DTE Energy to continue capitalizing on renewable opportunities

By Kim Riley, Daily Energy Insider.

ORLANDO — Detroit-based DTE Energy, the state’s biggest electricity supplier, is also Michigan’s largest investor in and producer of renewable energy, Jerry Norcia, the company’s president and chief operating officer, said during the Edison Electric Institute’s (EEI) 52nd Financial Conference held here Nov. 5-8.

The Fortune 300 company’s growth has been driven by “strong, stable utilities and complementary non-utility businesses,” Norcia said Nov. 7 in disclosing the company’s latest financials during an EEI conference session simultaneously webcast the same day.

DTE’s operating units include the investor-owned electric utility that serves 2.2 million customers in southeastern Michigan and a natural gas utility serving 1.3 million customers statewide. The DTE Energy portfolio includes non-utility energy businesses focused on power and industrial projects, natural gas pipelines, storage and energy marketing and trading.

Opportunities for DTE Energy growth include the company’s transition to cleaner energy, automation and technology deployment, said Norcia, who outlined DTE’s five-year $17 billion capital investment plan — a 21 percent increase over the current plan — that is expected to extend the company’s current growth from 2018 through 2022.

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Xebec Adsorption Receives Multi-Million Dollar Orders from France, Italy & China

Via TheNewswire.

MONTREAL, (QC) / TheNewswire / November 10, 2017 - Xebec Adsorption Inc. ("Xebec"), a global provider of gas generation, purification, and filtration solutions announced a significant lift in its order book today, driven by more than CDN$ 9.8 million in recent biogas orders from Europe and China.

In France, Xebec has won 12 more contracts through its French partner for biogas upgrading systems to be delivered in 2018. For this group of projects, Xebec will supply core technology while its partner will provide the complete biogas upgrading systems. One system in particular will be Xebec's largest project yet in France - upgrading 2,000 Nm3/h of biogas into biomethane, also known as renewable natural gas (RNG), for injection into the national grid. These orders firmly position Xebec as the market leader in France in PSA purification technology. 

In Italy, Xebec has received an order for a flange-to-flange agri-food waste biogas upgrading plant to be located close to Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region for 1,000 Nm3/h of biogas to be upgraded to RNG for injection into their national grid.

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House Energy & Commerce Environment Subcommittee Announces December 7 Hearing with EPA Admin. Pruitt

WASHINGTON, DC – House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR) and Environment Subcommittee Chairman John Shimkus (R-IL) today announced that #SubEnvironment will be holding a hearing on Thursday, December 7, 2017 featuring Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt. 

“We’re looking forward to receiving a much-needed update from Mr. Pruitt on his priorities for the agency, including his stated policy of getting EPA “back to the basics” and its impact on the agency’s activity going forward,” said Walden and Shimkus. “Following EPA’s controversial and expansive interpretation of its authorities during the past administration, it is past time for EPA to refocus on pursuing its important public health and environmental missions as Congress originally intended.” 

More information on the hearing will be available on the committee’s website HERE as it is made available.

Washington State proposes plan for $112.7 million VW settlement

Via WA Department of Ecology.

OLYMPIA – Washington state aims to turn an environmental scandal into an opportunity to transform the transportation system and improve air quality under a new proposal released Thursday.

The plan would use $112.7 million the state is eligible to receive from a federal settlement with Volkswagen to reduce air pollution from diesel vehicles and increase access to electric vehicle infrastructure. 

“This settlement represents an opportunity to begin building a transportation system for the next 100 years in our state,” said Washington Gov. Jay Inslee. “By investing in zero emission or near-zero emission vehicles, vessels, and infrastructure, we can dramatically reduce pollution, better protect the public, and slash carbon emissions in Washington.”

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and California negotiated a $14.7 billion nationwide settlement with Volkswagen for violating the federal Clean Air Act after the automaker admitted installing illegal software on many of its diesel vehicles to cheat emissions tests. As a result, these vehicles emitted up to 40 times the permitted levels of nitrogen oxides — a harmful air pollutant linked to asthma attacks and increased deaths from respiratory and cardiovascular disease. 

Approximately 24,000 of the affected vehicles were registered in Washington, making the state eligible for $112.7 million from the settlement. Gov. Inslee designated the Washington Department of Ecology as the agency to lead efforts to develop the state’s plan, ensure the plan meets the settlement requirements, and manage the funds. 

Under the plan, the settlement funds could pay for projects that install electric vehicle charging stations, replace diesel engines in buses, public vehicles, and vessels with electric engines or cleaner diesel engines, or make other investments in reducing diesel emissions in Washington. 

“By cheating emissions tests, Volkswagen exposed Washingtonians to more pollution and threatened their health,” said Ecology Director Maia Bellon. “Using this settlement to right those wrongs and protect our communities in the future is the best investment we can make.”

Over the past year, Washington residents were invited to give Ecology input on the vision for selecting projects that reduce emissions and identifying what investments were important to them. The agency also worked with the departments of Transportation, Commerce, Enterprise Services, the Office of Financial Management, the Attorney General’s Office, and Gov. Inslee’s policy advisors to develop the proposal. Next steps for the group of agencies working on the plan include designing the funding program and a process to select projects. 

Public meetings

The public is invited to upcoming meetings to learn more about the settlement, how Washington can invest the money, and the proposed plan.

• Webinar: 10 a.m. on Nov, 28. Register online.
• Facebook streaming town hall: 6 p.m. on Nov. 29. 

Weigh in - The public can review the proposed plan and provide feedback online through 9 a.m., Dec. 19, 2017.

