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In a surprising turn around, Arizona Public Service (APS) pledged on Wednesday to achieve carbon-free (not just neutral) power by 2050, with an interim target of 65 percent clean electricity by 2030, and by 2031 APS will achieve 45 percent renewable energy as well as close its coal power plants. Ironically, in 2018, APS spent nearly $40 million dollars to defeat a ballot initiative to switch to renewables in the same time frame that Democratic Presidential candidate Tom Steyer’s organization NextGen America was working to get passed, according to The Washington Post.
Why This Matters: This ambitious 2050 goal is going to take a concerted effort — APS currently gets 22 percent of its power from coal and 26 percent from gas and oil, according to the company, and the massive Palo Verde nuclear plant accounts for 25 percent of the mix, while renewables deliver only 12 % right now. What changed since 2018? The company’s CEO, investor interests, and ultimately Arizona public opinion. Isn’t it ironic? It is only a shame that they spent so much money to defeat the ballot initiative — money that could have been dedicated to developing more renewable energy sources. Better late than never. As we have written, APS joins a growing list of utilities making similar carbon commitments.
Steyer Is Gracious In Victory
The Post reported that Steyer said in a statement, “I am very encouraged by the news from Arizona Public Service this morning and I am also happy that our efforts behind Proposition 127 in 2018 are finally moving Arizona to a more clean energy future….The plan put forth by APS shows that when public interest advocates keep pushing energy companies, they can get real results.” Interestingly, the company’s chief said they will no longer spend money funding the campaigns of candidates for the public utility commission that regulates APS, thereby taking politics out of the decision in the future.
How Will They Get There?
Actually they don’t know the full answer yet — APS’ CEO Jeff Gulder said, “We know that there’s almost certainly going to be a need for some dispatchable resources to maintain reliability,” and continued, “[l]et’s get those signals moving so that we can use market-driven methods to drive some of the technology advances.” APS plans to rely on existing gas-fired power in the “near term” to make “a sensible transition to clean generating sources,” and eventually will build large storage facilities to make an all renewables portfolio viable. It is clear that it would be uneconomic to keep open the company’s two aging coal plants, which are 50 years old.
by Natasha Lasky, ODP Staff Writer As the domestic electric vehicle market in the United States continues to hit its stride and new competitors vie in the race to electrify, Lucid Motors has emerged as an ultra-luxury competitor to EV darling Tesla Motors. This week, Lucid went public through a SPAC with Churchill Capital Corp […]
The Texas freeze and subsequent blackouts have given the Biden administration the chance to show the country how it will handle natural disasters, and they’ve already done one thing much differently than the Trump administration: acknowledged the role of climate change. And now, due to surge pricing, Texans are facing utility bills in the thousands of dollars for what little heat they got.
Why This Matters: The Biden administration wasted no time declaring an emergency and stating it would review preparation for future storms.
by Ashira Morris, ODP Staff Writer Clumps of sticky oil washed up on Israel’s Mediterranean beaches this weekend after a tanker was suspected of leaking. Officials are calling it one of the country’s “most serious ecological disasters” that has already seriously harmed marine life, including sea turtles and a fin whale that washed up dead […]
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