News

There is nothing sexy about the electric grid. 

It’s a thing we don’t think about — plug in your phone charger, flip on your lights, move on with your day. 

Maybe you have a vague idea of what’s powering it, some mix of fossil fuels and clean energy. Maybe not. 

But as climate-fueled catastrophes mount and Massachusetts pushes hundreds of thousands of residents toward electric heat and electric cars, what’s powering the grid has become an increasingly urgent question. For nearly three decades, the state has been slowly nudging out coal and oil and cobbling together enough climate-friendly energy to make steady but undramatic gains. But now, with deadlines looming and its larger climate plans at stake, Massachusetts must embark on an unprecedented sprint to build enough clean energy to complete a clean grid. Success is anything but certain. 

National business association thanks policymakers for bipartisanship and for embracing economic benefits of advanced energy.

PHOENIX, AZ, May 12, 2023 — National business group Advanced Energy United commends Governor Hobbs and the Arizona Legislature for their bipartisan efforts in passing a state budget that works to prioritize the immediate needs of Arizonans while continuing to invest in the state's advanced energy infrastructure. 

Industry group welcomes climate bond and permitting reform for clean energy projects

SACRAMENTO, CA, May 12, 2023 — National business group Advanced Energy United reacted to today’s release of the Governor’s May Revised Budget proposal, which seeks to balance long-term investments in job-creating and cost-saving programs with the immediacy of a budget shortfall. The Governor's May Revised budget does not propose additional cuts to electric vehicle and clean energy programs beyond the initial budget proposal in January.

“We appreciate Governor Newsom’s ongoing commitment to protecting critical clean energy and electrified transportation programs, an acknowledgment that these investments create jobs and save people money on energy and transportation costs,” said Leah Rubin Shen, Managing Director at Advanced Energy United, the national business association of companies working to achieve 100% clean energy and electrified transportation in America.

Colorado Newsline reports on Colorado Governor Polis' signing of a utility regulation bill, quoting Emilie Olson on how the legislation will benefit ratepayers in the state.

Gov. Jared Polis on Thursday signed into law a bill that commits Colorado for the first time to a net-zero greenhouse gas emissions target, along with other measures to address spiking utility rates and the state’s long-term energy future.

Flanked by Democratic lawmakers and state energy officials, Polis signed Senate Bill 23-16 at an event at the Denver Botanic Gardens. The bill, a wide-ranging package of reforms aimed at boosting clean energy efforts in a variety of industries, was approved on party-line votes by Democratic majorities in the General Assembly just before its adjournment on May 8.

Colorado Senate Bill 23-291 introduces a series of reforms to strengthen regulatory oversight of utility spending and future gas system investments

DENVER, CO, May 11, 2023 – National business group Advanced Energy United commended Governor Polis for signing Senate Bill 23-291 into law today, authorizing practical reforms to utility regulation and building upon existing gas planning improvements.

“This is a timely bill in a year that has laid bare the impact of volatile nature gas prices on all consumers,” said Emilie Olson, Colorado state lead at Advanced Energy United. “We thank Governor Polis, Senate President Fenberg, and the legislature for stepping up to shield customers from high gas bills now and in the future, and responsibly limiting the kinds of things utilities can make their customers pay for."

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.” 

Switching the state's fleets to electric vehicles could save Florida up to $277 million over fifteen years 

TALLAHASSEE, FL, May 3, 2023 – Today, the Florida Legislature passed a bill that will help reduce vehicle fleet procurement costs for the state and open the door for alternatively-fueled vehicles to become a bigger part of the state’s future fleet. “SB 284 - Energy” would require the Florida Department of Management Services (DMS) to consider not just the initial purchase price but the total cost of ownership for new additions to the state’s vehicle fleet, including operations, fuel, and maintenance costs. It also asks DMS to recommend the same standards to state agencies, local governments, and state colleges and universities. 

“We know that alternative fuel vehicles like electric vehicles have lower fuel and maintenance costs, and this bill will help ensure those benefits are factored into state fleet purchasing decisions,” said Michael Weiss, Florida state lead for Advanced Energy United, a national trade association of clean transportation and energy companies. "We thank Senator Jason Brodeur and Representative Mike Caruso for their leadership sponsoring and championing this common-sense legislation." 

Fauquier Times runs an article published by Virginia Mercury, quoting Kim Jemaine's perspective on Dominion Energy's decision to continue building power plants to meet the utility's energy needs in that area.

The report analyzed battery storage compared to natural gas “peakers” currently proposed by Indiana utilities

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind., May 3, 2023 – Some of the largest utilities in Indiana could save their customers a combined $73.1 million by switching to advanced energy technologies instead of moving forward with plans to build new gas-fired power plants. The finding comes in a new study by Strategen Consulting, which analyzed several scenarios that considered a range of fuel and technology costs and deployment strategies and found that the utilities could achieve equivalent reliability and save their customers millions of dollars by building battery storage instead of new natural gas combustion turbines.

New IRP not a “good faith decarbonization plan,” says national business group Advanced Energy United

[editor's note: this press release originally stated this was Dominion's first IRP since the VCEA was signed into law. It is Dominion's first IRP since the law went into effect.]

RICHMOND, VA, May 2, 2023 – This week, Dominion Energy Virginia filed its first Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) since the Virginia Clean Economy Act (VCEA), Virginia’s landmark energy law, went into effect in July of 2020. Today, Advanced Energy United, the business association that supported passage of the VCEA, criticized Dominion’s new approach for meeting the law’s requirements.

“We have seen this play from Dominion before. Its latest resource plan is yet another example of this utility picking a forecast that suits its business interests,” said Kim Jemaine, director at Advanced Energy United (formerly AEE). “Dominion chooses a questionable energy load forecast as justification for cherry-picking preferred technologies, preserving existing fossil-fuel facilities, and calling for new investment in gas fired resources. In our view, Dominion has not developed a good faith decarbonization plan that fully aligns with the Virginia Clean Economy Act, Virginia’s landmark energy law.”