Indigenous technology from General Electric enables the turbine plant to reach full power in less than 30 minutes. This saves energy by allowing partners to respond quickly to fluctuations in grid demand, integrate renewable energy onto the grid and adapt quickly to weather changes. Consequently, the plant helps to conserve natural gas and reduce greenhouse gases, allowing France to meet Europe’s climate and energy guidelines.This stuff is so good, GE is now in the Guinness Book of World Records.
California is again having issues with adequate electricity and its customers are being told that summer blackouts may occur. Its utility scale generation is dependent primarily on natural gas and renewable generated electricity.
California decided years ago that it would not build any coal-fired power plants and gets just 0.2 percent of its generation from a few coal units it still has on-line. (It should be noted, however, that California consumes electricity from coal generated out of state and imported to southern California–up to 50 percent at times.
The state retired two of its nuclear units in 2013 and is expected to retire its last two operating nuclear units over the next decade when their nuclear licenses expire, eliminating 9 percent of its carbon free electricity.
California has mandated that 50 percent of its electricity come from renewable fuels by 2030, currently getting 30 percent of its utility scale electricity from renewable fuels and 59 percent from natural gas.Which means that those emission-free cars in California are responsible for spewing CO2 in some other state. Fortunately, for Californians, CO2 respects borders even if humanity does not.
I will say this flat out, there is no legitimate business purpose to this at all. Elon Musk is simply trying to prop up his cousin's failing business, which is down from almost $90 at its peak. Musk swoops in with a $27 bid, a 30% or so premium, and fatigued SolarCity investors sell. Obviously, due to the nature of Tesla, there's no way that it would have ever involved any cash whatsoever.June 22, 2016: it took awhile, but Reuters is finally weighing in.
Though details on the financial benefits of the proposed tie-up are scant, Tesla CEO Elon Musk was his usual bold self on a conference call with analysts Wednesday. He said that the proposed deal could help Tesla become the world’s first company with a trillion-dollar market capitalization. That would require a more than 30-fold increase from today’s value.
Yet that boast may not be the most jarring one Mr. Musk has offered of late. Powered by the new Model 3 mass-market sedan, Tesla aims to deliver 500,000 vehicles in 2018, Mr. Musk said last month. That target is two years ahead of the previous goal. Tesla forecasts 80,000 to 90,000 deliveries this year.
In a world of slow growth and cautious corporate management teams, bold ambition is a central part of Tesla’s appeal to investors. But reaching for the stars has proven expensive.
Tesla’s core business has burned more than $3 billion in cash over the past six quarters. Capital needs are expected to further intensify over the coming years. No surprise there; automobile manufacturing is a low-return, capital intensive business.June 22, 2016: MuskMelon fails to assure investors rattled about SolarCity takeover -- Bloomberg. TSLA has recovered a bit from what futures indicated; now trading just above $200, at $201.
"Fast Money" trader Brian Kelly said that Tesla Motors' bid for SolarCity indicates that "Elon Musk doesn't view Tesla as an auto company."
He explained that while Tesla is selling electric vehicles at the moment, there have been signs that its CEO, Musk, has been intending to do more.
"If you look at what he's doing with the Gigafactory, you look at this acquisition, he's clearly going after the decarbonization of the electric grid in the U.S. To me, that's the bigger play in all of this," Kelly said.
Trader Karen Finerman said that Tesla's offer, valued up to $28.50 per share, "doesn't seem like a gigantic price for a company that was trading significantly higher not that long ago."
Trader Tim Seymour said that the timing of the deal seems "distracting," citing Tesla's struggles to meet sky-high expectations for deliveries and its mass-market car.
"They just had a capital raise. They probably need more capital. I mean, why now? ... This deal makes no sense," he said, adding that he's always found Tesla's valuation tough to justify.
Wall Street will surely be watching the aftermath of Tuesday's announcement closely. Famed short seller Jim Chanos has been outspoken about his short positions in both companies.
In September, Chanos told CNBC's "Squawk Box" that SolarCity is the most problematic of companies led by Musk because it's "burning $300 million to $500 million a quarter putting up solar panels that may not be worth anything in 20 years."
Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla Motors, just hung an albatross around his shareholders' necks.I think this stack of cards is starting to fall.
Through Tesla, Musk has made an all-stock deal offer for embattled solar-energy firm SolarCity, which Musk cofounded.
He said that this deal would help to make Tesla the first "vertically integrated energy company offering end-to-end clean-energy products to our customers." SolarCity's stock is up 20% on the news.
