<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Financial Times January 20 2019</div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); min-height: 14px;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class=""></span><br class=""></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class=""><b class="">PG&E bankruptcy darkens outlook for renewable energy investment </b></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">Credit ratings for several suppliers to the California utility have been cut sharply </span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">Ed Crooks</span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); min-height: 14px;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class=""></span><br class=""></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class=""><a href="https://www.ft.com/content/a11365b0-1cdd-11e9-b126-46fc3ad87c65" class="">https://www.ft.com/content/a11365b0-1cdd-11e9-b126-46fc3ad87c65</a></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); min-height: 14px;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class=""></span><br class=""></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class=""><b class="">Excerpts </b></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); min-height: 14px;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class=""></span><br class=""></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">The plan for Pacific Gas and Electric, the California utility, to enter bankruptcy to manage its $30bn wildfire liabilities has sent shockwaves through the US energy industry, raising concerns about the outlook for investment in renewable power in the state and beyond. Credit ratings for several businesses that supply power to PG&E were cut sharply last week, potentially raising the cost of capital for the industry and creating additional difficulties for California’s plan to source 100 per cent of its electricity from low-carbon technologies by 2045. </span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); min-height: 14px;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class=""></span><br class=""></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">A bankruptcy of a US regulated utility is a rare event, and companies that agreed to supply PG&E did so on the basis that it was unlikely to fail to meet its obligations. Until this month, PG&E was rated as investment grade by S&P Global, Moody’s and Fitch. Its decision to seek Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection has overturned the assumptions used by its suppliers to finance their projects. </span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); min-height: 14px;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class=""></span><br class=""></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">Topaz Solar, which runs a large photovoltaic plant in central California that sells power only to PG&E, was last week downgraded by Moody’s from Baa2 to Caa2, a drop of nine steps from “moderate credit risk” to “very high credit risk”. Gregory Remec of Fitch, which also downgraded Topaz sharply last week, said it was a basic principle that a project’s rating “will never exceed the rating of its counterparty”. Fitch last week cut its rating for PG&E to CC/RR3, meaning that “default of some kind appears probable”, and unsecured creditors were likely to recover 51-70 per cent of their principal plus interest. </span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); min-height: 14px;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class=""></span><br class=""></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">Michael Wara, a specialist in energy and climate policy at Stanford Law School, said bankruptcy for PG&E would “throw into doubt” the future of the developers that have been central to the development of renewable generation in California. </span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; background-color: rgb(255, 251, 0);" class="">The best solution, he argued, would be to fix the underlying problem with large-scale investment in rooftop solar and local battery storage, to reduce customers’ dependence on the grid.</span></div><div class="">
<div dir="auto" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0); letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0); letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0); letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0); letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Verdana; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;" class=""><div style="font-size: 14px;" class=""><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;" class="">2004</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;" class="">===================================</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class=""> More Intense, More Frequent, and Longer Lasting Heat Waves in the 21st Century<b class="">. </b></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class=""><b class=""></b></span><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">Gerald A. Meehl and Claudia Tebaldi. </span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class=""><i class="">Science</i>, 13 AUGUST 2004</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">2008</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">================================</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class=""><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">"All organisms live within a limited range of body temperatures …. Direct effects of climatic warming can be understood through fatal decrements in an organism's performance in growth, reproduction, foraging, immune competence, behaviors and competitiveness."</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class=""> </span><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">Hans O. Pörtner and Anthony P. Farrell. Physiology and Climate Change. </span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class=""><i class="">SCIENCE</i> 31 OCTOBER 2008 VOL 322</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">2009</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">==================================</span></div></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">"Observed heat wave intensities in the current decade are larger than worst-case projections."</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class=""></span><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">Auroop R. Gangulya, et al. Higher trends but larger uncertainty and geographic variability in 21<sup class="">st</sup> century temperature and heat waves. </span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class=""><i class="">PNAS</i>, September 15, 2009.</span></div></div><div style="font-size: 14px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="font-size: 14px;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12px;" class="">2013</span><br class=""><div class=""><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">=================================</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">“ … organisms have a physiological response to temperature, and these responses have important consequences …. biological rates and times (e.g., growth, reproduction, mortality and activity) vary with temperature.”</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class=""> </span><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">Anthony I. Dell, Samraat Pawar and Van M. Savage, Temperature dependence of trophic interactions are driven by asymmetry of species responses and foraging strategy.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class=""><i class="">Journal of Animal Ecology</i> 2013 </span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class=""> </span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">1970 </span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;" class="">=========================</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">“What can be said with some assurance is that there is a unique and nearly ubiquitous compound, with the empirical formula<b class=""> H</b>(2960)<b class="">O</b>(1480)<b class="">C</b>(1480)<b class="">N</b>(16)<b class="">P</b>(1.8)<b class="">S</b>, called living matter. Its synthesis, on an oxidized and uncarboxylated earth, is the most intricate feat of chemical engineering ever performed - and the most delicate operation that people have ever tampered with.”</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class=""></span><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">Edward S. Deevey, Jr. Mineral Cycles. </span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class=""><i class="">Scientific American</i>, September 1970.</span></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>
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