Rod Walton, Clarion Energy Content Director Renewable Energy World
A quarter of energy storage companies expect to reduce their workforces due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, while more than half are anticipating a loss in revenues, according to a new survey from the U.S. Energy Storage Association.
The ESA study queried 101 representatives from the sector. Most of the companies plan and hope to retain their employees while waiting out the virus which has killed more than 22,000 Americans so far this year, but they also confirm that the resulting work stoppage will cut into revenues and projects.
Sixty-three percent of the ESA survey respondents said they expected a decrease in revenues. A third went as far as to predict it would be a 20-percent drop or deeper.
Three-fourths of those energy storage respondents did not expect to reduce employment, but most of the rest admitted that reductions of up to 20 percent were possible.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the energy storage industry tremendously. While we still anticipate year-over-year growth, it is clear our industry is suffering with immediate and significant risks of workforce reductions and economic damage,” remarked Kelly Speakes-Backman, CEO of ESA.
“These delays upend grid reliability and resilience efforts, just as we enter fire and hurricane season, and as states, towns, and utilities are beginning to incorporate energy storage systems as backup power to prevent power system disruptions for critical healthcare facilities. As such, ESA is actively seeking immediate relief from Congress and the Administration to relieve the financial stresses on our members and the industry, which represents more than 60,000 people, caused by the virus.”
Despite improving projections, the coronavirus outbreak in New Jersey continues to escalate, with state officials Tuesday reporting at least 68,824 total cases and 2,805 total deaths, marking an increase of 4,059 positive tests and 365 new fatalities in the last 24 hours.
The latest death toll marks the largest one-day increase in fatalities in the Garden State since the outbreak started in early March.
Gov. Phil Murphy repeated Tuesday there’s evidence that the rate of increase is slowing and that social distancing efforts including a near-lockdown stay-at-home order have begun to take hold. But the state has yet to hit its plateau.
Murphy stressed the sharp increase in cases and deaths Tuesday may be catching up on reporting cases from Easter weekend.
New Jersey has 128,604 residents who have been tested for coronavirus and 70,950 have tested negative, according to state Department of Health’s website. The positivity rate is about 45%, state Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli said.
Murphy warned again of a possible “boomerang” of the virus if social distancing is lax.
“Let’s only go through this once,” the governor said during his daily coronavirus press briefing in Trenton. “We have to keep our foot on the gas. We have to stay at home.”
As of 10:30 p.m. Monday, 8,185 people in New Jersey were hospitalized with COVID-19 or under investigation for it. Of those, 2,051 were in critical care and 1,626 were in ventilators.
That’s a 4% increase in hospitalizations from the day before, Persichilli said.
Between 10 p.m. Sunday and 10 p.m. Monday, 514 patients who were hospitalized with he virus were discharged.
Of the new deaths reported, 27 were residents at longterm care facilities, officials said. The state’s has confirmed coronavirus cases at 342 of 375 longterm care facilities for a total of 5,945 residents.
The partial county-by-county breakdown of cases includes:
Bergen County: 10,426 with 550 deaths
Hudson County: 8,242 with 277 deaths
Essex County: 8,212 with 535 deaths
Union County: 7,265 with 238 deaths
Passaic County: 6,438 with 156 deaths
Middlesex County: 6,313 with 216 deaths
Monmouth County: 4,003 with 145 deaths
Ocean County: 3,833 with 149 deaths
Morris County: 3,424 with 192 deaths
Somerset County: 1,911 with 91 Deaths
Mercer County: 1,731 with 71 deaths
Camden County: 1,477 with 41 deaths
Burlington County: 1,207 with 28 deaths
Gloucester County: 587 with 11 deaths
Sussex County: 535 with 39 deaths
Warren County: 442 with 25 deaths
Hunterdon County: 349 with 11 deaths
Atlantic County: 284 with 11 deaths
Cumberland County: 201 with 3 deaths
Cape May County: 169 with 10 deaths
Salem County: 73 with 4 deaths
Another 1,702 cases and two deaths are still pending investigation to determine where the person resides.
The breakdown of ethnicity among the new deaths:
51.5% white
22.2% black
15.6% Hispanic
5.5% Asian
3.5% other
New Jersey, a state of 9 million residents, continues to have the second-most number of cases and deaths of COVID-19 among U.S. states. Only New York has more of each.
