The largest power plants in the the U.S. — massive feats of engineering like the over 5,000 foot-long, 6,800-MW capacity Grand Coulee Dam — are proving to be no match in scale to the combined power of the rooftops and basements of homes and businesses across the country. Distributed energy, including rooftop solar, on-site batteries […]
How a Plan to Save the Power System Disappeared
This article is a collaboration between The Atlantic and InvestigateWest. A federal lab found a way to modernize the grid, reduce reliance on coal, and save consumers billions. Then Trump appointees blocked it. On August 14, 2018, Joshua Novacheck, a 30-year-old research engineer for the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory, was presenting the most important study of his […]
BP Walks Away From the Oil Supermajor Model It Helped Create
In the late 1990s, BP Plc boss John Browne used an oil-price slump to usher in the age of the supermajor, buying U.S. rivals Amoco and Arco to create a transatlantic giant. He kicked off a round of mergers that saw his company and four others dominate the industry — Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. in the U.S., Royal […]
Total declares $9.3B in stranded assets in Alberta tar sands
French colossal fossil Total sent a shockwave through the Alberta oilpatch Wednesday with the announcement that it is writing off C$9.3 billion in assets in the tar sands/oil sands, including $7.3 billion in the Fort Hills mine, which opened just 2½ years ago, and the Surmont thermal oilsands project. Total is also cancelling its membership […]
PG&E, Tesla begin construction on the world’s largest battery (for now)
A massive battery storage project is officially underway in Monterey County, California, with Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) and Tesla beginning construction on one of the largest battery energy storage installations in the world. Set to clock in at 182.5 MW and 730 MWh, the Moss Landing battery energy storage system will be comprised of […]