puerto Rico’s ongoing generation reliability problems. Despite the progress in both distributed and utility-scale battery storage, the Puerto Rico Energy Bureau has approved a new 560MW gas plant and the procurement of 3000MW of additional centralized power plant capacity. Doubling down on imported fossil fuels risks perpetuating the electrical system’s fiscal instability and crowding out the island’s ability to meet its renewable energy target. Spanish version available here.
