Power Line Planning

Transmissions on transmission – The Energy Department last week released a must-read national planning study for transmission to connect renewables to the grid through 2040.

• The takeaway? We could reduce billions of tonnes of CO2 emissions with interregional transmission and constraining development would require new nuclear and hydrogen energy to meet emission reduction targets, instead of solar, wind, and batteries.
  
• The lengthy report didn’t go into the permitting challenges at all though and the mapping does read aspirational if you know the context.
• Regardless, we hope to see you on DOE’s webinar on the study next Wednesday .

SCOTUS shrugs for once – The Supreme Court declined to stay challenges to the EPA’s methane and mercury air pollution regulations, meaning at least two Biden regulatory tailwinds for renewables developers remains in play.

• This means those challenges will have to weave their way through the appeals process while remaining in effect for companies.
  
• There’s still an outstanding request for the high court to stay EPA’s CO2 regulations for power plants though, so stay tuned.
• Meanwhile, the court has asked the U.S. solicitor general to weigh in on fossil fuel climate liability cases .

Big Oil wants IRA credits – Executives for oil majors have asked former President Donald Trump to keep at least some of the Inflation Reduction Act in place, reports the Wall Street Journal .

• However, don’t be fooled: the WSJ reporting indicates a priority for oil executives is carbon capture – not renewables. I first suggested this might be a possibility over the summer in my first story for Heatmap .
  
• Simply put, if you’re a developer, now’s the time to ask yourself: what’s my government affairs strategy if Trump wins?

Here’s what else I’m watching…

The U.S. International Trade Commission has received a patent protection complaint from Chinese solar manufacturer Trina Solar against Runergy and Adani Green Energy

In Wyoming, state lawmakers are trying to pass legislation allowing temporary radioactive storage for nuclear power.

Read more: This Is How You Die of Extreme Heat