Guess who might provide a big boost to U.S. solar industry

Analysts expect solar panel costs to drop by a third. That could be a lifeline for U.S. developers, who sidelined billions of dollars in projects over the tariffs.

China announced it was scaling back some of its solar subsidies. Analysts expect the policies to reduce the amount of solar installed in China, but increase its solar panel sales globally, lowering prices. Credit: Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

Nicholas Kusnetz reports for Inside Climate News:The American solar market may be about to get boost from an unexpected source: Energy analysts say the Chinese government’s decision to dramatically cut its solar power subsidies will create a glut of solar panels and send their prices tumbling worldwide.

It comes at a crucial time for American solar installers. Falling prices could take the sting out of President Trump’s solar panel tariffs, which have raised costs in the United States and led to billions of dollars in cancelled and frozen U.S. investments.

“It’s changing the tone from negative to positive for the U.S.,” said Xiaoting Wang, an analyst with Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF).

Last week, the Chinese government announced it would halt approvals of new subsidized utility-scale solar plants, limit the amount of smaller-scale distributed generation installed and shrink the subsidies it provides to solar generators. All told, these policies are expected to cut the amount of solar capacity installed this year in China by 30 to 40 percent, according to Wood Mackenzie and BNEF.

Because China leads the world in new solar installations, the steep drop in demand will ripple across the global market.
BNEF expects prices of some panels to fall 34 percent as result. That will bring down installation costs for new solar projects, particularly large, utility-scale systems, and spur new investment in other countries, though BNEF said that new investment is unlikely to make up for the drop in China.

Lower Prices Could Counteract the Tariffs

Morgan Lyons, a spokesman for the Solar Energy Industries Association, said it’s too soon to know what the effects on the U.S. market will be, but that it will likely lead to lower costs.
The drop could also counteract the impact of new tariffs the Trump administration imposed on imported solar panels. The tariffs, which started this year at 30 percent and will decline over the next three years, gave a boost to domestic manufacturers of solar panels, who faced competition from cheap imports from China and other countries. One of those manufacturers, First Solar Inc., saw its stock price fall sharply after China’s announcement because it’s now expected to face lower-cost competition once again.
But the tariffs have the opposite effect on the solar installation sector, which employs far more people than manufacturing.
U.S. solar developers have canceled or frozen more than $2.5 billion in investments, Reuters reported Thursday. A report by GTM Research said the tariffs would cut solar installations by 11 percent over five years, or about 7.6 gigawatts less new capacity than previously forecast.






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NJ’s ‘Battle of the Bob’s’ promises to be dirty and nasty

Bruised by his lackluster win in Tuesday’s primary, Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez still favored to beat Republican Bob Hugin in fall election

menendez hugin

U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez (left) and Republican senatorial hopeful Bob Hugin
Colleen O’Day reports
for NJ Spotlight:


Now that the primary is over, the battle of the Bobs for New Jersey’s U.S. Senate seat begins in earnest and though he may be bruised, Sen. Robert Menendez is still the favorite to win after what is expected to be by all accounts a nasty, negative campaign.
Menendez (D-NJ), a 12-year incumbent, had a lackluster win on Tuesday over a virtually unknown Lisa McCormick, garnering just 62 percent of the vote. He lost to the local news publisher in six counties – Cape May, Hunterdon, Salem, Somerset, Sussex and Warren. All but Somerset are Republican-dominant with low Democratic registration. His only dominant majorities of more than 70 percent were in Essex and Hudson counties, which have strong Democratic machines, and in Bergen.
But at least two national politics ratings continue to rate New Jersey’s Senate race this year as a likely Democratic win and Jersey-based pundits agree, although it is not likely to be as easy as his 20-point victory in 2012.
“All the news about Sen. Menendez leading up to the primary was bad, it won’t be in the general election,” said Matthew Hale, a professor of political science and public affairs at Seton Hall University, noting that the Senate Ethics Committee “severely admonished” Menendez less than six weeks before the primary. “A lot of people who voted for McCormick are going to come back to Sen. Menendez in November.”
Hale said the November election will wind up being less about the corruption charges against Menendez — of which he was not convicted — and more about the latest scandal involving the Trump administration. Menendez was charged with accepting gifts and travel from a campaign donor on whose behalf he intervened with a federal agency. Menendez said the gifts were from a friend. A trial led to a hung jury and the Justice Department has since dropped the charges.

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NJ ban on styrofoam food containers in schools advances


By Frank Brill
EnviroPolitics Editor


The New Jersey Senate today passed (37-1) legislation that would prohibit the sale of food and beverages in Styrofoam food containers by public schools and public institutions of higher education.


The prohibition would not apply to any food or beverage that was filled and sealed in a styrofoam food container before a school or public institution of higher education received it.


Co-sponsors Troy Singleton (D-Mount Laurel) and Senator Christopher Bateman (R-Somerville) claim that the containers have led to environmental issues, including waste pollution, because they are not bio-degradable and have few facililties that can recycle them.


