NEWS ROUNDUP

>California’s Newsom calls for 20 GW of offshore wind, 6 million heat pumps

In a letter, California Governor Gavin Newsom has asked the California Air Resources Board to establish various clean energy, electrification, and CO2 removal targets. These include:

  • 20 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2045
  • Deployment of 6 million heat pumps by 2030
  • 20% clean fuels targets for aviation
  • 20 MMT of carbon removal by 2030

The letter includes other requests, such as that CARB plan for an energy transition with no new gas plants, and that state agencies form a task force to identify and address methane leaks. CARB is currently developing a 2022 update to its scoping plan, and Newsom’s requests echo criticisms made by environmental groups that a draft of the plan is inadequate and relies excessively on carbon
dioxide removal.

Source: Letter (Office of California Governor Gavin Newsom)

>GM secures battery materials for electric vehicles

General Motors has secured three sourcing agreements to provide key materials for its in-house battery production, as revealed on the company’s Q2 results call. Under the agreements LG Chem will provide GM with 1 million tons of cathode material by 2030, POSCO Chemical will supply the company with cathode active material from its Korean operations, and Livent will supply GM with “significant quantities” of lithium.

GM CEO Mary Barra says that these agreements mean that it now has all of the battery raw materials needed to support its goal of have capacity to product one million electric vehicles in North America annually by 2025. These statements are in contrast to Ford, which has also recently secured supply agreements but warned investors that inadequate supplies could limit is deployment of
electric vehicles. Source: General Motors Company’s (GM) CEO Mary Barra on Q2 2022 Results – Earnings Call Transcript (Seeking Alpha)

>Xcel seeks to add fast chargers in Minnesota, Wisconsin

Xcel Energy has filed proposals with regulators in Wisconsin and Minnesota for new programs for electric vehicles, as part of a push for vehicle electrification by the utility. These proposals include a plan to add 750 fast-charging locations with 1,500 ports. In Minnesota, Xcel says that 8,300 fast-chargers are needed to meet the state’s goal of 20% vehicle electrification by 2030, but currently there are only 92 non-Tesla fast-charging ports statewide. News coverage: Xcel eyes CO2-free transportation in 8 states (E&E News)