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Hi friends,
It’s our last newsletter before the New Year! Let’s catch up on last week’s news.
Data-Driven
$13.5B - Net flows into all sustainable funds reached $13.5 billion through the first nine months of 2019, almost tripling 2018’s total of $5.5B, according to a report by Morningstar. (Barron’s)
TCS Analysis: Money talks again, last week we brought you a story about Goldman Sachs committing $750B to energy transition projects and this is just another example of the capital markets shifting to projects that have a positive impact both financially and morally.
Our Latest Post
A Global Green New Deal - Right before Christmas, researchers from Stanford published a 119-page report on the impact of a global GND on grid stability, costs, jobs, health and climate across 143 countries grouped into 24 regions.
I highlighted a few of the key figures from the research as well a summary of my thoughts on report.
While the report was, as you’d expect from Stanford, rigorous, there were a few glaring holes such as not accounting for congestion or transmission losses. Overall, I’m glad the research is being done around the impact of long-term investments in our infrastructure and cleantech. Yet, we’re still a long way from real action that marries public policy with private sector motivations.
Deep Dives
House Foregoes New Tax Credits for Energy, Approves $1.4T Budget - The U.S. House of Representatives approved a broad spending bill on Tuesday extending tax credits for wind energy while neglecting to vote on broader energy energy legislation. (Utility Dive)
TCS Analysis: More kicking the can down the road on real energy policies to move us into the 21st century. Wind tax credits will extend into 2020, but for projects that last decades, a year long extension really does nothing to spur new development. Congress is considering more sweeping legislation for storage, EV’s, offshore wind, and solar but that vote will have to wait until an election year which means its highly unlikely we get anything of consequence yet again.
PG&E Wired to Fail - The utility has sparked deadly fires and pipeline explosions, left millions of Californians in the dark and gone bankrupt twice in less than 15 years. Here’s what went wrong. (WSJ)
TCS Analysis: This is a great deep dive into California’s largest utility. PG&E has been a disaster from a variety of angles - leadership, government, et. al have failed. One of the more interesting trends to watch over the next decade won’t just be how policy evolves, but also if talent will start becoming more interested in the energy sector given the noise around climate change. Utilities could certainly use an influx of technical talent and experienced leadership with creative and innovative strategies.
Switched Off
This week’s non-energy related read. h/t to Polina Marinova’s The Profile
Dwayne Johnson: The Pain and the Passion That Fuel The Rock - Johnson was arrested multiple times as a teen, failed to get drafted in the NFL, and battled with bouts of depression. But he managed to learn an important lesson: your most painful experiences can propel you forward. (Rolling Stone)
TCS: I’ve read this article before in Polina’s newsletter (highly recommend) last year, but she re-shared today. This was one of my favorite articles that has appeared in her newsletter - it’s impossible not to root for and admire The Rock.
This newsletter is our side-hustle. We hope it equips you with data and insights on the energy sector to inform your decision-making process in the best way possible. If you have feedback, let us know!
Enjoy the rest of your weekend!
The Charging Station
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