POLICY UPDATE

How Investment in Advanced Energy Can Jumpstart Economic Recovery

AEE released its priorities for a federal economic recovery package, outlining funding that would upgrade and modernize the electric grid, invest in energy efficiency projects and worker training, support the development of advanced energy manufacturing jobs in the United States, accelerate electrification of the transportation sector, and help deploy new advanced energy resources. “The fast-growing advanced energy industry must play a key role in tackling our twin economic and climate crises,” said Leah Rubin Shen, Director at AEE. “These investments will provide an immediate jumpstart to our economy and create good-paying jobs across the country while also accelerating the transition to a clean energy future.”

Continue reading the press release here or click below to download the priorities. >

AEE Urges Arizona Lawmakers to Reject Bills Stripping ACC Authority Over Electricity Generation

AEE released the following presented oral testimony against proposed companion bills HB2248 and SB1175 in the Arizona state legislature, which would strip oversight authority of the Arizona Corporation Commission over electricity generation in the state. AEE filed testimony and spoke on behalf of its advanced energy technology members as well as the Advanced Energy Buyers Group it facilitates, representing large electricity buyers seeking to meet their corporate clean energy and sustainability goals. “We urge lawmakers to reject these proposed bills that seek to remove regulatory oversight authority over the electricity generation that meets the needs of households and businesses in Arizona,” said Shelby Stults, principal at Advanced Energy Economy. “These bills would undo the regulatory structure that ensures grid reliability, prevents blackouts, and ensures fair, competitive rates for consumers just to prevent the ACC from putting Arizona on a path to carbon-free electricity.” Continue reading the press release here. >

 

ON THE BLOG

Adding it All Up for Voluntary Buyers of Renewable Energy

The substantial growth in renewable energy in the U.S. comes from two sources: purchases made by utilities and retail suppliers to comply with mandatory targets such as state Renewable Portfolio Standards (compliance purchases), and purchases from customers that go beyond these targets (voluntary purchases), usually in pursuit of sustainability goals. These two types of purchases in combination drive renewable energy development in the U.S., but how they interact gets tricky, especially as states ramp up their clean energy targets to 100%. How do voluntary purchasers get what they pay for – and states reach their ambitious targets – in a way that’s fair for both? It’s all about “additionality” – and to date, states have taken different approaches. Continue reading on the blog. >

AEE WEBINARS

Will Texas Be the Detroit of Electric Vehicles?

Recorded on Wednesday, January 27, at 2pm ET/1pm CT

With construction of a Tesla factory outside Austin underway, Texas is guaranteed a central place in the transition to electric transportation. But it turns out there are already 7,000 Texans working in electric transportation-related business, and more than 400,000 workers and 5,000 Texas companies are in “adjacent” industries and occupations that stand to grow as transportation in the United States goes electric. Drawing on the new report, “Electric Transportation Supply Chain in Texas,” prepared by BW Research Partnership for the Texas Advanced Energy Business Alliance, this webinar, presented by TAEBA and AEE, looked at the opportunities in Texas and other states to enter the auto, truck, and bus industry as it converts from gasoline and diesel to electric power.