As oil traders await Israel response, clean energy stalled at grid

Plus, a new furor over carbon offsets

In today’s edition:

— Clean energy awaiting connection to U.S. grids rose by almost a third last year, as old oil fears return

— It’s one of the largest charging networks in the U.S., but it’s only for Amazon trucks

— Climate pledge group suffers revolt over carbon offset plan

— Hawaii’s climate emergency is more about water than fire

— Bloomberg sets fund to encourage local youth to create climate programs

— Crashed meteorites at risk from melting ice in Antarctica

Graph showing grid interconnection queues by location. Image: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Wall Street is awash in oil fears this week as nervous traders await Israel’s response to Iran’s weekend attack, with estimates ranging from $100 a barrel oil to actual declines, depending on what — if anything — the next military move will be. Our own guess is that Israel will launch something sooner rather than later.

As the fossil fuel markets hang on anticipation about the global oil supply, clean energy in the U.S. is facing a different problem. There is plenty of it, more than enough to help defray a decline in oil supply, but our grids are not updated enough to accept all the new connections.

Solar, wind and battery projects awaiting connection to the grid — known as interconnection queues — jumped by 27% last year, according to Utility Dive.

Many energy experts point to increased shale production as the answer to global oil woes, but updating our grids would be a far more profitable endeavor for investors, particularly those invested in grid connection equipment and tools.

The geopolitical situation in the Middle East is tense now, certainly as tense as it’s been since the Iraq wars 20 years ago. But at some point, as new energy comes online, it will be less of a market mover in global commodities markets. Before that happens however, a grid crisis is likely inevitable. And behind the headlines, it’s starting to build.

Don’t forget to contact me directly if you have suggestions or ideas at dcallaway@callawayclimateinsights.com.

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Climate-pledge verifier has a sizzling staff revolt on its hands