WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY: Good morning and happy Monday, readers! In today’s edition of Daily on Energy, we dive into Callie’s recent trip to western Michigan, where she and the Examiner’s Graeme Jennings toured the shuttered Palisades Nuclear Plant and spoke with county officials and residents about the efforts to restart the power plant by October.
The restart of the plant would make history and likely pave the way for further investments in the industry. However, its path to reopening is far from simple, as it faces delays caused by necessary repairs and a petition spearheaded by a former employee and residents who live less than a mile from the facility.
Today’s newsletter details some highlights from the trip, so be sure to check out the full stories linked below for exclusive photos and quotes surrounding the plant’s restart.
Welcome to Daily on Energy, written by Washington Examiner energy and environment writers Callie Patteson (@CalliePatteson) and Maydeen Merino (@MaydeenMerino). Email cpatteson@washingtonexaminer dot com or mmerino@washingtonexaminer dot com for tips, suggestions, calendar items, and anything else. If a friend sent this to you and you’d like to sign up, click here. If signing up doesn’t work, shoot us an email, and we’ll add you to our list.
POWERING ON: Two weeks ago, Callie got an exclusive look inside the Palisades Nuclear Plant in Covert Township, Michigan. The facility is on track to become the first decommissioned nuclear plant in the U.S. to come back online this year.
A look inside: After walking through what can only be compared to airport security checkpoints, visitors, who are accompanied by an armed guard, will find additional security barriers protecting nearly every area and department. Behind one of these locked doors is the facility’s massive turbine deck that has transformed into a full-blown construction zone to inspect the condition of the turbine’s blades and valves.
Walking into the control room almost feels like a step back in time, with salmon pink and pale green paint covering the walls and panels that are littered with analog dials and manual control systems. There have been limited necessary upgrades in this room compared to the rest of the facility. However, Holtec is taking the time it has now to replace older screens and nuclear instrumentation while the plant is not in operation.
The petition: While plans to restart the power plant have received broad support from people who work and live nearby, not everyone is convinced Holtec is approaching the restart in the best way. In fact, several residents who live within just miles of the facility, as well as former Palisades employees, have been petitioning against the possible reopening for months.
Two of the main petitions have been spearheaded by Alan Blind, who served in several high positions within the nuclear energy industry for roughly 40 years. Blind pointed to safety concerns over Palisades’s design standards, decades-old steam generators, and lack of restart rules issued specifically by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, as well as the fact that Holtec has never run a nuclear facility. “This is basically a junk car that’s been sitting in the junkyard, and we don’t know anything about it, right?” Blind told Callie.
You can find more on the efforts to restart the plant and exclusive photos here.
Boosting rural development: The NRC is expected to issue its final approval for the Palisades restart by the end of July. If the plant gets the green light, local county officials are hopeful it will transform neighboring towns.
Holtec is aiming to fill roughly 600 jobs and add hundreds of contractors in order to conduct necessary maintenance and inspections. If restarted, the plant would also employ around 1,000 construction workers every 18 months for routine refueling and maintenance.
Van Buren County Administrator John Faul told Callie that increased property taxes from the nuclear plant can also benefit the region, with the funds going towards infrastructure upgrades. “We might need a new courthouse in the future, so rather than going to the citizens and having a bond millage passed, we’ll be able to afford it in-house,” he said.
However, some local residents worry that the promised economic benefits could lead officials to rush the effort to restart the plant, compromising safety.
Read more from Callie on the local impact of the expected restart here. Plus, check out her profile on noncertified fuel handler Steve McDonald, who has spent nearly his entire career at the power plant.
ANALYSTS DOUBT TRUMP CAN REVERSE TRANSITION TO GREEN ENERGY: President Donald Trump may not actually succeed in halting progress in the domestic transition to cleaner energy sources, analysts with Citigroup have predicted.
The details: The analysts, led by Antia McBain, wrote in a recent note that they are still optimistic the country will continue to lean on greener energy sources like solar and wind power during the Trump administration, despite the president’s efforts to shift attention back to fossil fuels, according to Bloomberg.
