Advanced Energy Perspectives

Ohio gained national attention in the closing days of lame duck session as the legislature and Gov. John Kasich squared off over the future of state’s energy standards. Despite the Governor’s clear signal that he would veto any extension of the freeze instituted two years ago, the Ohio General Assembly passed HB554, which would have extended the freeze on the state’s energy standards by turning the benchmark requirements into voluntary goals for the state’s utilities through 2019. Despite the efforts of legislative leaders, who sought to pass the bill with veto-proof majorities, the vote fell short of reaching the threshold needed for an override. That set the stage for some end-of-session drama.

As 2016 barrels to a close and 2017 looms ahead of us, it is a time to take stock of the challenges faced and the progress made for the advanced energy industry over the past 12 months. While you’ll likely read top 10 lists that features the ups and downs of myriad issues in the coming week, when it comes to energy legislation in the states, the news was overwhelmingly positive in 2016. Here are the top five state policy battles of 2016 and how they turned out:

The recent announcement Carrier, the HVAC company, would keep 800 jobs, some number of them advanced energy jobs, in Indiana made national headlines. But the focus on Carrier missed the far larger number of advanced energy jobs in Indiana that aren’t going anywhere. Advanced energy companies have put nearly 48,000 Hoosiers to work, and that number is growing. Advanced energy jobs represent about 2% of Indiana jobs overall – more than machinery manufacturing and nearly twice as many as colleges and universities. And it’s not just numbers. It’s people like Jennifer Atteberry, Ryan Logan, Steve Schamber, and Alan West, who are making careers in Indiana-based advanced energy companies and helping the Indiana economy grow.

An employee drives through Amazon Wind Farm US Central in Paulding County, Ohio.

It’s no secret that advanced energy is increasingly affordable and reliable—and Corporate America has clearly caught on. Not only are companies purchasing renewable energy at a steady clip today, growing numbers are committing to purchase more in the future. A new market brief by AEE found that 71 Fortune 100 companies have now set a renewable energy or sustainability target, up from 60 just two years ago. Among the Fortune 500, that figure has remained steady at 43%, with 215 companies making firm commitments that, in part, depend on advanced energy technologies and services to fulfill. States can capture benefits from this burgeoning market demand for their own economic growth and electric system management. A new report from the Center for a New Energy Economy tells them how.

Virtually every industry is transforming to incorporate data strategically, and the information age has finally arrived in the electric utility industry. With the deployment of smart meters now approaching 50% of all electric meters, utilities are collecting massive amounts of granular data. The question is, how can utilities best utilize all of this data and make it available—and useful—to customers and third parties?