HAPPY FRIDAY: We have a slimmed-down version of Daily on Energy today. It’s a rundown of the latest news on solar tariffs, an effort to coordinate among rich nations on limiting financing for coal projects, a look at a GOP House Judiciary Committee hearing next week critical of ESG, and more.
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ITC VOTES FOR INQUIRY INTO SOLAR PANEL IMPORTS FROM ASIAN NATIONS: The International Trade Commission voted 4-0 this morning in favor of beginning antidumping and countervailing duty investigations into certain solar imports from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam, a first step toward the imposition of new tariffs.
The vote is a favorable one for domestic manufacturers who have alleged that the four countries are serving as conduits for Chinese companies to dump solar panels on the market, as we covered in yesterday’s newsletter. Bloomberg has the report on the vote, in which the commission found reasonable indication of material injury to domestic solar manufacturers.
What’s next: Today’s vote is the first of four steps in the review of the petition for tariffs from domestic manufacturers. If all unfolds as they hope, preliminary duties could be collected as soon as July.
A representative for the Solar Energy Industries Association, which represents developers and opposes tariffs, told Bloomberg that the group “will continue presenting information to the commission on the issue of injury, including the fact that certain US module producers appear to be thriving even with the steady flow of module imports.”
EFFORT AT OECD TO END PRIVATE FINANCING FOR COAL: A few major economies, including the U.S., are working to have the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development commit members to halting private financing for coal, Reuters reports. Sources said the negotiators are aiming to finalize a plan before the COP29 climate summit in Azerbaijan in November.
The details: The plan is to set a standard that would have financial institutions halt new financing for coal projects and infrastructure. They would also fund the early retirement of coal plants rather than divesting them.
Which nations are behind it: France, the United States, Britain, Canada, and the European Union, according to Reuters. Japan, which gets a quarter of its energy from coal, is leading the pushback to the effort.
TO WATCH ON THE HILL NEXT WEEK – GOP VERSUS ESG: The House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform, and Antitrust will hold a hearing Wednesday on ESG investing, featuring some of the key players in last week’s showdown between Exxon Mobil and activist investors.
The hearing is billed as “Climate Control: Decarbonization Collusion in Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Investing.”
The GOP majority’s notice said the hearing will “examine whether existing civil and criminal penalties and current antitrust law enforcement efforts are sufficient to deter anticompetitive collusion to promote ESG-related goals in the investment industry.”
Witnesses will include Natasha Lamb, Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer at Arjuna Capital, one of the activist investors in the Exxon drama, as well as Dan Bienvenue, Interim Chief Investment Officer of CalPERS, which had backed Arjuna.
LONG-RANGE ELECTRIC VEHICLES NOW CHEAPER THAN AVERAGE CAR: The tough competition among electric vehicle makers in recent months has driven down prices to the extent that there are now several long-range EVs on the market cheaper than the average gas-powered car.
Tesla, Hyundai-Kia, and General Motors all now offer EVs with ranges longer than 300 miles for less than $47,000, which is the average price of a new car, according to Bloomberg.
Our thought: Two of the main reasons people shy away from EVs are high upfront costs and range anxiety. It seems manufacturers are making progress on both fronts rapidly.
It’s difficult to compare costs between traditional autos and EVs, because of the varying costs of gas and maintenance and federal credits for EVs. But sticker prices for EVs are falling fast. With credits, the base model of the new electric Chevy Equinox available later this year will be below $28,000, Bloomberg notes.
ENTREPRENEUR’S FOURTH TRY AT OPENING FIRST U.S. REFINERY IN 50 YEARS: Element Fuels Holdings said yesterday that it aims to build a large oil refinery in Brownsville, Texas, on the border with Mexico, Reuters reports.
The refinery would be the first in the U.S. in nearly 50 years. The startup’s founder and co-CEO, John Calce, has tried twice before with previous ventures to build a refinery in the area. He said those efforts failed for various reasons but that he believes that the U.S. needs, and will continue to need, refining for oil from shale fields in Texas, as opposed to the medium to heavy crude that Gulf Coast refineries generally process. “We had conviction around the U.S. shale oil market,” he said. He added that the U.S. is “very, very long, light crude and short refining capacity.”
Element said it is looking for funding from banks and private credit funds as well as from the Inflation Reduction Act.
CHINESE DEVELOPER CLAIMS WORLD’S LARGEST OFFSHORE WIND TURBINE: Dongfang Electric Corp. says that it has successfully installed an 18-megawatt semi-direct drive offshore wind turbine, the world’s largest, in Shantou, in China’s Guangdong province, according to The Star.
The rotor diameter of the wind turbine is 260 meters.
RUNDOWN
E&E News Trump and Musk are friends. Just don’t mention EVs.
New York Times How a backlash against climate action is reshaping Europe’s election
Wall Street Journal A Natural-Gas Billionaire Bets on Greener Fossil Fuel