News

Legislation paves the way for more rapid clean energy deployment to California households

SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA – Today, Advanced Energy United celebrated the bipartisan passage of SB 410, The Powering Up Californians Act, the first bill of its kind aimed at tackling delays in connecting customers’ clean energy technologies to the state’s power grid. Californians want clean energy solutions like residential solar and storage, heat pumps, and electric vehicles (EVs), but interconnection delays are a major obstacle in customer adoption of these technologies, slowing progress toward California’s decarbonization goals and customer energy savings.  

SB 410, introduced by Senator Josh Becker (District 13), requires an ongoing assessment of every investor-owned electric utility’s electrical service and interconnection performance, workforce staffing levels, and grid capacity. This bill also facilitates clear and reasonable timeframes for connecting clean energy systems to hold utilities accountable, benefit customers, and prevent future bottlenecks.  

A bill to establish a statewide goal for zero-emission school buses will soon head to the Governor’s desk  

SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA – Today, the California Senate passed AB 579 to accelerate the adoption of electric school buses and bring the benefits of clean air and cost-savings to communities statewide. The bill, sponsored by Advanced Energy United and CALSTART, represents the latest significant action from the California Legislature to accelerate the transition to clean and safe school transportation. The bill will soon head to Governor Newsom’s desk for signing.  

Brought forward by Assemblymember Phil Ting (District 19), AB 579sets a statewide deadline requiring all new school buses purchased or leased after 2035 to be zero-emission. The bill extends the lease terms for contracted zero-emission school buses to maximize longer-term savings for schools. Expanding electric school bus adoption over the next decade will substantially reduce maintenance and fuel costs by thousands of dollars annually, freeing up funding to put back into the classroom. 

RTO Insider examines the possibility of a Western RTO, citing Advanced Energy United's support for this region's hopes to develop a west-wide wholesale market.

PORTLAND, Ore. — The competition for organized markets in the West grew Friday as the Bonneville Power Administration launched a process to choose between day-ahead markets proposed by CAISO and SPP and regulators from five Western states urged the establishment of a new, independent RTO covering the entire West.

“This group proposes the creation of an entity that could serve as a means for delivering a market that includes all states in the Western Interconnection, including California, with independent governance,” regulators from Arizona, California, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington wrote to the chairs of the Western Interstate Energy Board (WIEB) and the Committee on Regional Electric Power Cooperation (CREPC).

The entity “could provide a full range of regional transmission operator services, utilizing a contract for services” with CAISO including eventual “assumption” of CAISO’s proposed Extended Day Ahead Market (EDAM) and its real-time Western Energy Imbalance Market (WEIM).

SACRAMENTO, CA — This week the California legislature and Governor Gavin Newsom reached a state budget agreement that reflects California’s challenging fiscal landscape and results in difficult reductions. Advanced Energy United, the national clean energy business association, recognizes the importance of an approach that considers both economic realities and the imperative to accelerate advanced energy across the state. The budget prompts continued conversation on strengthening clean energy infrastructure and protecting crucial programs that advance California’s clean transportation goals.  

Business group supports proposal to speed permitting for clean energy infrastructure, urges simultaneous focus on regional collaboration

SACRAMENTO, CA, May 19, 2023 – National business group Advanced Energy United reacted to Governor Newsom’s announcement of proposed legislation to simplify the evaluation process for prioritized electricity transmission and clean energy projects. State agencies resoundingly agree that California needs to expand clean energy at a record-breaking pace over the next couple decades, including upgrading and building the transmission lines necessary to electrify buildings and electric vehicles and deliver affordable energy over larger distances.  

“We are excited by this leadership from the Governor’s Office, paralleling existing discussions in the Legislature, that California is committed to doubling down on tackling the structural challenges that have long impeded timely development of new clean energy,” 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. “Keeping our grid affordable and achieving our climate ambitions requires practical reforms to how clean energy and transmission infrastructure are evaluated and approved, as well as a stronger commitment to collaborating with other Western states on shared reliability challenges.”

WASHINGTON, DC, May 17, 2023 — Today the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) released its annual summer reliability assessment warning Western states that they are in for another summer of elevated risk of blackouts due to extreme heat in 2023. NERC issued a similar warning last May, before record heat waves strained energy supplies in Arizona, California, Colorado, Montana, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, and the Pacific Northwest in September.

United also calls for accelerated state investment in charging infrastructure and electric grid upgrades needed for a fully electrified transportation system

SACRAMENTO, CA, April 28, 2023 – National business group Advanced Energy United celebrated today the adoption of the Advanced Clean Fleets (ACF) rule via unanimous vote by the California Air Resources Board (CARB). The rule encourages commercial vehicle fleet operators to switch to zero-emission vehicles over the coming years, with a full phase-out on the sale of gas-powered trucks by 2045. The state regulator anticipates that the switch to zero-emission vehicles, like electric trucks, will save fleet operators up to $48 billion through 2050. 

“California continues to be a leader in the effort to electrify our transportation system by passing a rule that would steer businesses towards more advanced, technologically efficient trucks over the coming decades,” said Ryan Gallentine, transportation policy director at Advanced Energy United, an association of business working to achieve 100% clean energy and electrified transportation in America. “Now that California is on the road to cleaner trucks, the state must pair this plan with forward-looking infrastructure and grid-readiness planning to ensure the pieces are in place to meet this new timeline.” 

Assembly Bill 538 "jumpstarts" conversation around regional grid collaboration, with the potential to save hundreds of millions in energy costs

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Introduced by Assemblymember Chris Holden (AD41), Assembly Bill 538 would create a structure that would allow the California Independent System Operation (CAISO) to integrate into a broader, independent regional transmission operator (RTO). A 2022 economic development study commissioned by Advanced Energy United and conducted by Energy Strategies found that a transition like the one proposed in AB 538 could create over 138,000 jobs and save ratepayers $538 million per year in energy costs.

Joining a Western grid would keep the lights on during extreme weather while creating up to 138,700 jobs and annually reducing energy bills $563 million

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – A new study shows California would see significant economic benefits from participating in a regional electric grid with neighboring states. Conducted by independent consulting firm Energy Strategies on behalf of business association Advanced Energy United (formerly Advanced Energy Economy), the study found that joining a regional transmission organization (RTO) could generate upwards of $21.7 billion in new annual gross state product for California and up to 138,000 new, permanent, living-wage jobs.