NEWS WRAP-UP: RPS Stands in NC – and elsewhere

This week AEE partner organization North Carolina Sustainable Energy Association helped to defeat a threat to the state’s renewable energy mandate. North Carolina was in the sites of an effort to roll back renewable energy portfolio standards across the board—more than a dozen states faced similar threats to their renewable energy requirements. Greentech Media published a story earlier this year about the “war” on state renewables standards. But so far, that war seems one-sided: not a single state has compromised its commitment to renewable energy.

Almost as if to prove the point, Google announced this week that it was looking to buy clean power for its data centers, and asked utilities to offer clean power buying programs to large companies. The company is already working with Duke Energy to kick off a program in North Carolina.

Also this week, the Bloomberg New Energy Finance Summit – and we are exhausted! AEE sponsored the event, with CEO Graham Richard kicking off Day 3 with opening remarks on resilience in power and transportation. BNEF also announced their New Energy Pioneers, including AEE member company Opower. In advance of the conference, Bloomberg New Energy Finance published its renewable energy analysis and forecast. Bottom line: this year not so good, but future better. BNEF forecasted that investment in renewable technologies will be strong and is expected to triple by 2030.