New Jersey now has at least 64,584 coronavirus cases and 2,443 deaths as the outbreak continued to escalate on Monday with about 2,700 new cases announced.
Gov. Phil Murphy is expected to address the latest updates on the pandemic during a 3 p.m. briefing. The state’s tracking website shows 118,097 tests have been reported with a 46.2% positive rate.
There were 7,781 patients hospitalized as of 10 p.m. Sunday with coronavirus or suspected of having the virus. Of those, 1,886 were in critical or intensive care, and 1,611 are on ventilators. That’s about 55% of the state’s capacity for ventilators.
Murphy announced Monday afternoon that New Jersey would join with five other states – New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Rhode Island and Connecticut – in developing a regional plan to lift restrictions and re-open, but only after the state has pushed safely past the peak of cases.
Another 1,203 cases and 2 deaths remain under investigation to determine where the person resides.
It’s difficult to get a complete picture of exactly how many people in New Jersey currently have COVID-19 because officials say testing has been backed up for up to 14 days. The state also is not reporting significant increases in daily testing, so it is unclear exactly how quickly the virus is spreading.
On Sunday, Murphy downplayed the chances that he’ll begin to lift strict lockdown orders he put in place to battle the pandemic as soon as the beginning of May.
He also said he’s having “discussions with our neighboring states on the whole question of testing, contact tracing, what are the rules of the road going to be for things like bars and restaurants.”
Pennsylvania will join a group of six states, including New York and New Jersey, that will come up with a joint plan to reopen various aspects of society when the coronavirus pandemic begins to ease.
By FORD TURNERTHE MORNING CALL APR 13, 2020 | 3:19 PM
The announcement came during a conference call with governors of the six states, including Gov. Tom Wolf, New York’s Andrew Cuomo and New Jersey’s Phil Murphy.
The group will the top health official, the top economic development official and the governor’s chief of staff from each state, Cuomo said during a joint news conference. It would be, he said, six states ― via 18 people ― coming up with single plan for public health and economic development as the pandemic begins to ease.
Cuomo, whose handling of New York’s severe outbreak has drawn national attention, hosted the call. He said the joint group will start its work tomorrow.
The pandemic has forced shutdowns of schools and many businesses and led to directives for people to stay home except for necessary trips. Cuomo said it made sense for the states to work together.
The mission for the group that will come up with the “reopening” plan, Cuomo said, is, “We want it ASAP but we want it smart.”
Asked whether the group’s mission crossed into President Donald Trump’s leadership territory, Cuomo pointed out that governors, not Trump, issued the orders that shut down businesses and schools in their states.
“That was the model of management” as pandemic first unfolded, Cuomo said. If Trump wants to change the model as the “reopening” happens, Cuomo said, the federal government can propose a plan.
Any federal plan would have to be “consistent with the Constitution, consistent with the law,” Cuomo said.
The other three states that are involved are Connecticut, Delaware and Rhode Island, governed by Ned Lamont, John Carney and Gina Raimondo, respectively.
Wolf said he was glad Pennsylvania was going to be a part of the effort. He said it was not only important to plot a comeback in terms of public health and interwoven economies, but in restoring a sense of hope to people.
Wolf said, “We can do anything better when we work together in this region.”
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#BILLYPENNGRAM OF THE DAY Colorful instructions for a South Street handwashing station (photo by @billy_penn)
Hospitalization dip? Still, PA lacks test capacity to safely reopen Yesterday there were 700 people hospitalized with COVID-19 in Philadelphia, the city said. That’s down from 717 hospitalized on Friday, marking the first drop in recent memory. But since we don’t know how many people died vs. being discharged, it’s an uncertain marker. Plus, we need to watch for multi-day trends to know if the curve is actually flattening. Statewide, tests have plateaued at around 7,000 per day. That’s worrisome, experts tell PennLive, because it’s nowhere near enough testing to be able to relax social distancing measures and safely restart the economy.
10 very Philly backgrounds to spice up your Zoom game Videoconferencing app Zoom has become the lifeblood of many daily interactions. Although some companies have banned it because of potential security issues, lots of us depend on it for everything from work calls to family check-ins to dance parties — and the virtual background option adds zest to any of them. What should you use as a backdrop? Here are 10 extremely Philly suggestions to take your Zoom game to the next level.
