The Renewable Energy Outlook According to ACORE Policy Forum Experts | Article

The American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE) held its annual Policy Forum on March 24 in Washington, D.C. This year’s forum was notable for two reasons: it took place in person for the first time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and it coincided with ACORE’s 20th anniversary celebration. EESI is proud to have been a supporting partner for this event.

ACORE is a national non-profit organization working with key stakeholders to accelerate the transition to renewable energy. ACORE’s Policy Forum brought together leaders from business, finance, and policy to hear their perspectives on federal climate policy and regulations, clean energy taxes, energy justice, renewable energy supply chains, and wholesale electricity markets. This article is a compilation of EESI’s key takeaways from the Forum.

The energy landscape is constantly shifting

From the global pandemic to changes in leadership to geopolitical conflicts, there is no shortage of external shocks impacting energy markets. According to Rachel Jones, the vice president of energy and resources policy at the National Association of Manufacturers, “A lot has changed in the last two years… We are still working off of a pre-pandemic, pre-Ukraine invasion playbook. If we want to be successful, we’ve really got to rethink it.”

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Commissioner Willie Phillips spoke in favor of proactive investments in certain technologies that will make renewable energy more flexible and reliable in the face of ever-changing threats. For example, increasing battery storage capacity will allow utilities to address the intermittency issues associated with wind and solar power. Additionally, power grid enhancement technologies, especially those focusing on interconnection and cybersecurity, will ensure that our transmission system is strong enough to deliver all the electricity needed to facilitate our clean energy future.

From left to right: Carol Browner (Covington, Former EPA Administrator), Gina McCarthy (National Climate Advisor), Michael Regan (EPA Administrator), and Greg Wetstone (President and CEO of ACORE). Photo Credit: Alison Davis

White House National Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy, the Forum's keynote speaker, said, “I have been working on the issue of climate change for a really long time. I have never felt more optimistic about the solutions we have available. One of the things we’ve desperately tried to do is to change the discussion from a planetary problem to a people problem because I want people to understand that what we’re doing matters to them and to their families.”

There is hope for the climate provisions of the Build Back Better Act

Many of the panelists at the Policy Forum were cautiously hopeful that many of the climate provisions in the Build Back Better Act (H.R.5376) will be passed, although the bill will likely be different from how it was written in December. Bobby Andres, senior policy advisor for Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), said, “I won’t claim that there are not hard choices in front of us, but I think we are still extremely optimistic about the path forward for passing this package and in preserving the bulk of what we had in December.”

Andres discussed how the conflict in Europe may prove to be a catalyst for Congressional support of the climate provisions of the Build Back Better Act. Although designed for the purpose of decarbonization, the provisions would also help reduce fossil fuel demand through new clean energy development, thereby freeing up excess resources for export to our allies.

Jon Bosworth, legislative director for Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), expanded on some of the hard choices Andres alluded to. “The package that we have put forward is the medium- and long-term solution to the energy price spikes and the crisis [in Ukraine]…The slight challenge—particularly in the House with many members facing potentially tough re-elections in tough districts going forward—is the immediate,” said Bosworth.

Energy justice needs to be intentional

Panelists across the Forum emphasized the need to consciously integrate justice into energy policy and innovation. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael Regan stated that environmental justice has been increasingly central to the agency’s mission. “In every briefing that I have, there is an environmental justice component to it. It’s really important that we be intentional,” Regan said.

Brett Isaac, founder and co-CEO of Navajo Power, spoke about the immense damage the energy industry has done to Native American lands and communities. Isaac stated that tribal lands have been used as a “battery,” meaning they have been used to produce energy resources for the benefit of other communities, regardless of the toll taken on the health and economies of Indigenous people.

“We always say the Navajo Nation helped build Los Angeles and Las Vegas through our resources… So, we are merging between legacies. We are leaving behind the legacy of fossil fuels and hoping to build a brighter one with renewables. That transition does not happen in tribal communities without some sort of accountability as to the legacy we are leaving behind,” said Isaac.

Moving forward, all eyes will be on the Biden-Harris Administration’s Justice40 Initiative, which was announced in January 2021 and established a government-wide target of distributing 40 percent of all benefits from climate and clean energy investments to disadvantaged communities. When asked about his thoughts on Justice40, Isaac pointed out that 50,000 homes in the Navajo Nation currently do not have access to electricity. The people living in those homes could be profoundly uplifted by the effective implementation of Justice40, as well as other federal environmental justice policies.

Clean energy is a matter of national security

During a panel discussion on strengthening clean energy supply chains, Covington Partner Jonathan Wakely shared, “Increasingly, renewables are going to be considered critical infrastructure. There are concerns about maintaining a manufacturing base that can support that, and there are also concerns about foreign ownership of energy assets in the United States.”

Wakely explained that renewables such as wind and solar are emerging in national security discussions because China currently dominates the renewable energy sector in terms of both the supply chain and technological innovation. He continued, “This is an area that the government really needs to get right and needs to do so in partnership with industry so we can protect national security but also allow beneficial business to proceed.”

Wakely’s observations were confirmed by John Smirnow, general counsel and vice president of market strategy at the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA). “We are dangerously over-reliant as a country on imports, particularly in the solar industry… If solar is going to be the national security and economic development engine that we need here in the United States, we have to grow a solar supply chain in North America, and the way to do that is for the federal government to invest in [domestic] manufacturing,” Smirnow said.

Certainty, reliability, and transparency will bolster private-sector commitments to the transition toward a clean energy economy

Business leaders at the ACORE Policy Forum shared their policy perspectives, why they are interested in renewables, and what it would take for corporations to go all-in on the clean energy economy. Despite some private-sector hesitations around short-term reliability and pricing of renewable energy sources, there is an overall feeling among many businesses that fossil fuels are becoming increasingly volatile, the clean energy transition is an eventual certainty, and a proactive approach will be advantageous financially.

Will Conkling, head of data center energy supply for the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Africa at Google, spoke about the company’s clean energy strategy. According to Conkling, “the issue of higher energy prices globally only increases the need for us to double down on that clean energy strategy. We have bought a lot of renewable energy, we have a strong mandate internally to continue buying renewable energy, and we believe in that strategy for a lot of reasons—one of which is the fact that we think it is financially beneficial to us over time to have that clean energy edge against volatility and high prices in the marketplace.”

Author: Alison Davis