 A long list of environmental organizations support the legislation, S1486, that now moves to the Assembly.


Related: NJ bill would ban Styrofoam school lunch containers

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Trump plan to help coal, nukes could cost us all billions

Families to ‘overpay’ hundreds of dollars a year for electricity if plan goes through. NJ supporters say it would help South Jersey economy

Tom Johnson reports for NJ Spotlight:

With the Trump administration mulling a plan to prop up nuclear and coal plants, critics say it will cost consumers billions of dollars on their energy bills and undermine the transition to renewable energy.
The administration’s proposal is designed to avert the closing of new nuclear and coal units, which have faced economic challenges in competing against cheap natural plants in a rapidly evolving energy marketplace.
It is essentially the same argument that was advanced in New Jersey to win passage of a new law this spring that could have ratepayers pay up to $300 million a year to subsidize three nuclear units in South Jersey operated by a subsidiary of the Public Service Enterprise Group.
Now, if President Donald Trump gets his way, the operators of the regional power grids could be ordered to buy electricity from the nation’s fiscally strapped nuclear and coal plants for two years as a way to prevent their closure.
Peter Bradford, a former member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and chairman of New York and Maine utility commissions, called the administration’s plan to tax consumers to support failing power plants energy policy-making gone haywire.

‘Impoverishing customers’

In a teleconference call with reporters, Bradford noted there are no state or federal energy regulators petitioning the federal government for these measures, which became public last week in a story by Bloomberg.
“By overpaying hundreds of dollars per family per year for electricity that can be obtained far less expensively from other sources, the administration is impoverishing customers, cutting off construction and industrial jobs, and suppressing energy innovation,’’ he said.

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After the eruption of Guatemala’s Volcano of Fire, rescuers find villages covered in ash, 75 dead and 200 missing

Here are the latest videos, photos and news stories from the BBC, LA Times and CNN on the volcano which took villagers by surprise in Guatemala, killing 75 and leaving many more missing.


Sunday’s blast generated pyroclastic flows – fast-moving mixtures of very hot gas and volcanic matter – which descended down the slopes, engulfing communities including El Rodeo and San Miguel Los Lotes.



Volcanologist Dr Janine Krippner told the BBC that people should not underestimate the risk from pyroclastic flows and volcanic mudflows, known as lahars.



“Fuego is a very active volcano. It has deposited quite a bit of loose volcanic material and it is also in a rain-heavy area, so when heavy rains hit the volcano that is going to be washing the deposits away into these mudflows which carry a lot of debris and rock.



“They are extremely dangerous and deadly as well.”

(María Del Rocío Lazo / AFP / Getty Images)


Guatemala’s Volcano of Fire during an eruption as seen from Alotenango, Guatemala
It all happened in an instant. Not minutes, but seconds. The lava came down and swept everything away.
Eufemia Garcia, El Rodeo resident who was not home at the time of the eruption

Guatemala hotel that proudly touted its volcano views is now covered in ash 


The Hotel La Reunion is about 4 miles from Guatemala’s Fuego volcano.


Hotel personnel said they managed to evacuate all guests and staff, saving their lives.



“We thank everyone who since the first moment has provided words of encouragement and has offered their help so that we all move forward,” the resort said in an online statement, which was translated from Spanish. “We are united and pray to overcome this emergency, actively assisting the victims.”
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Greens urge NJ to clamp down on power-plant CO2

Environmentalists say state’s re-entry into RGGI offers opportunity to set ambitious cap on greenhouse-gas emissions

Tom Johnson reports for NJ Spotlight:

The Murphy administration is being urged to ratchet down on greenhouse-gas emissions from power plants when it rejoins a regional initiative to limit climate-harming pollution.
In a letter to two Cabinet officials, several environmental organizations recommended an ambitious cap on carbon pollution in 2020, when New Jersey re-enters the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a multistate program aimed at combating climate change.
New Jersey had been part of RGGI until 2011, when former Gov. Chris Christie pulled the state out of the initiative, citing cost to utility customers. Lawmakers sought to rejoin the program but were blocked by repeated vetoes by Christie. Gov. Phil Murphy already has signed a law authorizing the state to rejoin RGGI and negotiations are ongoing.
The size of the cap is considered crucial to clean-energy advocates who argue that if it’s too modest it could undermine some of Murphy’s most significant environmental policies and the overall effectiveness of RGGI.
The Natural Resources Defense Council has analyzed the situation; it and other groups have recommended the state adopt a cap between 12 million and 13 million tons of carbon dioxide in 2020. In 2017, New Jersey’s in-state power emissions were 18.6 million tons of CO2, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Adopting a cap of 12 million to 13 million tons is consistent with the state’s current trajectory, achievable and economically reasonable, according to the letter sent to Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Catherine McCabe and Board of Public Utilities president Joseph Fiordaliso.


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