Of course, this is just an offer and not yet a done deal, and there are plenty of reasons why it could still fall through. But if it does happen, then Tesla shareholders should be worried.
Now, in case you haven't been following the SolarCity story, it's the company that, a few minutes before this deal was announced, Goldman Sachs said was the "worst positioned" for growth in its sector.
It's a company that, aside from this M&A bump, has seen its stock collapse almost 60% since the start of the year and lowered guidance for the year down 16% during its last earnings call.
It's also a company that is helmed by Elon Musk's cousin, Lyndon Rive. Go figure.
Tesla Motors said on Tuesday it would bid $2.8 billion to buy SolarCity, sending the solar energy company's shares soaring.
SolarCity shares popped more than 15 percent after-hours on the offer of $26.50 per share to $28.50 per share, while Tesla shares dropped as much as 10 percent, trading below $200 per share for the first time since March.
SolarCity's controlling shareholder, Elon Musk, is also the CEO of electric car company Tesla. The two sets of shareholders will vote on the merger independent of Musk after a due diligence process, the Tesla CEO said.
While Tesla has considered the deal "blindingly obvious" for a while, the timing seemed right as the companies released products that were increasingly aligned, Musk said in a conference call.It looks pretty obvious what's going on. If I were a Tesla investor I would be furious. LOL.
Once again, Chick-fil-A is the top-rated fast food chain with a score of 87, up one percent from last year. Papa John's comes in a distant second at 82, even though it gained five percent. Little Caesars had the biggest improvement in the entire fast food category, up 9 percent to 81, landing just below Papa John's.
Panera Bread also scored an 81 and Arby's jumped eight percent to 80, following a major overhaul of its menu and remodeling of its stores.
Chipotle Mexican Grill took the biggest hit, dropping six percent to 78. This followed widespread reports of food-borne illnesses at some of its stores.
Other chains: Dunkin' Donuts and Subway (80), Domino's and KFC (78), Pizza Hut (77), Starbucks and Taco Bell (75).
Hamburger chains typically score below the industry average, but this year they all showed some improvement. Burger King and Wendy's tied at 76, and Jack in the Box scored a 74. Once again, McDonald's came in last at 69, but it was up three percent from last year. This was primarily due to the popularity of its new all-day breakfast menu.I would assume Starbucks scores so low because of lousy/limited food choices and expensive to boot.
The city recorded its 300th homicide this weekend and went on to record six others over a 60-hour period that saw 59 people shot, 13 fatally, from Friday afternoon through early Monday morning.
So far this year, about 1,800 people have been shot across the city and more than 200 of those wounded have died of their wounds. A total of 306 people have been killed this year by shooting, stabbing or other means.
| 6/21/2016 | 06/21/2015 | 06/21/2014 | 06/21/2013 | 06/21/2012 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Active Rigs | 27 | 77 | 189 | 189 | 211 |
| Date | Oil Runs | MCF Sold |
|---|---|---|
| 3-2016 | 565 | 0 |
| 2-2016 | 11296 | 9131 |
| 1-2016 | 19462 | 19673 |
| 12-2015 | 4349 | 3785 |
Word came today that PG&E PCG +0.10%, the big California electric utility, has reached a deal to mothball its Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant in San Luis Obispo by 2025.
The environmental fundamentalists at the Natural Resources Defense Council hailed this as a victory for renewable energy, stating that Diablo Canyon’s 2,200 megawatts of baseload power generation would be replaced by “energy efficiency and clean renewable energy from the wind and sun.”
This is preposterous.
As Forbes contributor Rod Adams points out today, the output from Diablo Canyon alone is equal to the electricity generated by about 75% of all the windmills and solar panels in California. What’s more, closing Diablo Canyon will deal a major setback to California’s efforts to reduce carbon dioxide. During the years it takes for the state to build solar and wind capacity to replace the nuke plant, California will have no choice but to rely on more generation from natural gas — which means accepting carbon emissions equivalent to about 1 million cars.
The announcement only gives more urgency to an unusual protest coming up this Friday, when a bunch of self-described progressive environmentalists promise to march from San Francisco to Sacramento.
The event is called the March for Environmental Hope and it will start at the S.F. headquarters of the Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council and Greenpeace. Organizer Michael Shellenberger, the president of a group called Environmental Progress, says he and his fellow marchers (including a group called Mothers For Nuclear) will be protesting those green groups for the work that they’ve been doing to shut down nuclear power plants. They’ll be carrying posters saying: Save Diablo Canyon.ROTFLMAO.
