Advanced Energy Perspectives

A collective event summary by Heather O’Neill, Laura Bartsch, Jeremiah Holston, Kate Johnson, Meron Lemmi, Jeremy McDiarmid, Cheryl Pretlow, and Janeen Said.  

Last week, our team had the privilege of attending the 2024 AABE (American Association of Blacks in Energy) National Conference, representing Advanced Energy United and our member companies, specifically a coalition of our members who joined us in a shared sponsorship in support of the event: Caelux, CTC Global, DNV, LS Power, Microsoft, Pattern Energy, Sunrun, and Utilidata.

Navigating the complexities of permitting for U.S. offshore wind projects requires strategic collaboration among diverse stakeholders. To avoid project delays, and to enable large-scale strategic approval processes to happen rapidly, a coordinated effort between the federal government, regulators, developers, and stakeholders is required.  

But, how can this be done? 

On April 2nd, I had the opportunity to moderate a webinar discussion hosted by Reuters exploring this very topic, specifically: how do we streamline decision-making and the permitting process to create a supportive ecosystem for offshore wind projects? I was joined by a group of all-star panelists each of whom is extremely knowledgeable and experienced in this space: Pilar Patterson of Ørsted (an Advanced Energy United member), Stephanie Wilson of Atlantic Shores, Jennifer Flood of Southcoast Wind, and Hollie Emery of the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management.

Our industry has a story to tell. It is a great story. It is the story of a growing, job-creating, economic engine of our society. It’s about an industry that is poised to leverage billions of dollars in federal and state funds into many billions more in private investment to transform our energy infrastructure and create the path to a cleaner, more reliable, more affordable energy future. It’s about the chance to bring people who have been ignored or excluded into the energy resource planning process to define and implement community benefit projects that are, in fact, beneficial.  

Over the past few months, Advanced Energy United and Advanced Energy Institute welcomed four industry leaders to its Board of Directors: Yousef AbuGharbieh of Modern Energy, Liesl Eichler Clark of University of Michigan’s School for Environment and Sustainability, Neal Kemkar of Galvanize Climate Solutions, and Amith Kota of Landis+Gyr.

Last month, the American Association of Blacks in Energy (AABE) held its annual Energy Policy Summit in Washington, DC. Bringing together leaders across the energy industry, AABE members and other attendees took on the challenge of discussing an ‘Expedient & Equitable Implementation’ of the most recent federal policies aimed at the national energy transition.