Advanced Energy Perspectives

Just as you wouldn’t set off on a great American road trip using a 50-year-old paper map, Colorado shouldn’t be making decisions about regional electricity markets using 20-year-old assumptions about the western grid. Choosing the wrong market could lead to some very expensive mistakes, burdening ratepayers with higher costs and lower reliability and steering Colorado’s clean energy ambitions into a dead end.

A regional electricity market is among the most powerful tools in the toolbox for lowering electricity costs, improving reliability and resiliency to extreme weather events, and integrating Colorado’s abundant renewable resources into a 100% clean grid. In the next few months, Colorado utilities like Xcel Energy and Tri-State will have the opportunity to join with neighboring states and utilities in a regional market, and the benefits have the potential to be great. Colorado’s participation in a regional market could allow the state to trade electricity across the West, tapping into resources like hydro from the Northwest or geothermal from Nevada. In return, it could sell excess clean energy produced by local wind and solar.

Texas has come a long way since 2021, when Winter Storm Uri left millions of Texans without power for days during a stretch of below-freezing temperatures. The deadly impact, and traumatic effects for millions of Texans, forced intense scrutiny of the Lone Star State’s electricity infrastructure. As part of a series of recent winter storms, along with Winter Storms Elliot and Mara, Uri exposed serious vulnerabilities in the Texas grid.

In the four years since Uri hit, Texas has made enormous improvements toward making the grid more reliable, in part by significantly increasing energy capacity. In his recent State of the State address, Governor Greg Abbott highlighted Texas’ 35% increase in power generation. 

This growth is driven almost entirely by increases in advanced energy. In fact, over 90% of Texas’ new power capacity in the past four years came from solar, wind, and battery storage.  

New York is at a crossroads. Despite renewable energy's rapid growth accounting for over 90% of new capacity added in 2024, President Trump has paused energy funding from the Inflation Reduction Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and is stalling onshore and offshore wind, all of which supported the much-needed growth in the energy sector along with countless good American jobs. At the state-level, Governor Hochul’s Executive Budget failed to address the growing threats to our clean energy future. 

With our energy future at risk, state policymakers must step up to ensure a reliable and affordable energy future for all New Yorkers. Here’s how:

As the demand for electric vehicles (EVs) grows, so does the need for an energy ecosystem capable of supporting a fully electrified transportation future. In 2024, state legislatures made significant strides toward modernizing the electric grid for EVs, including streamlining charging station siting, refining permitting processes, and updating building codes to support America’s growing EV fleet. Together, these policies lay the groundwork for a more fair, efficient, and less polluting transportation system. To synthesize the EV action across the country, Advanced Energy United read and summarized hundreds of bills, which we have distilled down into this series that covers seven dominant trends:  

1. Grid Modernization: Building the Foundation for Electrification
2. Siting and Permitting: Clearing the Path for Infrastructure Expansion
3. Building Codes and Parking Requirements: Designing for an EV Future 
4. Leading by Example: State Fleet Policies 
5. Electric School Buses: Supporting Healthier Communities
6. Fees on EVs
7. Financial Incentives for EVs and Infrastructure

Why be part of a multi-technology industry association? 

One might think about joining because of the need for a shared voice in helping to shape policy. Another, because they are seeking to build partnerships across technologies. While yet another may seek market expansion, or benefit from the shared knowledge that only comes from a community of stakeholders. 

These answers resonated with the attendees of Advanced Energy United’s annual Leadership Forum last month. The retreat-style gathering at the Lansdowne Resort in Leesburg, Virginia was exclusively for business and policy leaders from across our membership. The event served as an opportunity to step away from our day-to-day work and come together to think creatively and collaboratively about the strategies needed to drive the energy transition.