Engaging Articles of the Week
Spain Explained: Last week, Spain experienced a sudden and prolonged power outage. It was no trifling, localized event; much of the country’s power grid failed, within 30 seconds. Much of the country was without power for more than 12 hours. Why did it happen? The actual trigger was a bit complex, and at the time not well understood, though mainstream media, while as in-the-dark as anyone, rushed to the conclusion we just somehow knew they would: We don’t know what it was, but don’t blame renewables. If you think I’m oversimplifying, well, Reuters’ headline was fairly straightforward, “Don’t blame renewables for Spain’s power outage”. If only power was as reliable as this relentless narrative, ruling something out immediately because Some Things Must Never Be Spoken. To their credit (?), despite the panicked and ridiculous headline, the Reuters’ article did indeed point out that an overreliance on renewables (solar in particular) caused the problem, but as is often the case with their ilk, they cloaked the problem as society’s decision not to install hundreds of billions of dollars worth of batteries to prevent such issues. Sure. Just put them over there, send the bill. Luckily, we have truly analytical types around, such as grid expert Meredith Angwin who explained with much better precision what happened in Spain, as well as a proper analysis that, unlike Reuters, is not bent entirely around a pre-dispositioned ideological narrative. Reuters’ thought-police/pseudo-analysis here, the Angwin better one, here.
Manitoba gets it: Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew wrote an impressive letter to Prime Minister Carney last week. Premier Kinew, an NDP leader, blasted out a two-pager so filled with common sense and visionary thinking that one has to wonder if there is any meaning to party affiliation anymore. The letter outlines the critical importance of developing nation-building projects including, first on the list, a “One Canada Trade Corridor” that would bring Canadian goods and energy to new markets. His other four initiatives are a common sense vision that could/would do wonders for Canada: develop prairie agriculture and export diversification; develop a Trucking Corridor to enhance cross country trade flows and remove bottlenecks; develop critical minerals infrastructure (Kinew calls Manitoba the “Costco of critical minerals”) across the north; and create Indigenous Fair Trade Zones, an aspect of an important and necessary component in any hope to build major nation-building infrastructure. Hmm. Add this together with Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s comments to Carney that he “had better start showing some love to Alberta and Saskatchewan”, and that Carney’s predecessor had treated them terribly. Maybe we will actually get somewhere? Kinew letter here.
Now that’s some LNG throughput: Venture Global US LNG recently brought online the latest US LNG export facility, Plaquemines. It’s a big one, with a nominal capacity of 2.6 bcf/d. But apparently it’s actually bigger than that, capable of throughput considerably higher than ‘nominal capacity’. Venture Global CEO Mike Sabel said, “Our first facility, Calcasieu Pass, achieved its Commercial Operation Date, commencing the delivery of reliable low-cost, U.S. LNG to the project’s long term customers. Eighteen of the liquefaction trains at our second facility, Plaquemines, have demonstrated production levels of approximately 140% of nameplate capacity, providing unprecedented flexibility to meet market demand.” their third facility, CP2, recently received key US government approvals and is moving rapidly towards FID. Latest estimates from East Daley Analytics, including current projects that have reached FID, show an incremental LNG demand in the US alone of 12.7 bcf/d by 2030. The US LNG juggernaut continues to grow and producers better fire up some rigs soon. Venture Global story here. East Daley article here.
Impressive hybrid auto tech: Hyundai announced a new type of automotive hybrid system, similar to other systems but more refined. It has two electric motors paired with a 2.5 liter turbocharged engine. One electric motor is used for engine starts, recharging the vehcile’s battery and propulsion. The other motor is used for propulsion and recouping energy through regenerative braking. This setup allows the main gasoline engine to run at the highest-efficiency RPM for more time. The result is a power system with 19 percent more power and 45 percent better fuel economy than a standard gas engine. Win-win, and it’s no wonder hybrids are getting more popular. Of course, Hyundai may just be catching up to Toyota, who for example last year introduced a new Camry hybrid that also has a 2.5 liter engine with two electric motors, delivering 225 horsepower and a whopping 51 mpg combined mileage, in US gallons, which is 61 miles per Canadian gallon. Impressive engineering, and as Toyota likes to say, hybrids make far better use of limited supplies of critical metals/minerals than pure BEVs. Hyundai story here. Toyota story here.
Explore the lighter side of energy, and think of it as you never have before in The End of Fossil Fuel Insanity – the energy story for those that don’t live in the energy world, but want to find out. And laugh. Available at Amazon.ca, Indigo.ca, or Amazon.com.
Read more insightful analysis from Terry Etam here, or email Terry here.