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Calif. solar hits new peaks; Oil, gas earnings 'high note' lost on Wall Street

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Calif. solar hits new peaks; Oil, gas earnings 'high note' lost on Wall Street

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Calif. solar hits new peaks amid record ramp as 'duck curve' season opens

With sunny skies and moderate temperatures, California's fleet of large-scale solar power plants has reached a new record peak on the California ISO grid, hitting 10,411 MW at 10:18 AM on March 5. Solar photovoltaic facilities accounted for the lion's share, peaking at 9,874 MW in midmorning, while solar thermal hit 557 MW in midafternoon.

Oil, gas pipeline earnings 'high note' lost on Wall Street

Oil and gas pipeline companies produced materially better financial results for the fourth quarter of 2017, but the gains in earnings and cash flow could not stem the sectorwide valuation slump in the sector.

US metallurgical coal companies may benefit if 'trade war' talk depresses dollar

A weakening of the U.S. dollar as the world reacts to President Donald Trump's hints at a global trade war could benefit U.S. metallurgical coal producers, particularly in the longer term when international prices are widely expected to drift lower.

Power

* NRG Energy Inc. revamped its board of directors, as the company continues to evolve its business to a more customer-focused approach. Walt Young, Evan Silverstein and Barry Smitherman retired from the board, effective immediately. The company added Matthew Carter and Heather Cox as independent directors. The changes reduce the board size to 12 directors.

* Roughly a dozen members of the U.S. House of Representatives spoke on the House floor late March 5 to promote a bipartisan bill that would pave the way for interim and permanent storage of spent nuclear fuel.

* Proxy advisory firm Glass Lewis recommended that Tesla Inc. shareholders vote against a proposal to tie CEO Elon Musk's entire compensation with the company's performance, Reuters reported. The proposal includes stock options worth about $2.62 billion.

* Exelon Generation Co. LLC's merchant unit in Texas is moving through bankruptcy and nearing the confirmation of a plan to turn four gas-fired power plants over to seven creditors.

* The Government Accountability Office has accepted a request by Democratic Sens. Tom Carper and Sheldon Whitehouse to review the role of political appointees at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in choosing advisory committee members, The Hill in Washington, D.C., reported. Separately, Carper and Whitehouse raised concerns over a security-related contract that a business partner of EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt's security chief received from the agency.

* The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission is giving Wisconsin Power and Light Co. until April 30 to show cause why its Bent Tree Wind project site permit should not be suspended or revoked due to possible violations of the noise standards.

* Duke Energy Corp. priced a public offering of 18.5 million common shares at $75 per share for gross proceeds of $1.39 billion. The company plans to use net proceeds for general corporate purposes.

* The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has accepted Midcontinent ISO's calculation of a $24.6 million refund for ratepayers on overcharges associated with agreements to keep Wisconsin Electric Power Co.'s Presque Isle coal plant running in 2014 and early 2015, according to RTO Insider.

* Canada's National Energy Board approved a permit for the planned 320-kV DC Northern Pass transmission project, allowing Hydro-Québec to begin construction in Quebec.

* Sunrun Inc. has surpassed Tesla as the biggest residential solar installer in the U.S., Bloomberg News reported, citing a GTM research estimate. Sunrun installed 85 MW in the fourth quarter of 2017, a 10% year-over-year increase from 77 MW in the same quarter of 2016.

* The Public Service Commission of the District of Columbia issued a request for proposals to hire a consultant to facilitate a stakeholder working group process to move its grid modernization effort forward. Proposals are due April 2.

Natural gas/Oil

* U.S. "energy dominance" will not happen if the industry and regulators do not work together, said Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, who told a large industry audience March 6 that federal regulators are looking to develop a better relationship with U.S. oil and gas producers after eight years of hostility.

* Woodside Petroleum Ltd. is dropping a plan to build an LNG plant and export terminal at Grassy Point, near the port city of Prince Rupert, as the Australian company looks to shift focus on its nearby Kitimat LNG project, The Globe and Mail reported.

* The latest commodity down-cycle led to massive layoffs in the oilfield services sector, where employment may not recover as quickly as oil prices.

* The U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement will be increasing the time allotted for physical inspection of offshore facilities before mid-2018, as part of the new initiatives to strengthen the federal offshore oil and gas inspection program.

* Nearly two dozen U.S. senators are calling on Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to extend the deadline to submit comments on the proposed offshore drilling plan.

* Sheila Holman, assistant secretary for the environment at the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, denied that Gov. Roy Cooper's agreement with developers of the Atlantic Coast natural gas pipeline played a role on the DEQ's decisions on key permits for the project, The Associated Press reported.

Coal

* Tagging the commodity as the "main loser" among fossil fuels globally, a recent energy report from BP Plc projects that coal will see its growth lag its competition through 2040, but remain the largest source of energy for electricity generation.

* The U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Fossil Energy announced up to $7 million in federal funding opportunity for transformational pre-combustion carbon capture technologies.

* The Australian Securities and Investments Commission claimed Rio Tinto knew that its coal resource estimate for its then-Mozambique asset was "materially" overstated within months of completing the deal, The Australian Financial Review reported March 7.

* Representatives of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the National Energy Technology Laboratory at the Pittsburgh site signed a memorandum of understanding to pursue research on new ways to use coal to create "innovative high-value products."

Commodities

* The U.S. Energy Information Administration cut its power-sector coal demand forecast through 2019, as it expects natural gas to provide the largest share of the nation's electricity.

* After climbing by 4.5 cents in the prior session to finish at $2.749/MMBtu, NYMEX April natural gas futures ticked higher overnight ahead of the Wednesday, March 7, open, as traders considered mixed fundamentals.

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New from RRA

* With initial responses from Arkansas' investor-owned utilities on tax reform-related benefits submitted to state regulators, the Arkansas Public Service Commission established a procedural schedule for its investigation on the matter that runs through May.

Quoted

"We certainly have a quality advantage when it comes to metallurgical coal, but having a weaker dollar, which is not something I think anybody really anticipated, that's really provided some more temporal strength in the marketplace," said CSX Corp. Executive Vice President and CFO Frank Lonegro.

The day ahead

* Early morning futures indicators pointed to a lower opening for the U.S. equity markets. To view more SNL equity market indexes, click here. To view more SNL Energy commodities prices, click here.

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