They pointed to the fact that the transition to green energy has advanced from when Trump was first in office, with businesses and individuals seeking cheap and reliable power. “Clean energy is cheaper, more widely available, and more efficient,” the note reportedly read. “For advocates of clean energy transition, the power of economics will prevail.”
Some background: During his first week in office, Trump signed a slew of executive orders to jumpstart his energy dominance and America first agenda. This included withdrawing again from the Paris Agreement, restarting approvals for new liquified natural gas export projects, halted federal green funding and paused offshore wind projects.
NATURAL GAS FIRM EXPANDS INTO PERMIAN BASIN: Oil and gas giant Diversified Energy is expanding its operations into the Permian Basin thanks to a nearly $1.3 billion deal announced today.
The details: Diversified Energy has said it is acquiring Maverick Natural Resources, bringing its combined worth to roughly $3.8 billion, including debt, according to the Wall St. Journal. Maverick currently holds properties in the massive Permian Basin, which spreads across west Texas and eastern New Mexico.
The oil and gas producer reportedly churns out around 77,000 barrels of oil each day, whereas Diversified Energy produces around 138,000 barrels of oil daily. The acquisition is expected to close in the first half of 2025.
POLAND SEES OPPORTUNITY IN TRUMP’S CLIMATE SPENDING PAUSE: Poland’s deputy climate minister told Reuters that President Donald Trump’s funding freeze on the U.S. climate and infrastructure law will benefit Europe.
“I think this is our moment. This is our window of opportunity, because many companies I’ve had conversations with, they were complaining about the IRA,” said Krzysztof Bolesta, Poland’s State Secretary for climate.
As part of the slew of executive orders Trump signed last week, he paused spending from the IRA and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The two bills were key actions by the Biden administration to promote clean energy technology and innovation. However, the Trump administration will likely look to repeal or reform tax credits from the IRA for clean energy initiatives and electric vehicles.
Clean tech companies had previously warned it would move investments to the U.S. to receive benefits from the climate legislation and to avoid Europe’s regulations, Bolesta said.
“Now I think the money will be harder to get in America, and we have our chance, so I just very much hope we will not blow it,” he added.
UNITED KINGDOM TO MISS CLEAN POWER TARGETS FOR 2030: The United Kingdom is projected to miss its 2030 clean energy targets by 32 gigawatts, Cornwall Insight said in a new analysis.
The analysis said that, despite the UK promoting the clean energy industry through its “Clean Power 2030 Action Plan,” it is expected to fall short of its targets for solar and onshore and offshore wind.
“While setting ambitious goals for renewables is crucial, some argue that pushing too quickly could have unintended consequences, diverting resources to short-term solutions at the expense of longer-term energy security and sustainability,” said Tom Mucker, modelling manager at Cornwall Insight.
Photovoltaic (PV) solar is set to be the largest underperformer, reaching 29GW compared to the 45-47GW government target, the analysis said. Meanwhile, onshore wind growth is expected to be 10GW short of the 27-29GW UK goal and offshore wind is projected to fall
just 6GW short of the 43-50GW goal.
“The Clean Power 2030 Action Plan included some much-needed detail on infrastructure and grid connections, as well as investment in flexible generation technologies and storage to balance the intermittent generation, which could see an increase in renewables build-out,” the analysis said. “However, with 2030 only five years away the impact of these reforms may not materialise quick enough to have a substantial impact on the 2030 capacity.”
FLOATING SOLAR HAS MASSIVE POTENTIAL: Floating solar photovoltaics are becoming a growing technology across Asia and Europe in areas with limited land availability, Canary Media reports.
The Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory found in a new study that federally owned or regulated reservoirs could hold enough floating solar to produce up to 1,476 terawatt-hours of clean electricity.
“We know we’re not going to be able to develop all of this. But even if you could develop 10% of what we identified, that would go a long way,” Evan Rosenlieb, a geospatial scientist and study co-author, told Canary Media.
The study said that floating solar photovoltaics, also known as “floatovoltaics” have several advantages, including that they support power plants in generating electricity without taking up land and cooling bodies of water.
