(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Some Good News in Energy Transition [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-08-08 Some news about good stuff happening in the US of A regarding energy transition. Some of these items are small and some are huge but all are important steps forward. I’m looking at places that have been very anti-transition for the past decades and are now showing big signs of getting onboard with renewables and a low carbon future. First electric ferry in the US A car ferry in Alabama has been converted from diesel to battery electric drive. The Gee’s Bend Ferry, under contract with the Alabama DOT (ALDOT) has received USCG certification and resumed service between Gee’s Bend and Camden. Vineyard's $4B offshore wind farm set to start generating green energy in Oct. The first clean wind power generated by the Vineyard Wind 1 project is expected to flow onto the regional grid by mid-October and the first-in-the-nation offshore wind project should be fully operational by this time next year, project officials said Wednesday during a boat tour of the construction. Project developers have maintained for years that the $4 billion project they are building about 15 miles south of Martha's Vineyard would start to generate cleaner energy by the end of 2023, but they told a group of state lawmakers, clean energy advocates, organized labor representatives and others Wednesday that the target is now mid-October, or just over two months from now. At first, the project will send power generated by a string of six turbines onto the grid, totaling about 78 megawatts, with plans to ramp the project up to between 200 and 300 MW by the end of the year and full commercial operations of 806 MW expected by mid-2024, according to Sy Oytan, Avangrid's chief operating officer for offshore wind. Vineyard Wind, a joint venture between Avangrid and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, began offshore construction activities in June by setting the foundations for the 62 turbines that will make up the 806-megawatt project that has been years in the making. From NBC Boston Of course there was opposition by instant-environmentalists but that has been squashed by a federal judge. A federal judge has rejected a lawsuit brought by Nantucket residents who argued that the planned construction of dozens of wind turbines off the affluent resort island threatens the survival of endangered Northern Atlantic right whales. Nantucket Residents Against Turbines said Vineyard Wind’s proposed project of some 62 turbines in waters 14 miles south of the island is in a crucial area for foraging and nursing for the dwindling species, which researchers estimate to number about 340. In a ruling issued Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani found the group failed to show that either the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management or the National Marine Fisheries Service violated the Endangered Species Act or the National Environmental Policy Act in issuing a 2021 biological opinion or final environmental impact statement for the wind energy project. From NBC Boston This is our first offshore wind project and it is coming in on budget and ahead of schedule. Renewable energy is awesome as is everyone who worked on this fantastic project. I think the whales have more danger from fishing nets, large ships, overpowered Navy sonar, and pollution than from a few steel pipes. Besides, where is all this concern for sea creatures when offshore drilling and petroleum/gas extraction platforms are built. BrightNight to build 800MW solar plant on former Kentucky coal mine I really like how this project highlights the ability of renewables to turn a retired coal pit into a deep green source of energy. It is expected to be the largest renewable energy project in the state and one of the largest in the country to be built on former coal mining land. When completed, it will generate enough electricity to power more than 170,000 households annually. The project will also include a 20-mile (32km) transmission line, which will enable the transmission of an additional 1GW of local renewable projects, to be built in the future. snip It is expected to create up to 300 jobs during construction and could generate between $100m and $150m in tax revenue for the local government. BrightNight CEO Martin Hermann said: “Together, we are transforming a coal mine, reinvesting in a region eager to continue its role as an energy leader, and demonstrating the incredible impact of corporate power procurement.” Rivian has agreed to purchase 100MW of renewable energy from this phase. From Power-technology.com Talcum, Kentucky, July 25, 2023 – Starfire Mine, formerly one of the largest coal mines in the United States, will be the new site of a solar energy center. The announcement was made today by global renewable power producer BrightNight CEO Martin Hermann, Rivian Automotive Inc. Founder and CEO RJ Scaringe, and The Nature Conservancy CEO Jennifer Morris. They were joined by Kentucky Department of Energy and the Environment (EEC) Secretary Rebecca Goodman. From rivian.com news release Wyoming, long known as a top coal producing state, makes a big move into wind energy This one is super happy for me as I’ve long thought that Wyoming is a great place for wind and solar energy. The coal mines are closing and the last coal burning power plant was commissioned in 2013. People are finally coming to grips with our energy future reality instead of clinging to coal, gas, and oil fantasies. RAWLINS, Wyo. — Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland and Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm today celebrated the groundbreaking of the TransWest Express Transmission Project, a new high-voltage interregional transmission line that will extend from south-central Wyoming through northwestern Colorado and central Utah, ending in southern Nevada. The transmission line will add more than 1,000 jobs during construction and, once complete, will provide 3,000 megawatts of new transmission capacity. The Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management