EPA Seeking Input on a Potential Clean Power Plan Replacement

By Abby Harvey, Power Magazine.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is considering drafting a replacement of the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan. The agency on December 18 published an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) soliciting comments from the public on how the replacement should look.

The ANPRM is separate from the agency’s current effort to repeal the current rule.

The Clean Power Plan was drafted under section 111(d) of the Clean Air Act (CAA) and was finalized by the EPA in 2015. Under the rule, states would be required to develop implementation plans to meet federally-set, state-specific emissions reduction goals.

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Judge rules Washington state can’t enforce Governor's order to cut greenhouse-gas emissions

By Jim Brunner, The Seattle Times, via the News Tribune.

Dealing a setback to Gov. Jay Inslee’s climate agenda, a judge has invalidated major portions of a state rule requiring greenhouse-gas cuts by refineries, fuel distributors and dozens of other major industrial emitters.

In an oral ruling Friday, Thurston County Superior Court Judge James Dixon sided with employer groups who sued last year, contending the state Department of Ecology lacked authority to impose the Clean Air Rule without legislative approval.

Dixon agreed the state cannot force emission reductions on gasoline and natural-gas distributors and similar businesses that do not burn fuels themselves, according to business and environmental representatives on hand for the ruling.

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Clean Energy Awarded New Multi-Use Station, Multi-Year Fueling Agreement For City Of Santa Fe Transit & Refuse Agencies

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. – Clean Energy Fuels Corp. (Nasdaq: CLNE) announced today that it has been awarded a $3 million design, build, operation and maintenance contract for a new compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling station which will serve both public and private customers.

The City of Santa Fe, New Mexico has contracted with Clean Energy to build a CNG fueling station for its transitand refuse fleets as well as offering access to the public. The unique station design will include fast-fill dispensers for Santa Fe Trails, the city’s transit agency, as well as time-fill dispensers installed near-by at the city’s Environmental Services Division for its refuse fleet. The public will be able to fuel their vehicles via a separate lane with its own quick-fill dispenser.

The station is expected to fuel 67 CNG transit, para-transit and refuse vehicles and dispense approximately 440,000 gasoline gallon equivalents (GGEs) per year, which is expected to increase as the solid waste department plans on increasing the size of their CNG fleet over the next 5 years.

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Ontario to Offer Rebates for Businesses Buying Low-Carbon Vehicles

New Program Funded by Province’s Cap on Pollution

By Ontario Ministry of Transportation

Ontario is helping businesses reduce their carbon impact through a new program that helps companies buy low-carbon vehicles and fuel-saving devices. This investment is part of Ontario's Climate Change Action Plan and is funded by proceeds from the province's cap on pollution and carbon market.

The Green Commercial Vehicle Program will provide rebates towards the purchase of alternative-fuel vehicles and fuel-saving devices, making it more affordable for businesses to own and operate greener vehicles. Eligible vehicles and devices include electric and natural gas-powered trucks, aerodynamic and anti-idling devices, and electric refrigeration units. Applications for the program will start in early 2018.

Making it easier for businesses to reduce their carbon footprint is part of Ontario's plan to create fairness and opportunity during this period of rapid economic change. The plan includes a higher minimum wage and better working conditions, free tuition for hundreds of thousands of students, easier access to affordable child care, and free prescription drugs for everyone under 25 through the biggest expansion of medicare in a generation.

SoCal Gas & Utilities Selected to Lead Solicitation Process for Dairy RNG Projects for SB 1383 Implementation

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 14, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) today issued details of its plan to implement Senate Bill 1383, the Short-Lived Climate Pollutants bill, which aims to reduce emissions of potent greenhouse gasses. The bill requires state agencies to adopt policies and incentives to significantly increase the sustainable production and use of renewable gas. CPUC worked with the California Air Resources Board (CARB) and the Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) to outline a solicitation process and a timeline for selecting at least five dairy biomethane projects which will be connected to the gas pipeline system. SoCalGas was selected to lead the solicitation process in coordination with the other utilities. The project selection committee will be made up of the CPUC, CARB and CDFA. 

SB 1383 is considered the most aggressive law to tackle short-lived climate pollutants in the nation. SoCalGas issued the following statement in response:

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Cummins Westport 2018 Natural Gas Engines Certified by US EPA and CARB

By NGV Global News.

Cummins Westport Inc. has received certifications from both the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and California Air Resources Board (CARB) for its 2018 L9N and B6.7N natural gas engines. Both engines meet CARB optional Low NOx standards as well as 2017 EPA greenhouse gas emission (GHG) requirements, making them some of the cleanest engines available today for truck and bus customers.

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Sen. Ted Cruz & Representatives of refining states reportedly asking for price cap in the RFS

By Cole Boteler, Waste Dive. 

Senators have yet to reach an agreement on the long-term fate of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), as reported by Politico's Morning Energy. Sen. Ted Cruz told Politico that he had a hold on nominee Bill Northey for an undersecretary position in the United States Department of Agriculture over the issue, but sees "real progress" in coming to a solution that helps biofuel producers and oil refiners. 

Cruz is reportedly planning to propose a cap on the price of Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs), a move that may conflict with the law's intent. A spokesperson for Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley told Politico the senator's priority was "the integrity of the RFS." Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst's office told Politico the same — their top priority is upholding the "spirit and the letter of the RFS."

Cruz's office has not offered a timeline for when his proposal could be introduced. His office did not respond to a request for comment.

