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Newsletter (copy 25)
America's dramatic shift from gas to batteries 🔋
Happy Wednesday, dear reader.
This week, we’re focused on pockets of progress in the US.
Some good news to get things started:
The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that Switzerland's efforts to tackle climate change have been inadequate. The ruling is binding and could have implications for the whole of Europe.
In March, solar output surpassed coal in Texas for the first time.
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Nick Hedley
Editor, The Progress Playbook
Big batteries are eating the lunch of gas-fired power plants in the US, new data shows.
Gas has long been the technology of choice for balancing America’s power grids and facilitating the shift from coal. In 2023, gas facilities accounted for 43.1% of total utility-scale generation in the country, per the Energy Information Administration (EIA). That’s up from 27.7% just a decade before.
But recent statistics from the EIA show that developers and power plant owners now overwhelmingly favour batteries as a source of dispatchable power. And the shift has been brisk.
In 2020, gas plants accounted for 21% of all new electrical capacity brought onto the grid. In 2024, however, the fossil fuel’s share of new additions is expected to slump to 4%, with just 2.5GW of new capacity set to come online — the lowest level in 25 years.
On the other hand, the share of new battery storage capacity has surged from 1% in 2020 to an anticipated 23% this year, with 14.3GW set to come online.
And there are indications that gas’ share of new projects will continue to decline.
Data collated by Berkeley Lab shows that of the 2.6 terawatts of energy projects seeking grid connections in the US, gas accounts for just 2.6% of potential additions. Standalone batteries, and projects with battery components, comprise nearly two-thirds of the total pipeline.
Meanwhile, some existing gas-fired power plants are being muscled out, too, as batteries that can take advantage of arbitrage opportunities gain the upper hand on the economic front.
- Read the full story here.
In a little more than two years, Amazon has installed more than 17,000 chargers at about 120 warehouses around the US, making the retail giant the largest operator of private electrical vehicle charging infrastructure in the country.
“We’ve figured out the path,” said Tom Chempananical, who oversees Amazon’s fleet of last-mile delivery vehicles.
- Read the full story here.
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New rules aimed at cleaning up America’s road transport sector are expected to spur a rapid shift to electric vehicles.
Why it matters: Transportation accounts for nearly 30% of US greenhouse gas emissions, making it the most polluting sector in the country, according to data from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
And despite tax incentives for buyers, the US is a laggard when it comes to the adoption of zero-emission vehicles. In 2023, EVs accounted for 7.6% of new vehicle sales — well behind the global average.
The latest: In late March, the EPA published new emissions standards for light, medium, and heavy-duty vehicles, which will take effect from 2027.
To comply, automakers will likely need to ensure that 56% of new passenger car and light- and medium-duty truck sales are electric by 2032, with plug-in hybrids taking another 13% share. Internal combustion engine vehicles — which will need to be more fuel efficient than they are today — will comprise just 29% of new sales.
Meanwhile, separate standards aimed at spurring a shift to cleaner heavy vehicles could result in 25% of new long-haul trucks being emissions-free by 2032, the EPA’s calculations show.
- Read the full story here.
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