The G-7 Summit. Leaders from the G-7 met in the UK this weekend and climate was a central point. The big headlines came in around transportation and competing with China in supporting developing nations with infrastructure investments that align with climate goals. Australia’s presence in the room made any joint statement around coal difficult but as we talked about in the past, that ship has sailed. The group did make bold forecasts on fossil fuel cars, eliminating subsidies for fossil fuels and expanding foreign financing to match policies abroad.
A Note About Capital. The communique labeled the support to the tune of $100billion per year. That number is completely meaningless. What governments need to focus on is creating a bankable environment for the development of the projects that they are looking to be built. Allowing for streamlined zoning and permitting and access to revenue streams would create the path for the trillions of ESG capital, in all currencies, to get involved. Policies not headlines would rule the day here.
Markets React To Price Signals. National Grid wants FERC to do more for grid stability and I say that all the RTOs should figure out how to create a deeper market for the price signals that create a stable grid. Ancillary services are in the market but can lack trading volume that saw the frequency response market in PJM lose a build signal a few years ago. Part of the solution is creating a more dynamic market with shorter time spans potentially, allowing for trades to happen far more often that they do today.
Hot Price Signals. California is starting to see the warm weather and a message from the grid operator to expect shutoffs raised the price signal. A long summer ahead.
- Axios: How to finance climate goals will be key hurdle at G7 and U.N. talks
- New York Times: G7 Nations Take Aggressive Climate Action, But Hold Back on Coal
- Utility Dive: National Grid encourages FERC to provide better incentives for grid-enhancing technology
- Reuters: California tells public to prepare for heatwave – power prices soar
- Vox: Indigenous people are the world’s biggest conservationists, but they rarely get credit for it
- Solar Power World: DOE announces $5 million American-Made Solar Prize and new entrepreneurial networking tool
- PV-Magazine: 3 takeaways from the PVEL 2021 reliability scorecard
Opinion
Best, Yann