National business group calls for utilities to switch to more affordable advanced energy solutions
WASHINGTON, D.C., May 11, 2023 – Today, Advanced Energy United, the national association of businesses working to achieve 100% clean energy and electrified transportation in America, expressed support for the new emissions regulations announced today by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regarding new and existing power plants.
"These new regulations constitute an important step towards building a decarbonized energy grid in the United States, alongside federal legislation and policies in states across the country,” said Heather O’Neill, President and CEO of Advanced Energy United. “Within legal constraints, the Agency has proposed the best system for reducing emissions from fossil fuel-fired power plants. What the debate around this rule also makes clear is that advanced energy presents the most affordable path to decarbonizing our energy system. At every opportunity, utilities and power providers should be looking to wind, solar, geothermal, energy efficiency, demand flexibility, energy storage and other clean and cost-effective solutions for providing reliable and affordable electricity today and in the years ahead.”
Recent research produced on behalf of Advanced Energy United shows that, thanks to changing market conditions and the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, utilities may find that switching to a portfolio of clean energy resources, including solar, wind, and storage, can provide equivalent energy and capacity at a lower cost than newly proposed gas plants.
As a case study, Advanced Energy United reviewed a 2021 plan by Duke Energy Indiana to build a new gas-fired combined cycle plant to begin operation in 2027 and found that using advanced energy technologies instead would save the utility, and its customers, $68.5 million in 2027 - the year of deployment - with increasing savings in subsequent years. Such a portfolio also minimizes fuel price volatility risk, stranded asset risk, and risks related to possible federal and regional policy changes, such as this new proposed EPA rule.
Another recently published study found that several other Indiana utilities could save over $73 million by building battery storage instead of new natural gas combustion turbines that were planned in 2020 and 2021 but aren't slated to be built for another few years.