Ask the Experts: Summer Drought, Renewables and Natural Gas Pipelines
In our monthly webinar series, the Energy Market Intel Webinar, we offered our customers the opportunity to submit questions to learn more about economic factors and marketplace trends that may affect their future energy pricing and purchasing decisions. In our most recent webinar, attendees asked questions regarding renewables, the Mountain Valley Pipeline and additional weather insights.
Is there any state producing more renewables (as a percentage of total demand) than Texas as a replacement for fossil fuel usage?
CAISO still has higher solar output, but ERCOT (which recently reached 13.3 GW but is 2.6 GW behind CAISO) could overtake CAISO in the next year. ERCOT dominates wind output with 34 GW of wind installed.
How much impact do you expect shutting in the Groningen will have?
In the short term of this coming October, maybe not much as European storage is currently 81% full and should get to 95% capacity. Now, European storage was meant to supplement 12 Bcf/d of Russian pipeline imports and last winter was very warm. A cold winter 2023/’24 could drain storage and require more spot LNG cargoes. This might prompt part of Groningen to stay online as they outline in the article below.
What is the status regarding the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP), with the recent stays in the Fourth Circuit and if construction gets done?
On July 9th, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ordered MVP developer (Equitrans) to halt construction in the Thomas Jefferson National Forest.
The Supreme Court weighed in on whether the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals had jurisdiction to halt the project. Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) filed a “friend of the Court” brief supporting Equitrans in its argument that Congress had authority to authorize the pipeline.
On Thursday, July 27th, the Supreme Court cleared the way for construction of the controversial Mountain Valley Pipeline to proceed, granting an emergency request from backers of the project that has the support of Congress and the Biden administration.
On Tuesday, August 1st, Equitrans said it still expects to complete the natural gas pipeline by the end of the year.
Why is Mid-Atlantic so dry this year?
The Mid-Atlantic had little precipitation in May due to a very dry northwesterly flow from Canada. Recently enough rain has spread into the East, and we could see dramatic improvement in the Drought Outlooks over the next couple of weeks.
Get access to more insights on the latest weather and market factors impacting your energy bill by attending our next Energy Market Intel Webinar.
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