The proposal is contingent on a number of regulatory actions, including approvals from the California Public Utilities Commission.
The Diablo Canyon nuclear plant, built against a seaside cliff near Avila Beach, provides electricity for Central and Northern California. It produces about 2,160 megawatts — enough to power some 1.7 million homes.
Tuesday’s announcement comes after a long debate over the fate of the plant, which sits near several earthquake fault lines. The Hosgri Fault, located three miles from Diablo Canyon, was discovered in 1971, three years after construction of the plant began.I bet the California PUC refuses to let PG&E close it. If not allowed to close it, PG&E is going to have a white elephant on its hands. [After looking at the data, it appears I am wrong. See additional comments, above, under updates.]
The San Onofre plant was shut down for good in 2013 as a result of faulty equipment that led to a small release of radioactive steam and a heated regulatory battle over the plant's license.
The same year, a former inspector called for Diablo Canyon to be closed until risks posed by potential earthquakes there could be evaluated. In documents submitted to the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission as recently as last year, PG&E said Diablo Canyon can safely withstand earthquakes, tsunamis and flooding. Officials said the safety testing also took into consideration the effect a quake on one fault would have on the other three fault lines in the area.Solar and wind energy advocates say solar/wind energy is often taken off the grid because Diablo Canyon produces too much electricity. So there you have it. It's what we call a "first world" problem: too much electricity, and it's too cheap.
Even if enough wind, solar and energy efficiency projects are started and come on line in California before 2025 to produce an additional 17-18 billion kilowatt-hours per year over what is already in place and planned, any logical, disinterested observer should wonder why the huge sums and enormous physical effort that would be invested in those new projects will end up being devoted to treading water in terms of CO2 emissions.But look at the numbers, the reality:
If there is the potential to add that much capacity, why not use it to close dirtier facilities? As of 2014, 45% of California’s electricity came from either burning natural gas in state or from importing coal fired electricity from out of state.
It’s worth noting that as of 2014, all of the wind and solar infrastructure that has been erected in California since the 1970s managed to produce a total of 23 billion kilowatt-hours, which is only 30% more than what the single Diablo Canyon power plant produced during the same year.This, by the way, explains, exactly what is going on in Germany:
"Giant baseload nuclear power plants like Diablo Canyon cannot easily be taken offline or ramped up and down as system needs change, which obstructs the integration of renewable resources with variable output into the electricity grid. This worsening problem is forcing the California grid operator to shut down low-cost renewable generation that could otherwise be used productively.”For newbies:
North Dakota’s top oil producer—Continental Resources Inc.—has signed a long-term agreement to supply ethane to a proposed $6.5 billion polyethylene plant that Badlands NGL plans to build in the state.From Business Wire, last October:
“The interesting thing is that the Continental announcement is leading to very serious dialogues with other producers in North Dakota,” William Gilliam, Badlands CEO, told The Bakken magazine. “We are also pursuing very serious discussions in Canada.”
He cited a recent report by the Canadian Energy Research Institute (CERI) which said Canada could produce 350,000 barrels of ethane per day. Gilliam noted that he will be in Alberta this week for meetings with potential ethane suppliers.
“We’re actually looking at building a bigger ethane cracker in North Dakota because of the fact that we think we can be successful in gaining an important amount of ethane from Canada,” Gilliam said.
Badlands NGLs, LLC and Univation Technologies, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company today announced that Badlands has licensed Univation Technologies’ UNIPOL™ PE Process for four polyethylene reactor lines, representing a total capacity of 2.4 million metric tons.
The capacity is to be split between its two sites, one in North Dakota and one in a yet-to-be-named site also in North America.
Each site will be home to two world-scale 600kta reactor lines; Badlands has indicated a potential need for future expansion. The production lines will use Univation’s LLDPE and HDPE catalysts including the proprietary PRODIGY™ Bimodal HDPE, ACCLAIM™ Unimodal HDPE, and XCAT™ Metallocene LLDPE catalysts.
The tight oil plays in the Permian basin are not shale plays. Spraberry and Bone Spring reservoirs are mostly sandstones and Wolfcamp reservoirs are mostly limestones.That would be true of Bakken crude oil, also, coming mostly from the limestone/dolomite between the shale sub-formations.
Sprayberry Field, tight oil, "low recovery efficiency of 8 - 10% and was only commercial prior to the recent phase of tight oil drilling.Writer analyzed three main tight oil plays:
Daniel Montes, 28, Fruita, CO, and Richard Maheu, 27, Rock Springs, WY, suffered serious burns and were in critical condition at Regions Hospital in St. Paul, the sheriff’s office said.
