Advanced Energy Perspectives

It’s a new year and in the auto world, 2016 is off to an electrifying start. This week brought news that the electric vehicle market expects a big year, with automakers at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) showing where EVs are going to go, with the Detroit Auto Show just around the corner.

The dust has barely settled after a major tax extenders package, which included some provisions for the advanced energy industry, was passed at the end of last year. However, a presidential election year means a short Congressional calendar and potential fast action from the outset of this new year. With the first week of 2016 in the books, AEE looks ahead to the top four federal policy issues to watch in the advanced energy industry.

After a whirlwind fall, Congressional leaders negotiated a spending bill and tax package to end 2015. The joint package includes extensions for numerous tax provisions, including several that benefit the renewable energy and energy efficiency segments of the advanced energy industry. Not all of the industry got a boost: Proposed provisions that would aid a number of other advanced energy technologies, such as fuel cells, industrial efficiency, and combined heat and power (CHP), were not included in the final package. Still, some believed that it would take a miracle to produce a deal like this, but Congress worked for the better part of a year to build this package. The House gave its blessing this morning and the Senate voted shortly thereafter. We expect the package to be signed into law by the President. We will continue to analyze the full text, but here is what we know so far.

Advanced energy makes news, and 2015 was proof of that. From innovative financing models for energy efficiency to Fortune 500 companies choosing advanced energy, businesses big and small had impact on the way the world generates and uses energy. In fact, it’s not easy to pick the top stories of the year. Still, last week we gave you the first five of our top 10 of the year, and here are the other five. (Read Part 1 here.) Then get ready for 2016, which we are sure will be another news-filled year for advanced energy!

Top energy leaders from the six New England states met with utility and advanced energy industry leaders last month to explore common efforts to modernize the electric power grid to maximize the benefits of distributed energy resources like solar, battery storage, energy efficiency, demand response, and microgrids for reliability and customer choice. In a daylong session led by the AEE Institute, Northeast Clean Energy Council, and the Boston Green Ribbon Commission, and held in the Boston offices of law firm Mintz Levin, government officials, utility executives, and business leaders took a regional look at creating a 21^st century electricity system in New England – and pledged to continue working together on the question of rate design for distributed energy resources, including the increasingly contentious subject of net metering.