News

This in-depth RTO Insider article reports on the more than 50 commenters who submitted answers to questions FERC posed, differing on whether aggregation should be limited to single nodes and on the roles of RTOs, state regulators and LDCs. AEE is quoted multiple times. Link to the full article here. Excerpts below:

This in-depth Greentech Media article reports on the initiatives to promote advanced energy and advanced energy job creation going on right now in a number of states. The piece references the AEE and Clean Energy Project (CEP) proposed Nevada Clean Energy Roadmap released in June. Link to the full article here (subscription required). Excerpts below:

This in-depth RTO Insider article reports on the more than 50 commenters who submitted answers to questions FERC posed, differing on whether aggregation should be limited to single nodes and on the roles of RTOs, state regulators and LDCs. AEE is quoted multiple times. Link to the full article here. Excerpts below:

This in-depth Vox article discusses the Transportation Electrification Accord and the future of EV's in the U.S. AEE is mentioned as one of the organizers of the Accord. Link to the full article here. Excerpts below:

In this in-depth Energy News Network article, Kowalski covers the upcoming vote on Ohio HB 114 and both the good and bad that would come from the decision. Terrence O'Donnell representing Ohio AEE was quoted. Link to the full article here. Excerpts below:

This in-depth Energy News Network article discusses the expansion of offshore wind energy in Virginia. AEE's Harrison Godfrey is given the last word. Link to the full article here. Excerpts below:

In this Huntington (WV) Herald Dispatch opinion piece, former editor of the newspaper Jim Ross rails against the President's proposed coal bailout and notes multiple instances in which the Public Services Commission has already prevented similar things from happening. AEE's Malcolm Woolf is quoted below. Link to the full article here. Excerpts below:

This Nevada Current article discusses the CEP and AEE's recently released Nevada Clean Energy Roadmap and the upcoming vote on Question 3, an amendment to Nevada's state constitution which would allow for greater competition in energy purchasing. Link to the full article here. Excerpts below:

Las Vegas and Washington, D.C., June 21, 2018 – Today, the Clean Energy Project (CEP) and the Advanced Energy Economy (AEE) announced they have delivered a policy roadmap to the Nevada gubernatorial campaigns of Republican nominee Adam Laxalt and Democratic nominee Steve Sisolak outlining how Nevada can grow as a clean energy leader and create jobs. The policy roadmap, “Nevada’s Clean Energy Roadmap: How the next governor can make Nevada’s energy system more secure, clean, and affordable while driving job creation and economic growth,” outlines key market-based policy considerations Nevada’s next governor can pursue to capture the billions in investment dollars and thousands of jobs that come from embracing the clean energy industry.

New Mexico Advanced Energy Roadmap Will Grow the Economy, Create Jobs

In this short GreenBiz article Makower summarizes a panel at Verge 17 featuring Chris Eugster, Val Jensen, Penni McLean-Connor, and AEE's Lisa Frantzis. Link to the article here, link to the interview here. Story below:

This Public News Service article discusses the massive savings advanced energy has already generated in Arkansas and the future savings advanced energy can produce. AEE's state partner, AAEA's executive director, Katie Niebaum, was asked about the state of Arkansas advanced energy.  Link to the full article here. Excerpts below:

California Advanced Energy Roadmap Will  Grow the Economy, Create Jobs 

This NBC Nightly News clip discusses the often critiqued Trump Coal bailout plan.  AEE's Malcolm Woolf took part in the segment which aired Sunday night 6/10/18.  Link to the full segment here.  Excerpts below:

This St. Louis Post Dispatch business opinion column discusses the cons associated with the proposal to subsidize coal and nuclear by requiring grid operators purchase those types of energy. Excerpts below. Read the entire column here.The proposal, reported last week by Bloomberg, would order grid operators to buy electricity from plants that are at risk of closing. A draft memo, which the Energy Department has not yet acted upon, argues that the plants need to stay open for national security reasons.“This is a solution in search of a problem,” says Malcolm Woolf, senior vice president at Advanced Energy Economy, a trade group representing both producers and consumers of electricity. “The idea of somehow singling out coal and nuclear as more secure doesn’t hold up.”“This proposal is not coming from the Department of Defense, and it is not coming from the grid operators,” Woolf says. “From all accounts this is coming from the president.”Coal isn’t inherently more reliable than natural gas or other forms of energy, he says.In fact, some recent emergencies have been coal-related: During Hurricane Harvey last year, some Texas power plants’ coal piles became so waterlogged they couldn’t be used.

This UtilityDive.com article reports on the latest national energy jobs report (USEER) and outlook by sector. Excerpts below. Read the entire article here. In reviewing report data, AEE calculates there are 3.4 million advanced energy jobs.

This electric vehicles magazine piece describes how recent FERC energy storage rules impact the evolving EV market. Read the entire Charged article here. Excerpts below:

While neither AEE nor its allies are quoted, this is a notable opinion piece weighing in against market intervention to save uneconomic coal and nuclear plants. We encourage you to read the entire Wall Street Journal opinion here (subscription req.). Excerpts below:

Tim Puko reports: The Energy Department is proposing a new plan to bail out failing nuclear and coal-fired power plants by forcing grid operators to take the electricity they produce, a move that could upend competitive power markets and raise prices for consumers.The plan—a draft now under White House review—isn’t the first attempt by President Donald Trump’s administration to help coal and nuclear businesses. Its goal is to stop a wave of plant closings for two years while the Energy Department studies which plants nationwide are critical to ensuring reliable power in case of attack or natural disaster. Administration officials say grid reliability is a national security issue....Tim goes on to explain competitive market dynamics, prior Administration efforts to support coal and nuclear plants, and includes AEE's perspective:Mr. Trump’s efforts so far have been blocked by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commissionand fought by a broad coalition of opponents.The country’s largest grid operator is also skeptical. “Our analysis…has determined that there is no immediate threat to system reliability,” PJM Interconnection LLC, which runs the power markets in 13 states across the mid-Atlantic and Midwest, said in a statement. “There is no need for any such drastic action.”Opponents say these types of plans undermine the competition in power markets that has lowered prices and that they could raise consumer costs by billions of dollars in an attempt to fight a problem that may not materialize. Those groups, including consumer advocates, the oil-and-gas lobby and renewable power companies, said Friday the newest proposal creates the same concerns.“The Administration’s plan to federalize the electric power system is an exercise in crony capitalism taken solely for the benefit of a bankrupt power plant owner and its coal supplier,” said Malcolm Woolf, who oversees policy at Advanced Energy Economy, a trade group representing business consumers.See the entire Wall Street Journal story here (subscription required).

           

Illinois Commerce Commission Improves Rule for Utility Investment in Cloud-Based Technology

In his update on the one-year anniversary of President Trump announcing U.S. pull out from the Paris climate deal, Brad Plumer reports: ...many of America’s largest corporations said they would honor the agreement anyway, vowing to pursue cleaner energy and cut emissions on their own... Plumer goes on to highlight major corporate trends, including those of AEE members, Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Walmart, and includes AEE's perspective: A year later, there’s one area where that pledge is highly visible: renewable energy. Dozens of Fortune 500 companies, from tech giants like Apple and Google to Walmart and General Motors, are voluntarily investing billions of dollars in new wind and solar projects to power their operations or offset their conventional energy use, becoming a major driver of renewable electricity growth in the United States.“You’re definitely not seeing corporations slow down their appetite for renewables under Trump — if anything, demand continues to grow,” said Malcolm Woolf, senior vice president for policy at Advanced Energy Economy, a clean energy business group. “And it means that many utilities increasingly have to evolve to satisfy this demand.”Read the entire New York Times story here.