** Ford Motor announced Monday that it’s partnering with a Chinese company to build a $3.5 billion electric vehicle battery plant in Michigan, a move sure to spark backlash from Republican lawmakers.
** Republicans are scrutinizing the administration’s billions of dollars in low-carbon energy incentives for signs that money could benefit companies tied to Beijing.
** Recently released industry data shows that heat pumps outsold natural gas furnaces in 2022, driven in part by incentive programs in states like Maine, Massachusetts and California.
** Increased competition, government incentives and shrinking materials prices could put the cost for some electric vehicles on par with gas-powered cars as soon as this year.
** Natural gas traders and buyers around the world are watching to see when a crucial US exporter of the fuel will fully recover from a June explosion. Freeport LNG on the Texas coast exported a partial cargo of gas on Sunday aboard BP Plc’s Kmarin Diamond vessel, the first shipment since the blast shut down the plant. Although more ships are lined up to take on cargoes, the fuel is being withdrawn from storage tanks because Freeport’s production lines are still idle.
** Here’s how much electricity prices have surged in parts of New
** England this winter: For some drivers of electric vehicles and hybrid cars, it’s now more expensive to charge up than to fill up.
** A pair of pilot programs launched last year to financially support and retrain thousands of oil industry workers at risk of losing their jobs due to the state’s climate policies are not slated for any new investments in the coming fiscal year.
World
** A collapsed drilling tunnel has compounded delays at Australia’s largest renewables development, the A$5.9 billion ($4.1 billion) Snowy Hydro 2.0 project.
** Wind turbines and solar panels are now generating almost enough electricity to power every home in China. Wind and solar output jumped 21% last year to 1,190 terawatt-hours of electricity, the National Energy Administration said at a briefing on Monday.
** Meticulously crafted over decades as a major revenue stream for the Kremlin, Moscow’s gas trade with Europe is unlikely to recover from the ravages of military conflict.
** Decades of work by Gazprom to build up Russia’s natural-gas exports have gone to waste, a former official at the state-run energy giant has said, as Ukraine war sanctions threaten to help cut the company’s overseas revenues in half.
** Oil supplies will pose a bigger issue than demand for global markets in 2024 as some countries struggle with production and investment, the United Arab Emirates energy minister said.
