Aim High, Aim Local, and Aim to Please: One Renewable Energy Advocate’s 2017 New Year’s Resolutions

By Andrea Lang Clifford, Policy Analyst

Credit: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

As renewable energy advocates, we should be excited about 2017's potential for advancing the transition to green energy. It is easy to get bogged down in all the discussion of 2016 as “the worst year ever” and to lament the rollbacks of progressive climate policy likely to occur under President Trump and a Republican Congress in the coming years. However, 2016 was replete with good news for renewable energy that advocates can harness moving forward. As I was personally reflecting on 2016 over the holidays, I settled on three New Year’s resolutions that I hope other renewable energy advocates will find both helpful and encouraging.

1.     Aim High: 100% Renewable Energy is a Reasonable and Attainable Goal

The Green Energy Institute’s mission (and mine) is to support a transition to a 100% renewable energy system, a goal which is both reasonable and attainable. Indeed, several countries actually achieved 100% renewable energy in 2016 for periods of time, illustrating that the goal is within reach. Portugal, for example, ran on 100% renewable electricity for four straight days this past summer, and Germany came very close to doing the same for short periods of time. Costa Rica performed even better, as it ran its electric grid on 98% renewable energy for all of 2016 and reached 100% renewable energy for three-quarters of the year.

Of course, these countries have different needs and different resources than the U.S., but their achievements are milestones on the path to 100% renewable energy that illustrate its attainability. While many states in the U.S. have set mandates for renewable energy procurement, Hawaii is so far the only state to set its renewable energy mandate as high as 100%. If we as advocates fail to set our sights high, we will never have the impetus to overcome the remaining barriers to achieve a 100% renewable energy system.

2.     Aim Local: Advance Well-Designed State and Local Climate Policies 

There is tremendous opportunity to drive the energy transition at the local level. While the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan stalled in the courts, many state and local governments made efforts in 2016 to combat greenhouse gas emissions and increase renewable energy deployment. For example, many states passed new legislation to increase renewable portfolio standards, commit to a certain percentage of greenhouse gas emission reductions, or incentivize renewable energy deployment.

At the same time, cities also played an active role in combatting climate change last year. Action at the city level is particularly important because, despite occupying only 2% of the world’s land, cities contribute 70% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. In 2016, San Diego committed in its climate action plan to run on 100% renewable energy and cut greenhouse gas emissions 50% by 2035. Likewise, in the heart of conservative Utah, Salt Lake City has committed to 100% renewable energy by 2032 and an 80% reduction in carbon emissions by 2040. While the incoming administration seems poised to stall federal efforts to address climate change, American cities are taking action into their own hands; following the election of Donald Trump, 51 American mayors signed an open letter asking for the federal government’s support in fighting climate change and committing to forge ahead even in the absence of such support.

In 2017, facing a federal government friendly to fossil fuels and skeptical of climate change, local action will be more important than ever. Recent state and local progress on climate policy illustrates the potential for renewable advocates to make real gains in spite of federal inaction. Renewable advocates should harness this energy moving forward and ensure that new state and local policies are well designed to achieve meaningful change. 

3.     Aim to Please: Focus on Economic Arguments for Renewable Energy

A number of reports issued in 2016 help bolster the argument that renewable energy investment is good for the economy. For example, the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) issued a report showing that U.S. employment in the solar industry grew 12 times faster than overall job growth in the country, employing more than 200,000 people. For the first time, the solar industry employs more Americans than the coal mining or oil and gas extraction industries combined. Overall, IRENA reported that the renewable energy industry employed 769,000 Americans as of 2016. The potential for new employment in renewable energy is a powerful argument to make to politicians looking to create more jobs and bring down the country’s unemployment rate.

Besides creating jobs, 2016 was also a breakthrough year in terms of the cost of renewable energy. A 2016 report published by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory showed that installation costs for residential and commercial solar have decreased dramatically over the last 15 years, as shown below. In addition, utility-scale solar costs have fallen below $1.50 per watt, which is less than one-third the cost of utility-scale installations just seven years ago.  In fact, solar energy is now on track to be the cheapest form of energy within ten years.

