News

Utility Dive covered states' growing opposition to net metering challenge, quoting several commissioners on AEE's recent Net Energy Metering and State Authority webinar. Read excerpts below and the entire UD piece here.

Opposition is growing against a proposal that would effectively allow any customer-sited generation to be subject to federal regulation, and it's unclear who outside the petitioner will support the proposal. States have decried the move as an attack on state autonomy to regulate behind-the-meter generation such as rooftop solar and storage, one that represents a "threat" to state policies they have crafted. 

GTM Squared covered the state of demand-side management during the covid-19 pandemic, quoting AEE's Lisa Frantzis. Read excerpts below and the entire GTM2 piece here (sub. req.). 

Of all the U.S. clean energy industries, demand-side management — the utility term of art for energy efficiency and other programs that manage energy use behind the customer's meter — has been hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic. More than two-thirds of the nearly 600,000 U.S. clean energy jobs lost in March and April were in the energy efficiency sector, according to BW Research. Most of those job losses came at the small businesses that do about 80 percent of the country’s efficiency work, but they’ve also struck nationwide efficiency contractors and utility program administrators...

OK Energy Today reported on AEE's webinar on the net metering challenge filed with FERC, quoting speakers Ted Thomas (Ark. PSC), John McCaffrey (APPA). Read excerpts below and the entire OK Energy Today piece here. 

Some regulators across the U.S. are coming out in opposition to a federal plan for net-metering, a proposal affecting solar and wind power users who can be charged by utilities. One of those regulators is the head of the Arkansas Public Service Commission, Ted Thomas. He feels the federal “one plan fits all” proposal is a “threat” to state policies. “We have project developers with hundreds of hours coming up with innovative things that address some of these issues, and [NERA wants] a one-size-fits-all federalization. That’s what’s at stake and I obviously don’t like that,” Thomas said Wednesday in a speech to an Advanced Energy Economy webinar...

Bloomberg News reported on cleantech companies recruiting former oil and gas workers in Texas, quoting AEE CEO Nat Kreamer. Read excerpts below and the entire May 29 piece published later by the Longview News-Journal here. A number of news outlets including E&E News (sub. req.) also ran the story.

Jeff Bishop's LinkedIn post gets right to the point: "Houston Oil & Gas Folks -- we're hiring in Texas" for jobs in clean tech. His company, battery developer Key Capture Energy, is making the pitch even as tens of thousands of renewable-energy jobs have dried up amid the coronavirus pandemic. That's because Bishop and a handful of other clean-power executives see an opportunity to recruit talent from the oil and gas industries, which have been even harder hit. 

Utility Dive highlighted a new Guidehouse market report on distributed storage companies, including overall market observation by AEE's Ryan Katofsky. Read excerpts below and the entire UD piece here. 

ENGIE, Enel X, Tesla, Honeywell, Con Edison Battery Storage, EDF, and NantEnergy were ranked as top leaders in the distributed energy storage integrator sector, according to a report released Wednesday by Guidehouse Insights. "The distributed energy storage (DES) market has grown increasingly competitive since 2016, representing significant opportunity," Guidehouse Insights said in its report, which evaluated the strategy and execution of 15 distributed energy storage integrators...

RealClearInvestigations covered the expansion of renewables in Virginia and West Virginia in context of gas pipeline project, quoting VA AEEs Harry Godfrey. Read excerpts below and the entire RealClearInvestigations piece here. 

The embattled Atlantic Coast Pipeline begins its run in West Virginia. The steel tube built to ferry 1.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas a day weaves underground through mountain terrain toward its destination two states away in North Carolina. Then it stops, after only 30 miles but many millions of dollars into its journey. 

POLITICO covered the possible increase in EVs in PA due to changes in the supply chain, featuring AEEs PA EV Report and quoting AEE's Daniel Bloom. Read excerpts below and the entire POLITICO piece here (sub. req.). 

More than 350 firms across Pennsylvania could "easily transition" to the supply chain for electric vehicles, as they have workers with skills directly applicable to the industry, according to a report today from the trade group Advanced Energy Economy.

Electric transportation manufacturing, repair, and maintenance offer growth opportunities for sidelined industries, and could contribute to economic recovery for the state coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic

HARRISBURG, May 28, 2020 — Today national business association Advanced Energy Economy (AEE) released a new report concluding that more than 350 Pennsylvania firms, many of them in industries and geographies that have seen declines in recent years, could easily transition to serving the supply chain for electric vehicles, which is expected to grow at a rapid rate in the coming years. As Pennsylvania, like many other states, considers economic recovery strategies following the COVID-19 public health crisis, the unique opportunity to capitalize on electric transportation growth should get serious attention from policymakers.

FLAPOL covered Florida's SB7018 which sets up infrastructure planning that paves the way for EVs, quoting AEE's Dylan Reed. Read excerpts below and the entire FLAPOL piece here. 

After a two-month delay during the coronavirus pandemic, a bill creating a study of the state’s electric vehicle charging grid finally hit the Governor’s desk Tuesday. Gov. Ron DeSantis has until June 11 to sign that bill (SB 7018), which would also allow the Department of Transportation (FDOT) to construct staging areas for emergency response, adds a “shot clock” for utility infrastructure permits, and create cases for utilities to cross rural land while protecting the environment.

Utility Dive covered commissioners from New Jersey, Michigan, Maryland, and Massachusetts as they discussed FERC's MOPR order in AEE's first session of AEN|EAST ONLINE. Read excerpts below and the entire UD piece here. 

Between a controversial proposal to nationally overhaul solar net metering policy and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's highly-scrutinized minimum offer price rule (MOPR), federal and state tension "is at an all time high," according to Maryland's head regulator.