Justin Pyle, 40, Grand Junction, CO, was treated and released for minor injuries from McKenzie County Heathcare Systems Hospital in Watford City, officials said.
Industrial goods manufacturer General Electric Company GE recently inaugurated the world’s most efficient combined-cycle power plant in Bouchain, France, inking its name in the Guinness Book of World Records for achieving an efficiency rate of up to 62.22%.
The HA turbine power plant was put into operation in association with Électricité de France (EDF), one of the largest utility companies in the world.I was unable to find cost of this power plant. But from an earlier post:
Indigenous technology from General Electric enables the turbine plant to reach full power in less than 30 minutes. This saves energy by allowing partners to respond quickly to fluctuations in grid demand, integrate renewable energy onto the grid and adapt quickly to weather changes. Consequently, the plant helps to conserve natural gas and reduce greenhouse gases, allowing France to meet Europe’s climate and energy guidelines.
The plant will have a power generating capacity of 605 MW, which is equivalent to providing power supply to over 680,000 homes. The power plant is also equipped with General Electric’s digital capabilities that use real-time data to deliver better plant outcomes with stable and efficient operations, while providing valuable predictive insights for higher reliability and optimization.
December 8, 2015: here's another example of the cost of new natural gas projects. Seeking Alpha is reporting on the Caithness Moxie Freedom power plant in Luzerne County, PA, the first plant using GEs high efficiency 7HA.02 gas turbines to be project financed.
The 1,029 megawatt (MW) plant will be able to generate the equivalent power needed to supply approximately one million US homes.GE Energy Financial Services and its co-leads arranged $592 million senior secured credit facilities to support the Caithness Moxie Freedom Projects construction and operation, with eight other banks in the syndicate.
I don't know if this is the total cost of the project, but if so, $592 million / 1,029 MW = $575,315 / MW.From an earlier post:
Dispatchable generation refers to sources of electricity that can be dispatched at the request of power grid operators or of the plant owner; that is, generating plants that can be turned on or off, or can adjust their power output accordingly to an order.From an earlier post:
GEs HA gas turbines are the worlds largest and most efficient at more than 61% combined cycle efficiency, and lead the industry in total life-cycle value. HA technology provides cleaner, reliable and cost-effective conversion of fuel to electricity.Unrelated, but continuing the "India Theme," GE says it will grow GE Power India 50% in 2016: India has become a real microcosm for everything going on in the global power sector. -- CEO.
| 6/21/2016 | 06/21/2015 | 06/21/2014 | 06/21/2013 | 06/21/2012 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Active Rigs | 29 | 77 | 189 | 189 | 211 |
More new crude oil storage capacity came online in the U.S. in the fourth quarter of 2015 and the first quarter of 2016 than in any half-year period in memory, and still more capacity is being planned. Even with all this new capacity—and the slowdown in crude oil production—the storage utilization rates at Midwest/Mid-continent and Gulf Coast tank farms, underground salt caverns and refineries are at or near record highs too. And tens of millions more barrels of storage capacity are on the drawing boards in anticipation of further incremental needs. But the energy sector is pulling back, right? What gives? Today, we begin an update on crude storage trends and crude storage facilities in Petroleum Administration for Defense Districts (PADDs) 2 and 3, which together account for 82% of U.S. crude storage capacity.Record-setting heat wave leads to blackouts in Los Angeles. Predicted. One day earlier:
California's power grid operators warned homes and business on Monday to conserve electricity as rising demand for air conditioning stoked by a record-setting heat wave across the U.S. Southwest tested the region's generating capacity.
The so-called Flex Alert was posted until 9 p.m. Pacific time during a second day of triple-digit temperatures expected to strain Southern California's energy production, creating the potential for rolling blackouts on the first official day of summer.
The alert was the first big test of power generators' ability to meet heightened energy demands in the greater Los Angeles area without natural gas supplies normally furnished by the now-crippled Aliso Canyon gas storage field, effectively idled since a major well rupture there last fall.
This news comes on the heels of the Energy Information Administration (EIA) issuing new maps for the Utica Shale – which could increase the play even more! 2016 is already shaping up to be another record-breaking year for Utica Shale development in the Buckeye State, as new wells come online and these wells continue to produce at the rate they have been. Between this increased production and anticipated new infrastructure, Ohio is going to continue to be a major player in meeting the nation’s energy needs. And that’s great news for Ohioans!Ohioans just need to remember that Hillary Clinton favors ban on fracking.