Canary Media noted that Thailand has a 45-MW floating solar farm in the Sirindhorn Dam reservoir and China contains a 550-MW system in the city of Wenzhou. However, it remains a fairly untapped energy source in the U.S.
“In the United States, we don’t have a single project over 10 MW,” study co-author Aaron Levine, told Canary Media.
ICYMI….TRUMP ORDERS MORE WATER TO BE MOVED FROM CALIFORNIA CENTRAL VALLEY TO SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA: Over the weekend, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to bypass California water officials and deliver more Central Valley water to Southern California to help battle wildfires.
The order comes after Trump made a visit to Los Angeles last week to see the destruction of the Palisades Fire. The president ordered several federal agencies to overrule state officials to ensure there are adequate water resources in California to battle wildfires.
“For weeks, residents of the Los Angeles area have watched raging fires consume their homes, belongings, beloved pets, and childhood memories,” the order reads. “Almost immediately, firefighters were unable to fight the blaze due to dry hydrants, empty reservoirs, and inadequate water infrastructure.”
It stated that the Secretary of the Interior and Commerce will “immediately take actions” to override rules that “unduly burden” efforts to deliver more water, including endangered species laws. It added “The Bureau of Reclamation shall take all available measures to ensure that State agencies — including the California Department of Water Resources — do not interfere with the Bureau of Reclamation’s operation of the project…”
Specifically, it orders more water deliveries from the Central Valley Project, which helps transport water to areas in Northern California and farming in the Central Valley. It adds that federal agencies should “expedite action related to any exemption under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 for the Long-Term Operation” of the Central Valley Project and State Water Project.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s spokesperson, Tara Gallegos, told the New York Times that there is “there is no imaginary spigot to magically make water appear at a wildfire, despite what Trump claims.”
“Water operations to move water south through the Delta have nothing to do with the local fire response in Los Angeles,” Gallegos said. “Trump is either unaware of how water is stored in California or is deliberately misleading the public.”
ICYMI…MARYLAND JUDGE DISMISSES TWO CLIMATE LAWSUITS TARGETING CHEVRON: In a win for Big Oil, a judge has dismissed two climate lawsuits filed in Maryland against Chevron, BP, Shell, and more, saying federal law preempts state law claims against the oil companies.
The details: The lawsuits, filed by the City of Annapolis and County of Anne Arundel, stem as far back as 2021, when the local governments sought to sue the oil companies for their role in contributing to climate change. They claimed the companies had engaged in deceptive practices by failing to inform the public about the negative impacts of fossil fuels.
Anne Arundel County Circuit Judge Steven Platt originally ruled against dismissing the lawsuits last year, but reversed his decision last Thursday following a number of other rulings nationwide that threw out similar suits, according to Maryland Matters. In his ruling, Platt specifically pointed to the ruling issued by a Baltimore City Circuit Judge who opted to dismiss a nearly identical case saying “this Court need not consider the individual state law claims.”
While the plaintiffs have said they respect the court’s ruling, Anne Arundel County Attorney Gregory Swain has said the county plans to appeal the decision.
Big Oil has since celebrated the ruling. Chevron Corp. attorney Theodore J. Boutrous Jr. said in a statement, “The Court’s decision joins the growing and nearly unanimous consensus, among both federal and states courts across the country, that these types of claims are precluded and preempted by federal law and must be dismissed under clear U.S. Supreme Court precedent.”
A LOOK AHEAD:
Jan. 27 The Center for Science and Society at Columbia University hosts a free to the public roundtable discussion on mining amid rising global demand for critical minerals.
Jan. 28–30 The Midwest Energy Solutions Conference will be held in Chicago.
Jan. 29 The Environmental and Energy Study Institute is hosting Congressional Climate Camp on how to navigate climate information and tools in policy making.
Jan. 29 The Center for Strategic & International Studies will host “The Future of Uranium to Jumpstart Nuclear Power in the 21st Century: A Fireside Conversation with Miriam D’Onoforio.”
Jan. 29 Advanced Energy United to hold a webinar on challenges and issues surrounding the energy transition in the U.S. amid a new Congress and administration.
RUNDOWN
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