Advanced Energy Perspectives

High winds over ocean waves off the U.S. coast are a literal perfect storm of untapped potential for energy generation. Europe has taken advantage of this since 1991… before the fall of the Soviet Union. Here in the U.S., offshore wind has not yet become a reality. But that’s about to change. Hold onto your hats!

A little over a year ago, in an update on New York’s groundbreaking Reforming the Energy Vision (REV) proceeding, we wrote that the “devil is in the details.” Today, we have a lot more details. In late July, the Public Service Commission issued its “Staff White Paper on Ratemaking and Utility Business Models.” As the title suggests, this document makes initial proposals to change how utilities make money (the business models) and how they would charge customers to reward certain behaviors and discourage others (ratemaking). As with other participants in the proceeding, we have spent the past three months poring over this White Paper and thinking through the benefits and risks to advanced energy companies of its various provisions. Although the details are still devilish, the REV vision of a dynamic electric power system built around energy efficiency, onsite solar and wind, energy storage, cogeneration and microgrids, and other distributed resources, rather than a static, one-way system of central power plants, poles, and wires, continues to look bright for advanced energy.

The energy market is ever changing and beholden to any number of forces, be they economic, political, practical, or personal. There are a few things we can count on, however. Among them: In advanced energy, prices are falling, and Hawaii is still sending us “postcards from the future.”

This week, Bloomberg reported that wind energy is cheaper than natural gas for Xcel Energy. Xcel, a Minneapolis-based utility that operates in eight states, including Colorado and Minnesota, is already the nation’s leading provider of wind power. On some of the windiest days, wind power supplies up to 60% of the utility’s power generation. But now it’s planning to do more, entirely on the basis of price.

Well, that didn’t take long. Within hours of publication of the final rule in the Federal Register last Friday, Oct. 23, a group of 24 states filed suit in the D.C. Court of Appeals against EPA’s Clean Power Plan. Separately, Oklahoma and North Dakota lodged their own legal complaints, bringing the total of states challenging the rule to 26. But a majority of states taking EPA to court does not mean half the country is going to “just say no” to the CPP. Indeed, a number of these states are looking hard at compliance options even as they try to take down the rule. Plus, EPA will have defenders of the Clean Power Plan in court – including AEE.

Solar panels at an Apple data center in North Carolina.

Here at Advanced Energy Perspectives, the trend has been unmistakable. Large, multi-million and multi-billion dollar businesses are choosing advanced energy over alternatives. From manufacturing giants like AEE member Siemens to consumer-facing brands like Apple, Nike, Starbucks, and Proctor & Gamble to tech companies like Google and Salesforce, major companies are committing to advanced energy technologies. Now, even more companies are joining in the fun. Plus, we have details on how more companies like these can make the same choice.