On Friday, December 17, 2021, Massachusetts and Maryland selected a total of four offshore wind projects in their latest solicitation rounds to bring an additional 3.2 GW of new offshore wind capacity to the states.
Maryland
The Maryland Public Service Commission (Commission) awarded offshore renewable energy credits to two developers planning to expand offshore wind
On November 12, 2021, in furtherance of the Biden administration’s goal of deploying 30 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind energy by 2030, the US Department of the Interior announced its designation of the Morro Bay Wind Energy Area (WEA) offshore central California. The WEA is about 240,898 acres (376 square miles) and roughly 20 miles
On October 28, 2021, in furtherance of the Biden-Harris administration’s goal of deploying 30 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind energy by 2030, the US Department of the Interior announced three major offshore wind development proposals.
First, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced a proposed lease sale for offshore wind development for approximately 128,000
Kwasi Kwarteng, UK Business and Energy Secretary is reported to have said on 20 September that “My task is to ensure that any energy supplier failures cause the least amount of disruption to consumers”.
Wholesale day-ahead gas prices in the UK are reported to have jumped some 9% on 20 September alone. The rise is as a result of a number of factors including increased demand in Asia, lower supplies of gas from Russia and increase in demand as countries emerge from lockdown restrictions and economies start to pick up once more.
Such rapid and significant price increases typically disproportionately impact smaller suppliers and indeed it is widely anticipated that a number of the smaller suppliers will fall into insolvency over the coming weeks and months. The specific process is unique to the energy industry.
On July 28, 2021, President Biden signed a national security memorandum that seeks to “significantly improve” the cybersecurity of critical infrastructure systems. The “National Security Memorandum on Improving Cybersecurity for Critical Infrastructure Control Systems” (the “Memorandum”) reflects the administration’s conclusion that “[t]he cybersecurity threats posed to the systems that control and operate the critical infrastructure
We are excited to share with you our second edition of Working Capital, Mayer Brown’s Projects & Infrastructure newsletter. In this edition, we feature
In the wake of the May 2021 ransomware attack on a major US oil pipeline, the Department of Homeland Security’s Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has released a security directive (the “TSA Directive”) to better “identify, protect against, and respond to threats to critical companies in the pipeline sector.” The TSA Directive was released on May
The Texas House of Representatives and Senate are considering three similar, but not identical, legislative drafts that could impose substantial grid charges directly on renewable generation businesses. The Legal Update at the link below provides further detail.
On March 31, 2021, the Biden administration released the American Jobs Plan (the “Infrastructure Plan”), which is a proposal that, if ultimately enacted, aims to modernize outdated infrastructure, create additional jobs and increase the United States’ global competitiveness. Alongside the Infrastructure Plan, the Biden administration released a Made in America Tax Plan (the “Tax Plan”),
On March 17, 2021, U.S. Senators Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-La.) and U.S. Representatives Marc Veasey (D-Texas) and David McKinley (R-W.Va.) introduced the Storing CO2 And Lowering Emissions (SCALE) Act. The bill is intended to help develop infrastructure buildout to transport CO2 from the capture site to be used as feedstock for the manufacture of other products, to oilfields where it is injected to enhance oil recovery, or to underground storage locations. CO2 capture projects are expensive and the EPA permitting process for storage facilities is lengthy. Thus, project financing and permitting are key drivers to determine the speed and scope at which global climate goals with respect to greenhouse gas reduction are achieved. The 45Q tax credit for carbon capture and sequestration incentivizes carbon capture but is not by itself economically sufficient to provide the necessary equipment and transportation infrastructure.
Continue Reading US – Storing CO2 And Lowering Emissions (SCALE) Act