Advanced Energy Perspectives

This week, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI) released a provocative tax reform proposal that would zero out advanced energy tax credits among many other changes to the tax code. While the prospects for tax reform are all but non-existent this year, the draft represents Chairman Camp’s stake in the ground in a discussion that will carry on into the next Congress. On the other side of the Capitol, new Senate Finance Chairman Ron Wyden (D-OR) continues to focus on moving legislation to address the extension of tax provisions that expired at the close of 2013. Finance Committee staff anticipate an accelerated process, skipping time-consuming hearings and moving to mark up a tax extender bill as early as next month.

Later today, the California Senate Select Committee on Energy Efficiency will hold a special hearing to consider ways to improve the various energy finance programs administered by California state agencies. Chaired by State Senator Kevin de León, the Select Committee will hear from California government officials, as well as leaders from other states and the private sector.

As part of AEE’s testimony to the Select Committee, we are today releasing an update to a whitepaper originally released last summer that maps the various agencies responsible for program implementation and asks whether opportunities exist to better coordinate the different programs and align the financing options around a comprehensive state energy strategy.

We just released our new Advanced Energy Now 2014 Market Report. It is a remarkable piece of work, produced for us by Navigant Research. It shows the market growth across all the segments and subsegments of what we define as advanced energy, in the United States and around the world.

From this wealth of data, here are two conclusions I take away: Business is booming, and policy makes a difference.

This week AEE released Advanced Energy Now 2014 Market Report, which featured a breakdown of advanced energy’s $1.1 trillion estimated global revenue in 2013. The report itself was picked up by several major news organizations.

Rod Kuckro, writing for E&E’s Energy Wire, described the report and what it could mean for states considering advanced energy policies during this legislative year. Kuckro described AEE as “a challenge to robust efforts by the American Legislative Exchange Council to repeal state laws” that promote advanced energy. While emphasizing AEE’s pro-prosperity mission, CEO Graham Richard told Kuckro, “We are involved in protecting and keeping policies that we believe give us a fair and level playing field such as protecting the renewable portfolio standards in states, protecting energy conservation initiatives.”

In response to Superstorm Sandy in 2012, New York City began moving toward updating its grid to a more advanced, resilient system. Last year, we published a post from Lockheed Martin describing their microgrid systems, which provide reliable energy solutions for customers like the U.S. military.