Advanced Energy Perspectives

The 2022 election is still not in the books, but with the outcome of most contests already known, advanced energy and its champions at the state and federal level were clear winners. Heading into any midterm election we expect to see a swing away from the sitting president’s party. This year that meant the potential to see the progress of the past four years slowed in key states across the country and at the federal level. But now, with the votes mostly tallied, we can say the stage is set for more clean energy progress next year, especially with the funds and incentives from federal legislation arriving in states ready to put it to work.

2022 has been a banner year for clean energy, with several important policy, market, and geopolitical drivers shifting the conversation. Electric building heating technologies are no exception and as the use of natural gas declines in response to these trendlines, a lot remains “TBD” on how to transition away from the fossil fuel. Because the decisions we make today will lock in infrastructure and costs for decades, state policymakers are beginning to reexamine the way we plan and pay for the use of gas in buildings today. They need new tools, and AEE is here to help. 

Since the start of this year’s legislative sessions, Advanced Energy Economy has been tracking energy legislation across all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Congress through its online PowerSuite platform. PowerSuite provides policy tracking by policy professionals. In the process, we have identified several trends in how states are contemplating the future of their energy, transportation, and building sectors. The bills described in this post, which range from simply introduced to fully signed into law, by no means represent every bill in the country filed this year, but are rather indicative of the attention being devoted to each topic by lawmakers. What follows represents the top 10 state energy legislative issues of 2022.

A new trend is emerging as a growing number of governors and state legislatures are taking action to electrify their state-owned motor vehicles. By accelerating their own transition to clean transportation fleets, states are leading by example while saving taxpayer money, lowering maintenance requirements, reducing emissions, and contributing to energy independence.

All eyes were focused on energy negotiations in Washington for the better part of 2021, but with less fanfare, advanced energy companies powered a record-breaking year for investment in the energy transition. BloombergNEF and the Business Council for Sustainable Energy’s 10^th annual Sustainable Energy in America 2022 Factbook released last week quantifies the industry’s progress with year-over-year data and insights on energy efficiency and renewables. The Factbook records new highs in the deployment of renewable power, battery storage, and electric transportation, despite lingering COVID setbacks and supply chain bottlenecks economy wide.