Advanced Energy Perspectives

In a blink of an eye, AEE Indiana ran through the finish line of the 2021 legislative session of the Indiana General Assembly at the end of April, and we’re just now catching up. While in the past two sessions we mostly  played defense, working to stop coal bailouts and moratoriums on plant closures. But this session the advanced energy industry got an opportunity to go on offense, with several bills that we favored making it to the Governor’s desk. We still had to temper a last minute Hail Mary from the Coal Council, which would have hindered utility efforts to move beyond coal, but overall the pros outweigh the cons in 2021. Here’s a rundown of where we ended up on our priority issues at the end of the Indiana legislative session.

“Indiana – a State That Works.” That’s the state’s motto, and every Hoosier knows it. What Hoosiers may not know is that the cost of doing business in Indiana has gotten higher due to significantly increased electricity rates over the past few years. If you ask business owners across the state, they will tell you that their energy-related costs have gone up, leaving them with less money to spend on expanding their business, hiring more employees, or investing in their own companies. The ability to control energy costs and sources is critical, especially for companies that consume a large amount of energy. Fortunately, advanced energy offers an opportunity for Indiana to offer low-cost and reliable energy to businesses. At the same time, advanced energy has become a significant source of  employment in the state – more jobs than auto parts manufacturing, twice as many as in schools and universities, and growing four times as fast as Indiana jobs overall.

Indiana AEE hosted an ‘Energy 101’ legislative briefing and breakfast January 8 to introduce AEE and advanced energy policy issues to legislators. The audience was newly elected legislators and members of the House and Senate Utility committees. Legislators heard from Claudia Earls, Chief Counsel, Northern Indiana Public Service Co. (NIPSCO), on the utility’s recent IRP and announcement of plans to close its last two coal plants in the next 10 years, replacing that capacity with solar, wind, storage, and demand management resources.