News

Pamela King, E&E reporter

(San Francisco and Washington, D.C., January 12, 2015) – Today Advanced Energy Economy announced that four executives of market leading companies have joined its board of directors to support the business group’s efforts to spur the growth of secure, clean, affordable energy in the United States. The new directors are Deb Frodl, Global Executive Director, GE ecomagination; Prasanna Venkatesan, President and CEO, Americas, Landis+Gyr Inc.; Kevin Self, VP Strategy & Corporate Development, Johnson Controls Inc.; and Howard Wenger, President, Business Units, SunPower Corp.

In December, Utility Dive asked energy industry insiders what to expect this year, and published "Predictions 2015 Part 1: 7 energy insiders envision the year to come" today. One such insider is AEE's own Vice President of Communications, Robert Keough. His prediction?

“AEE congratulates Governor Brown on his inauguration and welcomes his continued leadership of the state of California. In his address today, Gov. Brown set ambitious but achievable goals to increase the use of renewable energy, reduce the use of petroleum, and make our buildings more energy efficient. Working toward these targets will not only benefit the environment but also grow the advanced energy industry, which is expected to employ 500,000 people in California by the end of this year. We look forward to working with Gov. Brown and the legislature to reach these goals and create a prosperous California powered by secure, clean, affordable energy.”

Last month AEEI released an advanced energy employment survey for the state of Iowa, catologuing the number of firms and employees delivering energy efficiency, advanced fuels, wind power, and other facets of the advanced energy industry. The Dubuque Telegraph Herald reports (subscription required): 

Advanced Energy Economy Institute's recent Employment Survey of the advanced energy industry in Calfiornia (available for download here) was featured in the LA Times today. The article, entitled "Studies tout value of state's almond growers, green energy, Latinos" online, discusses a few different reports from business and interest groups coming out this December. From the article:

The Des Moines Register covered a recent report released by Advanced Energy Economy Institute, in its recent story, "Iowa projected to add 1,330 energy jobs in 2015." The projected gains in Iowa's advanced energy industry would push up "employment in wind, solar, renewable fuels and energy efficiency to nearly 24,000."

This year, we've seen several analysts discussing how to value distributed solar energy, which is not included in utility-scale solar energy valuations. In Jim Pierbon's post on Energy Collective, "Valuing Solar Energy: Two Models to Use," the two models for valuing solar energy are ICF International's model on "the true value of solar" and AEE's Benefit-Cost Analysis for Distributed Energy Resources.

The Advanced Energy Economy Institute recently released California employment survey found that more than 40,000 advanced energy businesses in the state employ more than 431,800 people, making California's advanced energy industry a bigger employer than Hollywood. 

Lisa Frantzis, AEE's senior vice president for strategy and corporate development, was quoted as background information in a story by Midwest Energy News.