NewEnergyNews: ORIGINAL REPORTING: Securitization fever: Renewables advocates seize a Wall Street way to end coal/

NewEnergyNews

Gleanings from the web and the world, condensed for convenience, illustrated for enlightenment, arranged for impact...

The challenge now: To make every day Earth Day.

YESTERDAY

THINGS-TO-THINK-ABOUT WEDNESDAY, August 23:

  • TTTA Wednesday-ORIGINAL REPORTING: The IRA And The New Energy Boom
  • TTTA Wednesday-ORIGINAL REPORTING: The IRA And the EV Revolution
  • THE DAY BEFORE

  • Weekend Video: Coming Ocean Current Collapse Could Up Climate Crisis
  • Weekend Video: Impacts Of The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Current Collapse
  • Weekend Video: More Facts On The AMOC
  • THE DAY BEFORE THE DAY BEFORE

    WEEKEND VIDEOS, July 15-16:

  • Weekend Video: The Truth About China And The Climate Crisis
  • Weekend Video: Florida Insurance At The Climate Crisis Storm’s Eye
  • Weekend Video: The 9-1-1 On Rooftop Solar
  • THE DAY BEFORE THAT

    WEEKEND VIDEOS, July 8-9:

  • Weekend Video: Bill Nye Science Guy On The Climate Crisis
  • Weekend Video: The Changes Causing The Crisis
  • Weekend Video: A “Massive Global Solar Boom” Now
  • THE LAST DAY UP HERE

    WEEKEND VIDEOS, July 1-2:

  • The Global New Energy Boom Accelerates
  • Ukraine Faces The Climate Crisis While Fighting To Survive
  • Texas Heat And Politics Of Denial
  • --------------------------

    --------------------------

    Founding Editor Herman K. Trabish

    --------------------------

    --------------------------

    WEEKEND VIDEOS, June 17-18

  • Fixing The Power System
  • The Energy Storage Solution
  • New Energy Equity With Community Solar
  • Weekend Video: The Way Wind Can Help Win Wars
  • Weekend Video: New Support For Hydropower
  • Some details about NewEnergyNews and the man behind the curtain: Herman K. Trabish, Agua Dulce, CA., Doctor with my hands, Writer with my head, Student of New Energy and Human Experience with my heart

    email: herman@NewEnergyNews.net

    -------------------

    -------------------

      A tip of the NewEnergyNews cap to Phillip Garcia for crucial assistance in the design implementation of this site. Thanks, Phillip.

    -------------------

    Pay a visit to the HARRY BOYKOFF page at Basketball Reference, sponsored by NewEnergyNews and Oil In Their Blood.

  • ---------------
  • WEEKEND VIDEOS, August 24-26:
  • Happy One-Year Birthday, Inflation Reduction Act
  • The Virtual Power Plant Boom, Part 1
  • The Virtual Power Plant Boom, Part 2

    Wednesday, October 16, 2019

    ORIGINAL REPORTING: Securitization fever: Renewables advocates seize a Wall Street way to end coal

    Securitization fever: Renewables advocates seize Wall Street's innovative way to end coal; New laws passed across the country allow customer-backed bonds to pay off stranded coal assets in favor of renewables, but utilities are hesitant.

    Herman K. Trabish, May 28, 2019 (Utility Dive)

    Editor’s note: The idea of issuing bonds secured by utility assets to finance the energy transition is gaining traction nationally.

    With the cost of building new renewables now lower than the cost of operating most existing coal plants, the major remaining obstacle to this energy transition is resolving the financial burden of stranded coal assets.

    State legislation — like bills recently passed in Montana, Colorado and New Mexico — can give coal-owning utilities the option to issue bonds secured by the certainty of customers paying their bills. This financial strategy, called securitization, has attracted over $50 billion from investors to resolve other utility obligations, and can be used to pay off stranded coal assets.

    Accelerated depreciation, which more quickly resolves the stranded financial obligations, has also been used to transition from coal to renewables. But it imposes rate increases on customers. Securitization avoids rate increases by using new capital from bond sales to pay off obligations. But it can impose losses on investor-owned utility (IOU) shareholders.

    Utilities prefer accelerated depreciation, they told Utility Dive. Some renewables advocates also oppose securitization’s excusing of utilities from the burden of imprudent coal investments. But many renewables advocates see securitization financing the transition from coal while protecting ratepayers and coal-dependent communities. Securitization is an option in 24 states and has been used in 65 IOU transactions involving $50.9 billion in bonds, according to Saber Partners CEO Joseph Fichera.

    While it hasn't been used yet for a coal plant closure, securitization has been used to smooth deregulation, reduce renewable and distributed generation costs, defer utility debt and finance pollution control upgrades, nuclear plant losses and storm recovery, Fichera said. A bill passed March 21 in New Mexico designates it for use in shuttering PNM's San Juan Generating Station.

    Securitization can be used to retire uneconomic coal generation, Energy Innovation Director of Electricity Policy Mike O'Boyle told Utility Dive. To fully cover utilities' losses, regulators in Colorado have allowed accelerated depreciation. But that increases customer bills in the short term, while securitization "rebalances the scales in favor of consumers," O’Boyle co-author on three securitization policy briefsand former Colorado Public Utilities Commission Chair Ron Lehr told Utility Dive. Bonds issued through securitization give utilities capital to reinvest in a 'Steel for Fuel' exchange of coal assets for renewables assets that can earn comparable returns, Lehr added… click here for more

    NO QUICK NEWS

    0 Comments:

    Post a Comment

    << Home