Summary

Quote of the Week:

“Public transit facilities need not just be green, but they also need to be reliable,” said Annette Clayton, CEO of Schneider Electric North America. “[The new solar-powered bus depot is] setting a new standard for sustainable, resilient transit infrastructure.”

CLEAN ENERGY

Must Be Equitable

Offshore wind jobs must be good jobs. With plans underway to build manufacturing sites for offshore wind equipment, General Electric and two major unions recently reached a “labor peace agreement” that will ensure the company remains neutral during the labor organizing process at the new plants at New York’s Port of Coeymans. Those plants are expected to create 870 direct jobs, plus another 2,400 indirect jobs as demand for new wind turbines rises. The agreement will ensure manufacturing remains smooth and uninterrupted, and GE’s proposal also includes a program that will recruit historically underserved communities into the industry. (Times-Union $)

CLEAN ENERGY

Has Many Benefits

Solar-powered bus depot will make its own carbon free fuel. Montgomery County, Maryland is already a national leader in electric school bus adoption, and as it looks to clean up heavy duty vehicles the county is developing a novel approach to clean transportation infrastructure. At one of its main transit centers, the county is planning to add an array of solar panels and batteries that it will use to run an electrolyzer that can produce green hydrogen to power a fleet of 13 long-distance fuel cell buses. By producing its own fuel, the county will be able to save money on fueling while ensuring an adequate supply of green hydrogen, which is otherwise hard to come by. As an added bonus, the solar and battery array can also serve as a microgrid to keep the hub functioning during grid outages. (Canary Media)

CLEAN ENERGY

Is A Good Investment

$1 billion solar panel plant coming to Oklahoma. Enel’s new facility will bring more than 1,000 new permanent jobs by 2025 as part of the largest economic development project in the state’s history, which was backed by a $219 million incentive package and other supportive policies. Enel noted its decision was motivated in large part by the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act. The company expects to begin rolling out U.S.-made solar panels by the end of 2024. (Tulsa World $)

CLEAN ENERGY

Is Replacing Fossil Fuels

Gulf coast oil workers pivot to offshore wind. With offshore wind lease sales now planned in the Gulf of Mexico, workers in the region’s once-dominant oil and gas sector are beginning to shift to the growing offshore wind industry. From building wind turbine installation vessels to electrical substations and other supply chain infrastructure, the offshore wind industry is becoming an economic lifeline for Gulf coast workers as oil and gas jobs continue to decline. The good news is that many of the skills used in the oil and gas sector are applicable to the wind sector. The Energy Department estimates that a single wind farm in the region could provide up to 4,500 jobs and a $445 million boost to the local economy. (Bloomberg $)

California plans to build $7.3 billion of power lines. The Golden State’s grid operator, the California Independent System Operator (CAISO), recently signed off on the plan to build 45 new transmission projects to shore up the state’s energy grid. It expects the projects will support the development of more than 40 gigawatts of new power resources for California’s grid, which will be critical to meet rising demand from the shift to clean energy and electrification of transportation and buildings. As California continues toward its goal of a carbon free power grid by 2045, CAISO projects that future transmission plans could require 120 gigawatts of new energy. (Reuters)

Utility says renewables will help meet summer energy demand. With Texas likely facing extreme heat this summer, San Antonio’s municipal electric utility CPS Energy says renewable energy will be critical for meeting demand and avoiding blackouts. Roughly 21 percent of the utility’s power mix comes from renewable sources, and CPS is aiming to add nearly 3 gigawatts of new solar, wind, and battery storage — up from about 1.5 gigawatts today — as it phases out its coal plants by 2028. While the state legislature has recently introduced legislation that would favor fossil gas plants over renewables in the name of reliability, CPS Energy representatives say the state should not penalize renewables since it needs all the energy resources it can get. (San Antonio Report) 

CLEAN ENERGY

Is Challenging

Landlords are standing in the way of clean energy home upgrades. While new tax credits and incentives from the Inflation Reduction Act are helping homeowners upgrade their homes with solar panels, heat pumps, and other energy efficiency upgrades, renters are at risk of being left behind. Since renters typically pay their own utility bills, they have a financial interest in making energy-saving upgrades — but because landlords are the ones who would bear the costs of new appliances and retrofits, they have little incentive to make those investments. Roughly one-third of Americans, disproportionately people of color, live in rented apartments or houses, and since renters tend to be lower-income they generally have less ability to pay for climate-friendly upgrades even if they had their landlords’ permission. (Washington Post $)

MULTIMEDIA

Charts: Why the U.S. is so bad at building clean energy