Energy News: April 2021
Tucson Electric Power hires its first female CEO
Tucson Electric Power (TEP) hired its first female CEO in the company’s 128-year history. Susan M. Gray, who was a student intern at the utility almost 30 years ago, was named CEO of UNS Energy Corporation and its subsidiaries, including TEP and UniSource Energy Services (UNS), earlier this year. Now, she’s furthering the company’s most ambitious goal: to generate 70 percent of its energy from renewable energy like solar and wind by 2035. That would reduce the company’s carbon footprint by 80%. In addition to renewable energy, Gray said she will continue to promote diversity and inclusion within the traditionally male-dominated energy industry and the Tucson community at large.
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Honeywell to go carbon neutral by 2035
Honeywell commits to become carbon neutral in its operations and facilities by 2035 through a combination of further investment in energy savings projects, conversion to renewable energy sources, completion of capital improvement projects at its sites and in its fleet of company vehicles, and utilization of credible carbon credits. These initiatives represent a continuation of the company’s sustainability efforts since 2004, which have already driven a more than 90% reduction in the greenhouse gas intensity of its operations and facilities.
Electric vehicle battery recycler LiCycle Corp plans Gilbert facility
Ontario, Canada-based Li-Cycle Corp., a lithium-ion electric vehicle battery recycler, is building a facility in Gilbert which will effectively double the company’s recycling capacity. Once completed, the facility will be able to process 10,000 metric tons (22.04 million pounds) of batteries and battery manufacturing scrap per year. The facility will be able to process full, electric-vehicle battery packs without dismantling. The new plant is expected to create between 40 and 50 new jobs. Engineering and design of the facility is expected to begin this quarter, and the facility is planned to be operational in the first quarter of 2022. Hiring for the plant will begin in the fourth quarter of 2021. Read more >>
Tempe-based Persefoni raises $9.7 million on the path to carbon neutrality
Persefoni is a software company that describes itself as a complete, carbon-footprint management system which helps large enterprise companies and institutional investors measure and forecast carbon emissions. In a recent interview, Persefoni CEO Kentari Kawamori said that Persefoni’s software acts as a resource planning tool for carbon accounting. The software takes in operational, financial and supply chain data and turns it into information about a company’s carbon output, like calculating emissions from a fleet of vehicles or like calculating the carbon cost of buying pizza for the office. The resulting data helps users understand where its emissions come from to in turn work to cut them down. Read more >>
Arizona Public Service launches Going Green + Going Smart Program
APS launches its statewide community effort to help small business owners adopt sustainable business practices that save money, energy and attract environmentally minded consumers. The Going Green & Going Smart Program is a statewide community effort that puts valuable sustainability resources and energy insights into the hands of small business owners across Arizona. APS partnered with the Compass CBS Foundation to design the program and develop content, which can be accessed at greenbizaz.com. Read more >>
UArizona partners with Carbon Mapper to launch satellite program to track greenhouse gas emissions
Carbon Mapper, a new nonprofit organization partnering with the University of Arizona, today announced a groundbreaking program to help improve understanding of and accelerate reductions in global methane and carbon dioxide emissions. The Carbon Mapper consortium also announced plans to deploy a satellite constellation to pinpoint, quantify and track methane and carbon dioxide emissions. Read more >>
U.S.-Israel Energy Center announces winner of $6m for solutions in energy sector
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) along with its Israeli counterpart, the Ministry of Energy and the Israel Innovation Authority announced the winner of a government-funded award amounting to $6 million on behalf of the U.S.-Israel Energy Center for ensuring cybersecurity of energy infrastructure. The selected consortium was led by Arizona State University and Ben-Gurion University who will perform research and development. Their project was entitled, “Comprehensive Cybersecurity Technology for Critical Power Infrastructure AI Based Centralized Defense and Edge Resilience” and includes the following partners: Georgia Tech Research Corp., Nexant, Delek US Holdings Inc., Duquesne Light Company, the MITRE Corporation, Arizona Public Service, OTORIO, Rad Data Communication and Arava Power. Read more >>
Nikola accelerates deployment of hydrogen infrastructure and fueling solutions
Nikola Corporation, IVECO and OGE announced they have entered into a letter of intent for a collaboration to establish a business structure for transporting hydrogen via pipeline network from production sources to hydrogen fueling stations in support of fuel-cell electric vehicles (FCEVs). The collaboration is being launched with the intent to further define and formalize the roles and responsibilities of the parties and the required collaboration governance to enable execution of objectives to be stated in definitive agreements. Read more >>
Shell issues warning at trade groups over climate
European oil major Royal Dutch Shell on Wednesday urged U.S. oil and gas trade groups to take stronger positions in the fight against climate change under the threat of leaving them,” according to the Houston Chronicle. The company took aim at the American Petroleum Institute (API) and the Texas Oil & Gas Association pushing them to support and advocate for climate policies in line with the Paris climate agreement. Shell is the latest European oil major to put pressure on API, which last month reversed course and backed calls to put a price on carbon emissions. France’s Total left the oil lobby earlier this year, citing disagreements over climate change. Read more >>
Navajo Nation finalizes solar plant leases at Cameron
The Navajo Nation is moving forward with two more solar plants on the reservation that are expected to generate millions of dollars in revenue for the tribe over the projects’ lifetimes. The solar plant is expected to produce 200 megawatts of energy for one of Arizona’s largest utilities, the Salt River Project, though a power purchase agreement hasn’t yet been signed. Over three decades, the solar plant is expected to bring in $90 million in energy transmission payments, $13 million in land lease payments and $6 million in tax revenue for the tribe. Read more >>
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