Credit: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Renewable energy advocates can use these economic arguments to persuade individuals unwilling to hear the moral and practical climate change-related reasons for advancing renewables. Many politicians have chosen to eschew science and cling to climate denial. Scientists and advocates should not stop trying to convince politicians of the importance of combatting climate change, but renewable energy advocates also have a responsibility to find common ground with climate change skeptics. We can all agree that job creation and cheap electricity are a good thing for the U.S. economy, and renewable energy fits that bill.

In sum, 2017 is a year to build on the terrific progress made in the past year, and harness that progress and energy to keep the ball moving. I for one intend to take 2016’s lessons and apply them to help advance renewable energy and combat climate change by aiming high, aiming local, and aiming to please.

Oregon Company Delivers Hydrokinetic Power to Hawaiian Naval Base

By Joni Sliger, Energy Fellow

A wave power device off the coast of Scotland.
Credit: Ocean Power Technologies

September has been a great month for offshore renewables. Earlier this month, construction was completed on the U.S.’s first offshore wind farm at Block Island, Rhode Island. More recently, at a naval test site for hydrokinetic power in Hawaii, Portland-based company, Northwest Energy Innovations (NEI), connected its wave power device to a nearby military base and the local grid, achieving another first for the nation. Hydrokinetic power is now generating electricity for the grid.

Like the Block Island Wind Farm, Hawaii’s new tidal power plant is a small project with only two test buoys. One buoy designed by a Norwegian company generates about 4 kW. NEI’s buoy, the Azura, can power about a dozen homes by generating up to 18 kW from wave energy. Like an iceberg, the tidal power generator hides most of its mass underwater, exposing only 12 of its 62-foot length. NEI plans to enlarge its design for a larger generator capable of generating over 500 kW and powering a few hundred homes.

Hawaii offers a welcoming market for new renewable energy. Like many islanders, including the Block Islanders I mentioned in my last post, Hawaiians face high electricity prices. In fact, Hawaii has the highest electricity rates in the U.S. at a whopping $0.33/kWh, more than three times the national average. Facing high rates from reliance on imported fossil fuels, Hawaiian legislators last year passed laws to increase the islands’ Renewable Portfolio Standard, establishing “the most aggressive clean energy goal in the country.” Hawaii now aims to obtain 100% of its electricity from renewable energy sources by 2045.

The Solutions Project, which analyzed how countries and all fifty United States could reach 100% renewables, suggests Hawaii should obtain 2% of its electricity from tidal turbines and wave power devices by 2050. To achieve this, the state needs another 326 MW from tidal and wave power. That would be about 652 of NEI’s proposed 500 kW devices.

Alternatively, Hawaii could follow Scotland’s example as the world leader in tidal power. Construction has begun on the MeyGen project, a tidal energy farm capable of generating up to 398 MW, off Scotland’s coast. This project aims to be the world’s first large-scale tidal energy farm.

Unfortunately, political debate has cast doubts on the MayGen project’s financial viability, since the United Kingdom reduced its renewable energy subsidies after it decided to withdraw from the E.U. in the so-called “Brexit” vote. Without the subsidies, the MayGen project may not be able to install all of the planned turbines. Since Tuesday, however, renewable advocates have more reason to hope for a cleaner future when Prime Minister Theresa May announced at the U.N. talks in New York that the U.K. is still committed to tackling climate change, promising that the U.K. will ratify the Paris deal.

Climate change continues to rock the global boat, but by investing in clean, low-emission renewable energy sources like tidal and wave power, we can better weather the storm.

