Advanced Energy Perspectives

 This post was originally published by Clean Energy Economy Minnesota.

On July 18, Clean Energy Economy Minnesota (CEEM) and Advanced Energy Economy (AEE) hosted a business roundtable with candidate for Governor Erin Murphy. Endorsed by the Minnesota DFL (Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party), Rep. Murphy currently serves District 64A in the Minnesota House of Representatives, and has held the seat since 2006.

Photo by Tom Burke, used under a Creative Commons license. 

In December, we published a list of the top 10 utility regulation trends of 2017. With half of 2018 already in the rearview mirror, we check in on the top public utility commission (PUC) actions and trends so far this year.

Not surprisingly, the challenges PUCs are grappling with are diverse: moving toward a cleaner grid, adopting foundational electric vehicle policies, investigating utility business model reforms, exploring the integration of new technologies such as energy storage, and increasing customer choice when it comes to sourcing their energy, just to name a few. Without further ado, here is a status check on the top 10 matters before PUCs in 2018 so far.

Photo by njtrout_2000, used under a Creative Commons license. 

This is a guest post from Keystone Energy Efficiency Alliance, AEE’s state partner in Pennsylvania. For more information on AEE’s State Coalition, click here.

In recent years, many states have grappled with the challenge of balancing the interests of regulated energy utilities to earn revenue by selling power with the public policy goal of reducing energy consumption.  To meet this challenge, more than 30 states in the U.S. have successfully used innovative utility rates, termed “alternative ratemaking,” to better align utility financial incentives with the public policy goal of increasing energy efficiency and distributed energy resources. Research by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy shows that states with alternative ratemaking policies achieve 50% higher savings from their energy efficiency programs.  Following two recent actions, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is now poised to take advantage of these tools as well.

Advanced energy employs 3.4 million workers across the United States, supporting more jobs than retail stores and twice as many as hotels and motels. These are some of the findings of AEE’s analysis of the latest data on energy sector employment. The U.S. Energy and Employment Report (USEER), published this year by the National Association of State Energy Officials (NASEO) and the Energy Futures Initiative (EFI) and last year by the U.S. Department of Energy, is the definitive source of information on energy industry jobs in the United States. But digging into the data underlying the report, in collaboration with labor market research firm BW Research Associates, which administers the nationwide survey it is based on, reveals important trends in the advanced energy industry, which is both growing and changing.

This is a guest post from the Michigan Energy Innovation Business Council, AEE’s state partner.

On June 4, the Michigan Energy Innovation Business Council (Michigan EIBC) and Institute for Energy Innovation (IEI) held the first in a series of gubernatorial candidate roundtables in Michigan. The business leaders from Michigan EIBC and AEE sat down with former senator Gretchen Whitmer to discuss energy policy. Whitmer, of Lansing, is the former Ingham County prosecuting attorney and minority leader of the Michigan Senate. Michigan EIBC has reached out to all of the major party candidates to request similar off-the-record briefings, and we look forward to additional meetings in the coming weeks.