Contact: Camille St. Onge, communications, 360-407-6932, @ecologyWA

Virginia regulators set to unveil new climate plan after Northam victory

By Robert Walton, Utility Dive.

The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality next week will present a new climate plan for the state, aimed at reducing carbon emissions and placing it on a path to join a regional greenhouse gas trading initiative.

The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a carbon cap-and-trade system used by nine Northeast states, has examined the DEQ's plan and issued a statement saying it "appears consistent with the RGGI program in a number of key ways."

The new climate plan is seen as a direct result of the election of Democrat Ralph Northam as governor on Tuesday of this week. Virginia has seen its carbon dioxide emissions rise about 7% since 2015, according to data from the Environmental Protection Agency, while most states have decreased emissions.

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12th annual Global Carbon Budget report by 76 leading emissions experts says burning of fossil fuels to hit record high in 2017

By IANS, via Business Standard.

Burning of fossil fuels worldwide is set to hit a record high in 2017, following three years of flat growth that raised hopes that a peak in global emissions had been reached, the Global Carbon Budget report published on Monday revealed.

The 12th annual report is produced by 76 of the world's leading emissions experts from 57 research institutions and estimates that global carbon emissions from fossil fuels will have risen by 2 per cent by the end of 2017 -- a significant rise, reports the Guardian.

The main reason for the rise is an expected 3.5 per cent increase in emissions in China, the world's biggest polluter, where low rains have reduced low-carbon hydroelectric output and industrial activity has increased.

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American Leaders Pledge to meet Paris Climate Accord in Germany, with or without Administration's backing

By Christopher Cadelago, The Sacramento Bee.

BONN, GERMANY - American leaders pledged their allegiance to the Paris climate accord Saturday, pummeling President Donald Trump’s promised retreat from the global coalition as a temporary diversion that won’t impede their progress toward keeping global temperatures below catastrophic levels.

“It is important for the world to know the American government may have pulled out of the Paris agreement, but the American people are committed to its goals and there is nothing Washington can do to stop it,” Michael Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York, said at a launch for America’s Pledge in Bonn, where talks are continuing at the 23rd “conference of the parties,” or COP 23.

Democratic U.S. Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts said while Trump wants to “cop out” on climate action, “we know that C.O.P. really stands for ‘can’t obstruct progress, that climate outlasts presidents.’ That’s what C.O.P. stands for.

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Wisconsin county moves to sell biogas rather than generate electricity from it

By Cody Boteler, Waste Dive.

Dane County, WI officials plan to spend $23.5 million on new infrastructure to inject landfill gas into an interstate pipeline for sale, rather than use the gas to generate electricity, as reported by the Wisconsin State Journal. The county has budgeted $18 million for equipment to refine and inject landfill gas into the TransCanada pipeline and an additional $5.5 million for equipment to inject biogas that is brought to the landfill by biodigesters.

Officials project the new equipment will be operational by early 2019. County Executive Joe Parisi told the Journal that the county thinks the new infrastructure will attract more private investment in biodigesters in the region. County officials project "millions" in annual income from selling landfill gas and expect biodigesters trucking gas to the new injection point to create even more revenue. 

The Dane County project is the first of its kind in Wisconsin. The county will sell only to compressed natural gas (CNG) markets and anticipates that three years of sales will recoup the $18 million cost of the equipment needed to refine the landfill gas into CNG.

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Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf asks for RFS volume requirements waiver

By Cody Boteler, Waste Dive.

In a letter to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf asked for the administrator to reduce volumes required under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). Wolf did, in his letter, note overall support for the program.

Wolf said the Northeast region of the U.S. would feel "severe economic harm" under current proposed levels because of "the high cost of purchasing RINs [Renewable Identification Numbers] to comply with the RFS."

Wolf added in the letter that because of the increasing costs of RINs, at least two merchant refiners in Pennsylvania now spend more annually on purchasing RINs than they do on payrolls costs. An EPA spokesperson told Waste Dive in an email that the agency would review Wolf's letter and respond through the appropriate channels, but did not offer further specifics.

Read more HERE. 

Read the full letter HERE. 

U.S. lawmakers from Mid-Atlantic refining states request FTC investigation into RIN markets

November 7, WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tom Carper, top Democrat on the Environment and Public Works Committee, along with a bipartisan, bicameral group of lawmakers, highlighted concerns regarding possible market manipulation in the compliance system used for the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program, known as the Renewable Identification Number (RIN) market.  

In a letter to Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Acting Chairman Maureen Olhausen, Delaware’s congressional delegation of Senators Carper, Chris Coons and Congresswoman Lisa Blunt Rochester (all D-Del.), as well as Senators Bob Casey (D-Pa.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Congressman Patrick Meehan (R-Pa.), asked the agency to investigate and end any possible RIN market manipulation under the jurisdiction of the Commission’s Petroleum Market Manipulation Rule.

The lawmakers wrote, “Over the past four years, RIN prices have fluctuated wildly. Since earlier this year alone, they have spiked over 200 percent. This price volatility creates great uncertainty for obligated parties, especially for merchant refineries like the ones along the East Coast that have limited capability to blend biofuels into their products and need RINS to comply with the RFS program’s requirements. East Coast refineries already face slim profit margins, in part, due to their dependence on international markets for crude feedstocks, high gasoline inventories and the competition they face from global refiners. Volatility in the RIN market only adds to the East Coast refineries economic concerns.

They continued, “RIN market manipulation hurts all parties and directly harms our constituents. That is why we urgently request that the Federal Trade Commission use its authority to address RIN market manipulation.”

Read the full letter HERE.