The Collaborative Economy and Renewable Energy

By Ashlyn White, Policy Intern

 

Two weeks ago, businesses, investors, and policymakers met in London for the Business & Climate Summit to discuss their goal to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions over the next 50 years, developing a “roadmap” for short, medium, and long term steps to transition to a “net zero carbon economy.” Numerous leaders from a variety of industries, academic disciplines, and governments spoke about the urgent climate change problem and the immediacy with which members of the private and public sectors must act to mitigate this global problem. More specifically, leaders at this year’s summit discussed the Paris Agreement, collaborations between gas companies and environmentalists regarding Canada’s oil sands, “decarbonization” of transport, financing a low carbon economy, and more. 

Renewable energy and the role it plays in achieving carbon neutrality was a featured topic of the Summit, particularly in a session entitled “Going Further, Faster: Accelerating the Clean Energy Transition.” Robin Chase, co-founder and former CEO of Zipcar, opened the session and spoke about a project called PEERS, Inc., which focuses on the shift from industrial capitalism to a more “collaborative economy.” The “collaborative economy”, led by companies like Zipcar and Airbnb, focuses on sharing resources and ideas in a collective environment. At the center of the project is the idea that all players in an economy should do what they do best. For example, large corporations offer capital and experience whereas individuals are better at acting quickly and customizing solutions to problems. In a cooperative economy, both large and small actors bring their strengths to the table and combine them to solve a problem, meet a goal, or develop something great. This kind of cooperation among large and small actors is the only way, Chase argues, to move towards achieving the world’s climate goals.

Chase’s speech was followed by a discussion featuring a diverse panel of world leaders in business, finance, and the public sector. The panel members elaborated on Chase’s ideas of collaboration and discussed how partnerships within and between the business, finance, and the public sectors are, in their views, key to achieving the clean energy transition goals. 

The energy-related business representatives focused mostly on, perhaps quite obviously, the importance of investing more in renewables and less in fossil fuels as the best way to push the energy market forward. While emphasizing that expanding investment and development of renewable energy in developed countries is a critical part of reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, they also noted the importance of removing barriers to entry for renewables in developing markets. Rui Teixiera of EDP in Portugal particularly highlighted that changing the regulatory schemes of all countries, but developing countries in particular, to incorporate renewables as a larger percentage of their portfolios, will help to prevent developing countries from facing the problems developed countries are facing currently. Teixiera also emphasized the importance of developing rural microgrids based on renewable energy now instead of trying to transition grids to renewables later as another simple and doable way of preventing future unnecessary challenges.

Perhaps the most interesting and novel ideas came from the representatives from the world of finance. Support and involvement of financial institutions, the stock markets, and large-scale investors is possibly the most important and underexplored part of accelerating the transition to clean energy, according to the panel’s finance sector representatives. In particular, Assaad Razzouk, CEO of Sindicatum, noted the important role the stock market may play in shifting the way financial institutions view renewable energy – by making them more valuable than fossil fuel alternatives. In order to reflect the non-monetary costs of fossil fuel investments in financial statements, Razzouok suggested changing the fiduciary duties of financial institutions to make it more difficult to invest in dirty energy as the most critical part of changing the financial industry’s involvement in renewable energy.

Lastly, the public sector representatives suggested that achieving collaboration among private and public entities is the fastest way to meet renewable energy goals. While a lot of climate talk is focused on large emitters, Said Mouline of ADEREE and CGEM commented on the importance of small emitters being proactive now so as to never become  major emitters. As an example, Mouline noted work being done in Morocco to convince businesses to adopt renewable energy now as part of their business model to stay ahead of the trend towards renewable energy in the country’s regulations. 

While the public sector has to play an active role in the transition to renewable energy, it also has to play a support role for the private sector. David Turk of the US Department of Energy commented on the importance of governments promoting innovation to push the transition quickly, particularly as climate and renewable energy goals begin to grow exponentially. Further, he noted the importance of public sector support of companies that have set ambitious goals in order to push what other companies, industries, and governments view as possible.

