News

New report shows California’s electric transportation-related workforce expected to nearly double by 2024; already 3,900 companies across the state  are involved in electric transportation, while related industries with more than half a million workers have an opportunity to quickly retool and retrain to meet market demand for business and job growth.

SACRAMENTO, CA, April 22, 2021 — Today national business group Advanced Energy Economy (AEE) released a report that shows 3,900 electric transportation-related California businesses dispersed across 55 of its 58 counties as of 2019. Employment in electric transportation (ET) is expected to nearly double by 2024 to an estimated 68,000 workers as demand for electric vehicles (EV) and EV charging infrastructure grows.

Utility Dive outlined an innovative Con Edison and GI Energy battery storage project in New York, quoting AEE’s Danny Waggoner on aspects of the project. Read excerpts below and the full story here.

Con Edison and infrastructure company GI Energy are partnering on a unique demonstration project, installing a 1 MW battery storage project on a customer property on City Island in the Bronx. The project will deliver power to businesses along the commercial strip in the summer, relieving grid strain when temperatures rise…

In 2020, advanced energy employed 3.2 million workers nationwide, with 8% job growth expected to power economic recovery in 2021.

WASHINGTON, D.C., April 19, 2021 – Today, national business group Advanced Energy Economy reported the latest U.S. employment data in a new fact sheet showing overall job trends across the industry. Employing 3.2 million U.S. workers, the advanced energy workforce dipped during the height of the pandemic, but is poised to bounce back strong in 2021. As of late 2020, advanced energy employed more U.S. workers than Food and Beverage stores nationwide (3.1 million) and twice as many as Commercial Banks (1.4 million).

Chicago Tribune cited AEE’s Electrifying Illinois report in their profile of Rivian’s latest EV facility. This story was covered in 33 other outlets including Yahoo News. Read snippets below and the full story here. 

Nestled among the cornfields of Normal, Illinois, a long-fallow stretch of land is preparing for a bumper crop this summer.

Microgrid Knowledge outlined a new bill in Congress to establish a 30% microgrid tax credit, quoting AEE’s Leah Rubin Shen on existing tax credits. Read snippets below and the full story here. 

A California congressman has introduced a bill into the US House of Representatives that would create a 30% microgrid tax credit.

IndyStar reports Indiana HB 1381, a bill, aiming to improve market certainty for renewable companies, died on the Senate floor, quoting AEE’s Caryl Auslander on the impact. Read excerpts below and the full story here.

Efforts to send a message that Indiana is open for business to renewables came to an abrupt stop on Tuesday night. A bill that would have established some statewide standards for wind and solar projects — but was amended to grandfather in counties' more restrictive ordinances — died on the Senate floor.

Chicago Business Journal covered AEE’s Electrifying Illinois: Economic Potential of Growing Electric Transportation report, quoting AEE’s Daniel Bloom. The story was also covered by St. Louis Business Journal (sub req). Read excerpts below and the full story here.

Anchored by Rivian's electric truck manufacturing plant in downstate Normal, the state of Illinois is poised to see the number of electric transportation jobs nearly double by 2024.

Capital News Illinois covered AEE’s Electrifying Illinois report, quoting AEE’s Daniel Bloom on report findings and policy recommendations. The story was picked up by 26 other outlets including the Illinois Business Journal. Read excerpts below and the full story here.

SPRINGFIELD – A national clean energy trade organization has released a report showing growth in electric transportation-related jobs in Illinois could position the state to lead the domestic supply chain.

Beaumont Enterprise published a guest column by TAEBA's Suzanne Bertin highlighting the many benefits of school bus electrification, and urging support for related companion bills (SB 1303 by Cesar Blanco / HB 4120 by Joe Deshotel) in Texas. Read excerpts below and the full piece here (sub. req). 

Still reeling from the winter storm emergency in February, Texas now needs to figure out how to protect our state from similar disasters in the future. Here’s one way: Fully integrate distributed energy resources (DERs) like rooftop solar, battery storage and demand response. These technologies, which are located in homes, businesses and institutions all over the state, are capable of producing power, managing electricity demand, and delivering benefits to the energy grid, helping to keep the lights on. But here’s one particularly valuable DER that comes in a surprising package — a simple school bus...

Washington Examiner highlighted AEE’s Electrifying Illinois: Economic Potential of Growing Electric Transportation report in their Daily On Energy newsletter. Read an excerpt below and the full newsletter here.

SPEAKING OF JOBS: Jobs related to electric transportation could nearly double by 2024 in Illinois, a state particularly well positioned to benefit from boosting the nation’s EV manufacturing capacity and R&D spending on clean energy.