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Case Studies in Renewable Finance: The Digest’s 2017 Multi-Slide to Funding Bioeconomy projects in the US vs Internationally

By Jim Lane, Biofuels Digest.

Bottom line, if you’re in the business of financing a renewable fuels project with a loan guarantee in the mix, you’re probably talking with some combination of New Energy Risk, Stern Brothers, Faegre Baker Daniels partner John Kirkwood or Kilpatrick Townsend partner Mark Riedy. They’ve been part of the go-to team for more projects than there are stars in the heavens — more importantly, the ones that get done, and done well.

Recently, Mark Riedy gave a monumental presentation at ABLC Next in San Francisco, outlining a number of case studies in companies funding bioeconomy project in the US vs. internationally.. Consider it a must-read.

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University of California-Irvine and SoCalGas Partner to Design "Advanced Energy Community"

Oak View neighborhood in Huntington Beach to benefit from model energy plan

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 12, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) today announced that it will partner with the University of California-Irvine's  Advanced Power & Energy Program to design an "Advanced Energy Community" in an underserved neighborhood in Huntington Beach.  The community will be planned as a replicable model that optimizes a full spectrum of diverse energy options, including solar, wind, and renewable natural gas. It will also consider the capability of storing wind- and solar-generated energy with power-to-gas technology.  

"We're excited to co-fund this worthy project in collaboration with the California Energy Commission," said Lisa Alexander, vice president of customer solutions and communications at SoCalGas. "Creating an Advanced Energy Community will serve as a guide for future policy and planning in California to keep our energy system sustainable and make a difference in our clean-energy future."

"The integrated set of energy efficiency measures, smart grid technologies, renewable power generation and energy storage technologies that we will include in the Advanced Energy Community design will improve quality of life while reducing costs and emissions," said Jack Brouwer, associate director of the Advanced Power and Energy Program of UCI.  "We are pleased to work with SoCalGas in this exciting project that could make a big difference in the lives of those living in this community."

Power-to-gas technology converts surplus energy from solar panels or wind farms into hydrogen, which can be blended with natural gas and utilized in everything from home appliances to power plants. The renewable hydrogen can also be used in hydrogen fuel cell vehicles or converted to methane for use in a natural gas pipeline and storage system. The conversion of renewable electricity to gas enables long-term, monthly, or seasonal storage of large amounts of carbon-free power.  Researchers note that this long-duration storage is difficult to achieve with traditional storage technology such as lithium-ion batteries, which are typically designed to store energy for shorter time periods. 

The University of California-Irvine began a pilot project in 2016 funded by SoCalGas which successfully demonstrated the use of power-to-gas technology to use excess solar-generated electricity on the university's campus.

Last month, SoCalGas announced the successful installation of a novel bioreactor system that will be used to test power-to-gas technology at the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colorado. The first of its kind pilot project will be used to help assess the commercial viability of this power-to-gas approach to energy storage and provide insights into potential megawatt-scale system designs. 

According to a 2017 Lawrence Berkley National Lab study, by 2025, between 3,300 and 7,800 gigawatt-hours of excess solar and wind energy will be curtailed in California. If all that excess solar and wind energy were converted to methane through the biomethanation process and stored as renewable natural gas, it would provide enough renewable energy to heat 158,000 to 370,000 homes or provide renewable electricity to 80,000 to 187,000 homes. 

SoCalGas is providing $150,000 in co-funding for the Huntington Beach project, which was proposed in response to a California Energy Commission Electric Program Investment Charge (EPIC) solicitation. The EPIC program funds clean energy research, demonstration and deployment projects that support California's energy policy goals and promote greater electricity reliability, lower costs, and increased safety.

About SoCalGas
Headquartered in Los Angeles, SoCalGas® is the largest natural gas distribution utility in the United States, providing clean, safe, affordable and reliable natural gas service to 21.7 million customers in Central and Southern California. Its service territory spans 22,000 square miles from Fresno to the Mexican border, reaching more than 550 communitiesthrough 5.9 million meters and 101,000 miles of pipeline. More than 90 percent of Southern California single-family home residents use natural gas for home heat and hot water. In addition, natural gas plays a key role in providing electricity to Californians—about 60 percent of electric power generated in the state comes from gas-fired power plants.  

SoCalGas has served communities in California for 150 years and is committed to being a leader in the region's clean energy future. The company has committed to spending $6 billion over the next five years to modernize and upgrade its gas infrastructure, while also reducing methane emissions. SoCalGas is working to accelerate the use of renewable natural gas, a carbon-neutral or carbon-negative fuel created by capturing and conditioning greenhouse gas emissions from farms, landfills and wastewater treatment plants. The company is a subsidiary of Sempra Energy (NYSE: SRE), a Fortune 500 energy services holding company based in San Diego. For more information visit socalgas.com/newsroomor connect with SoCalGas on Twitter (@SoCalGas), Instagram (@SoCalGas) and Facebook.

White House hosting fresh biofuels talks today on Renewable Fuel Standard

After a meeting with Senators representing certain states with oil refinery industries met with President Trump and Administration appointees last week to seek relief from compliance costs with the Federal Renewable Fuel Standard, the White House will host further discussions today that will include those representing states with significant ethanol industries, including Senators Grassley and Ernst from Iowa and Deb Fischer from Nebraska. 

While earlier reports claim the meeting would likely focus on short-term fixes to help oil refiners on the U.S. East Coast who say they are struggling with the costs of meeting the RFS requirement, an inside source with the White House team hosting the meeting has communicated that no specifics have been nailed down for the meeting's agenda.