The ideas presented by these leaders in renewable energy represent hopefully just the tip of the iceberg in what is to come from the Paris climate talks and conferences like the Summit. While the messages were general, the panel representatives presented interesting and possibly impactful theories as to what will push the world to increasingly use renewable energy technology to help achieve climate goals by shifting markets to make renewables more profitable than fossil fuels, being proactive to prevent problems before they begin, and encouraging collaboration. While identifying the problems and general solutions is critical, the specific actions taken by all members of the business, finance, and public sectors to expand upon the goals and ideas of the Business & Climate Summit will be critical to determining the world’s success in making an impact on climate change

Tribes & Renewables Part II: Benefits of Renewable Development on Tribal Land

Nevada Senator Harry Reid and members of the Moapa Band

 of Paiute break ground on the Moapa Southern Paiute Solar project.

 Source: http://energy.gov/articles/sun-rises-tribal-energy-future-nevada

By Andrea Lang, Policy Analyst

In the United States, tribal land contains huge potential for developing renewable projects. According to the Department of Energy, American Indian land makes up 2% of all U.S. land, but contains a disproportional 5% of the nation’s renewable energy resources, including an estimated 14 billion megawatt-hours of solar resources and 1.1 billion megawatt-hours of wind resources. Part I of my blog series on tribes and renewable energy described the potentially devastating effects of climate change on tribes, and the high cost (financially and morally) of asking tribes to adapt to those effects. Developing renewable energy projects on tribal lands can reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the energy sector and help increase tribal resilience to climate change. But renewable development can have other benefits for tribes, as well.  This week, Part II of the series explores the benefits of renewable development on tribal land. In particular, this post discusses how renewable projects on tribal land can provide (1) a source of revenue generation for tribes, (2) a relatively low-cost option for electrifying rural tribal communities, and (3) jobs and training to tribal community members.

Revenue Generation:

First, building renewable energy systems can provide tribes with a steady source of revenue to help tribal economies. Tribes can construct large utility-scale solar or wind projects and sell the power to utilities. For example, the Department of Energy and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory point out that state Renewable Portfolio Standards–which require utilities to obtain a certain percentage of their electricity from renewable sources–create a demand that tribes can take advantage of to enter into power purchase agreements with utilities that provide long-term, steady sources of revenue for the tribes.

Alternatively, tribes can use the renewable energy they generate to power their own reservation. Most tribes currently purchase electricity generated outside the borders of the reservation. By providing their communities with power generated within the reservation, tribes can keep the money otherwise spent on outside electricity purchases within their own communities in order to aid their economies. For example, the Augustine Band of Cahuilla Indians in California built a 1,900 megawatt solar project, allowing them to reduce reliance on the tribe’s outside utility by about 25%.

Electrification for Rural Tribal Members

Second, building renewable energy projects on tribal land can provide tribes with much-needed electricity infrastructure. According to the Energy Information Administration, 14% of tribal households lack access to the electric grid, compared to the 1.4% national average. Many tribes lack reliable electricity because they are located in sparsely populated rural areas that are not connected to the interstate grid. For these communities, distributed renewable power can be a common-sense and relatively low-cost way to provide reliable power to tribal members. For example, the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority has had a renewable energy program in place since 2000 that provides hybrid solar and wind energy systems to rural Navajo households. Compared to the tens of thousands of dollars it would cost to connect these communities to the grid, these distributed renewable generation options are a significant improvement over the unreliable and dirty diesel generators and kerosene lanterns these households had been using.

Jobs and Training

Finally, building new renewable projects on tribal land can create jobs for tribal communities. A National Wildlife Federation report on “The New Energy Future in Indian Country” details the jobs likely to be created by renewable development on tribal land, including construction, installation, operations, and maintenance of renewable energy systems. For example, the ongoing construction of the Moapa Southern Paiute Solar Project (pictured above) has created around 400 construction jobs and will provide seven ongoing operations jobs. Although many jobs will likely be temporary, lasting only until the project has been completely constructed, tribal members who received on-the-job training will be in a good position to obtain future green building jobs.

Next week’s post in this series will discuss some of the barriers to tribal development of renewable projects and explore some existing and suggested policy solutions to overcome these barriers.