Advanced Energy Perspectives

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?

After nearly two full years debating its energy future, on Nov. 10, the Michigan Senate decisively voted in favor of Senate Bills 437 and 438, energy legislation that requires utilities to produce 15% of their electricity from renewable sources by 2021. Approved with strong bipartisan support, Michigan’s new renewable portfolio standard (RPS) will replace the state’s existing requirement of 10%, which was reached by 2015, as required. Retaining and expanding the state’s RPS, which will now be coupled with a utility Integrated Resource Planning process, is a major victory for Michigan’s advanced energy industry, given that earlier versions of the bills would have eliminated the state’s RPS altogether. Same with the state’s Energy Optimization Standard, which also had been on the chopping block but now will be preserved, under a new name.

On Oct. 25, the Pennsylvania Senate passed Senate Bill 805, which would exempt large industrial and commercial energy users from participating in the Commonwealth’s efficiency programs, under Act 129, by a vote of 35-13. The vote was largely symbolic, since the House is not expected to act on SB 805 in the last two days the legislature will be in session, Nov. 14 and 15. That means the bill will not become law, at least this year. But it does set the stage for a battle next year over letting statewide efficiency gains – and utility bill savings for all customers – become subject to corporate whim.