STUFF

PEIX importing sorghum for ethanol production . . . PLUG may put itself up for sale . . . Worst New Zealand drought in 30 yrs.

EPA proposing 2/3 cut sulfur limit for gasoline. 10ppm. Improves catalytic converter performance. Matches Cal standard. Refiners say could raise gas price 6-8 cents. Clean air groups say more like 1 cent. (Of course, refiners are going to jawbone for more revs.) Last few yrs, refiners cut sulfur 90%. (Anybody notice?) Cost $10B. New cut also $10B, but also raise refiner CO2 output. Rule would also cut NOx 260K tons/y. ~10M tons/y from all tran.

BP, Shell, Chevron, Conoco beginning new round offshore Shetlands. 5 wells, 2 yrs, $500M. 7 wells may be added in "appraisal". $12B next few yrs. Est. 8B bls. Brits oil/gas output both fell ~14% in '12. Below 1Mb/d oil now. Was 2.5 in '01. Likely $70B investment '12-'16. Most since '70's.

1st Renewable Progress report from EC. '09 Directive. '10 figures say EU as whole on point heading toward '20 targets. Clean/ren share 12.7%. Most states reached '12 targets in '10.

EIA: domestic E production from clean/ren (nuke not included, I don't know why) grew 23% '08-'12. Total E all sources up 8%. NG up 18%. Oil up 29% (Pretty sure they mean just production of oil, not elgen from oil. I hope.) Nuke down 4%. Coal down 13%. Total E use down 4%. Petrol use down 7%. CO2 emissions down 17%. Hydropower up 7%. Geothermal up 18%. Biofuels up 40%. Solar up 138%. Wind up 149%. Biomass down .9%. Non grid-connected data not included.

Turkey suspended E deals with Eni over involvement offshore Cyprus. Cyprus opening bidding for next round. Eni partner in 3 major Turk pipeline projects. Russia, Kazakhstan oil. Eni, partners planning surveys this yr, wells next. Turkey wants Turk Cypriots to get fair share. (Who can fault that?)

1Mb/d oil shipped by N Am rail. 500K out of Bakken. 3x more carbon intensive than pipes. (Build pipes.)

Last 4 yrs, # of quakes in mid US 11x last 3 decades. (Fracking a part.)

New ABB (Swiss) circuit breaker design for high-volt DC. Means supergrids to be more efficient, reliable. 5 millisecond protection. DC up to 50% more efficient long distance. Helps to connect clean E.

EWEA: est. 120 Gw offshore wind next 20 yrs.

1st round NY solar program $46M. 76 projects. 52Mw. $100M private money. 3 rounds planned this year. 4x customer sites '11-'13. Gov wants through '23. NY 10th state in solar cap in '12.

Dev Bank Japan, 5 others $191M for 80Mw add to 15Mw Japan wind farm. DBJ, another bank also $37M for 12Mw solar online July.

US corporate share of govt revs 9%: Levin on Rose (ever catch Charlie on PBS? Should.) Effective rate 12%. Used to be 50%. Come on companies. Be more giving. Give, companies. Come on. Play nice.

Japan cutting solar FIT 10% to 4o cents/KWh for 20 yrs. Others holding. Wind 23 yen/Kwh. Geo 27 for 15 yrs at 15Mw or larger, 42 yen for smaller. 15 yrs.

Northland Power (Can) sold 50% stake in wind project to 2 Native Nations. Up to 48 2.3Mw Siemens turbines. Ontario Power to pay 13.5 cents 20 yrs. Farm cost ~ C$385M.

ZeaChem (Colo) reducing staff, seeking bridge loan.  $232M USDA loan guarantee last year to build cellulosic ethanol plant in OR. Expected $391M cost. Microorganism from termites, other critters to process 5-, 6-carbon sugars without CO2 byproduct. Demo plant with $25 DOW grant, $12M USDA grant. Ethanol production reportedly began at demo.

Pike Research: near 56Gw of "long duration" bulk E storage for US grid installs '12-'22. "Ancillary" installs 10x to surpass 3.5Gw.

Happy Easter (Not Passover.) Passover a couple days up the road as I understand.