authorized construction of the project in April 2023. Today’s groundbreaking represents another milestone in the Biden-Harris administration’s broader efforts on accelerating transmission buildout to lower consumers’ energy costs, prevent power outages in the face of extreme weather, and create good-paying union jobs. snip “Today’s historic groundbreaking represents another breakthrough in the Biden-Harris administration’s efforts to accelerate transmission which will lower consumers’ costs, all while creating good-paying union jobs,” said Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm. “The TransWest Express Project will play a major role in our nation’s energy security, ensuring that home-grown clean energy can form the backbone of our electric grid as we rebuild a stronger, more resilient transmission system.” The TransWest Express Project will carry electricity generated by the largest onshore wind generation project in North America: the over 3-gigawatt Chokecherry and Sierra Madre Wind Energy Project, located in Carbon County, Wyoming. Like the TransWest Express Project, the 600-turbine Chokecherry and Sierra Madre wind project is partially located on public lands managed by the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management. snip The BLM is currently processing 74 utility-scale onshore clean energy projects proposed on public lands in the western United States. This includes solar, wind and geothermal projects, as well as interconnected gen-tie lines that are vital to clean energy projects proposed on non-federal land. These projects have the combined potential to add over 37,000 megawatts of renewable energy to the western electric grid. The BLM is also undertaking the preliminary review of over 150 applications for solar and wind development, as well as 51 applications for wind and solar energy testing. From Department of the Interior (doi.gov) news release In the sagebrush desert of southeast Wyoming in Carbon County, federal and local officials recently broke ground on the TransWest Express Transmission project. United States Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland spoke to a crowd about the 730-mile power line, as wind ripped through flags behind her. “We know that clean energy transmission lines on public lands will help communities across the country to be part of the climate solution while creating good paying jobs,” Haaland said. In this same area, which is along the I-80 corridor and is known for its 20-plus mile an hour winds, a wind farm is also under construction. The power line will eventually transmit that electricity to about a million homes located in places like Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Phoenix. It is just one way the Biden administration is hoping to achieve 100% “clean energy” by 2035. Wyoming has been at odds with the Biden administration’s push to move away from fossil fuels. The state has sued the federal government over the pace of leasing to allow drilling for oil and natural gas on public lands. But, Wyoming’s Republican Governor Mark Gordon came to the groundbreaking. snip “We want people to say yes, yes to clean energy, in the same way people have said yes to fossil energy,” Granholm said. And some people are saying yes, like Terry Weickum, the mayor of Rawlins, which is the county seat. Weickum wore a windmill pin on his shirt. He said the town has been in a bust, as people lost jobs from the local coal mines closing and the oil fields slowing. “It is a lucky break for us to get this incredible thing in our mix,” he said. “Some people don’t like it. Some people don’t like ice cream. I don’t know what to tell you.” From marketplace.org The last paragraph of the marketplace article is important. And this change came slowly. It took 18 years for the federal government to get all the permits and land agreements in place to build this transmission line. Officials pointed out future projects will need to be streamlined to meet the Biden administration’s clean energy deadline of 2035. www.marketplace.org/... This extended timeline for permits is clearly obstructing progress but Biden is on top of the job. FERC Transmission Reform Paves Way for Adding New Energy Resources to Grid Today FERC took an historic step in the modernization of the nation’s transmission grid by streamlining the interconnection process for transmission providers, providing greater timing and cost certainty to interconnection customers, and preventing undue discrimination against new sources of power generation. “This new rule will enable America’s vast power generation resources to connect to the grid in a reliable, efficient, transparent, and timely manner, and in doing so, help provide more reliable, resilient, and affordable electricity for all consumers,” FERC Chairman Willie Phillips said. “This is a watershed moment for our nation’s transmission grid.” Phillips underscored the need for today’s reforms by noting that at the end of 2022, more than 2,000 gigawatts of generation and storage were waiting in interconnection queues throughout the country – that is as much electricity generation capacity as all the power plants now operating around the country. Projects now face an average wait of up to five years to connect to the grid. snip “Our transmission policies must keep pace with the rapid changes in the makeup of our nation’s power generation resource mix,” Phillips said. “Today’s rule is an important milestone. But there is so much more to do. The Commission is working diligently on how to address the key issues of regional transmission planning and cost allocation. We need to take a longer-term, forward-looking approach to planning for essential transmission facilities and to allocate the costs of those facilities in a just and reasonable manner while enhancing the reliability and resilience of the grid.” From ferc.gov news release The reforms should greatly decrease the time to get permits to connect with the nation’s transmission systems. Time will tell what really happens but the current administration will keep the pressure on. 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