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Bernie Sanders’ departure from the presidential race left hardcore climate change activists in mourning—and wondering where the former vice president stands.
Sen. Bernie Sanders has dropped out of the 2020 Democratic presidential contest, clearing the way for former vice president Joe Biden to take the nomination. Credit: Drew Angerer/Getty Images
Joe Biden has an ambitious plan for climate action and environmental justice, but for some of the nation’s most ardent climate voters, he has yet to fill the void left by Bernie Sanders’ withdrawal from the presidential race.
Case in point: Lori Lawrence, a grassroots environmentalist in Wichita, Kansas. She has helped organize protests against the local climate denial powerhouse, Koch Industries, as well as a push for a city-appointed task force aimed at cutting plastic bag pollution. But from all the discussion in her network of fellow-minded activists and all the news coverage she watches, she said, she has no clue where former Vice President Joe Biden stands on climate.
“All I’ve seen is the debate where he did say he was going to stop fracking, which I thought was kind of odd, since he hasn’t spoken out about that before,” she said in a telephone interview shortly before Sanders’ withdrawal from the race. “How serious is Biden? What kind of plan does he have worked out? I don’t know. It makes me wonder if there is indeed a plan. I assume it’s some little thing on his web site somewhere that’s not at the top of his agenda.”
In fact, the former vice president has offered a detailed roadmap for decarbonizing the economy that is historic by any number of yardsticks—but it lacks the size, scope, and clarity of Sanders’ vision, embodied in the Green New Deal. Biden has called the Green New Deal “a crucial framework for meeting the climate challenges we face,” and his goal of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 is on par with Sanders’ and far beyond President Barack Obama’s pledge (an 80 percent reduction from 2005 levels.) But Biden has not embraced the bolder elements of Sanders’ plan—especially the melding of a national Medicare-for-all system into the climate package.
Biden’s proposed $1.7 trillion climate plan includes 30 times the clean energy commitment in Hillary Clinton’s 2016 platform. But no matter how aggressive his climate goals are, there remains a widespread feeling, even among his supporters, that he has yet to make a convincing case as a champion of climate action to young and progressive voters. In the community of progressive climate activists, the overwhelming response to Sanders’ withdrawal was equal parts grief over the loss of their standard-bearer, and affirmation of their commitment to his ideals—underscoring the challenge for Biden.
“We’re not going to sugarcoat it: Our hearts are heavy,” Aracely Jimenez, a spokeswoman for the youth-led Sunrise Movement, said in a statement. “The ball’s now in Joe Biden’s court. To avoid a repeat of 2016, he needs to show young people that he’s going to stand up for them by embracing policies like an ambitious Green New Deal that led young voters to flock to Bernie. If he doesn’t do this, our work turning out our generation to defeat Trump this fall becomes a lot harder.”
Sanders’ Climate Pledge was Nearly Ten Times Biden’s
Sanders’ uncompromising platform resonated with “keep-it-in-the-ground” climate activists across the country, who have been at the front line of fighting pipelines, fracking, export terminals and the like. “If we are serious about clean air and drinking water, if we are serious about combating climate change, the only safe and sane way to move forward is to ban fracking nationwide,” Sanders said, when he introduced legislation earlier this year to phase out the practice. He said his $16.3 trillion federal climate commitment over 10 years—nearly 10 times Biden’s pledge—would help create 20 million jobs.
Sanders’ plan earned top grades on the scorecards compiled by progressive climate groups like Sunrise Movement, 350.org andGreenpeace. All gave mediocre grades to Biden’s plan, which foresees a slower transition from fossil fuels. On fracking, Biden has said he would approve no new permits on federal land or waters. But existing permits should be evaluated on a case by case basis to see “whether or not they…are dangerous, whether or not they have already done the damage,” Biden has said. He has called for “aggressive methane pollution limits” on existing oil and gas operations—a regulatory proposal that the Obama administration launched but failed to complete before Trump took office.
“We do not believe that Biden’s plan at this point really is bold enough to reduce emissions this decade at the rate that we need to,” said Thanu Yakupitiyage, U.S. communications director at 350 Action, which endorsed both Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). Biden “needs to do a lot of work to make his climate plan robust,” Yakupitiyage said in an interview before Sanders’ withdrawal from the race.
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