Groups vow to continue push for clean energy credits

Lobbyists for clean energy industries are confident, despite some recent setbacks, that 2020 is the year Congress will pass tax incentive policies. After spending most of the year lobbying the Senate and House to create a new tax credit for energy storage and extend credits for solar power, wind power and electric vehicles, industry representatives say they hope to continue the momentum from last year and try again. “We’ve got all the pieces in place; now it’s time to just take it over the finish line,” said Kelly Speakes-Backman, CEO of the Energy Storage Association. [ read more … ]

Google strikes record solar-storage deal

The company behind the world’s most popular search engine is seeking approval for what may be the world’s largest corporate deal for utility-scale solar with storage. Google LLC has reached an energy supply agreement with NV Energy to power a $600 million data center planned for Henderson, Nev. The parties outlined the electricity plan in a recent NV Energy filing with the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada (PUCN). [ read more … ]

DOE launches 10-year energy storage ‘challenge’

The Department of Energy yesterday announced a 10-year initiative aimed at accelerating the development and commercialization of energy storage technologies. Dubbed the “Energy Storage Grand Challenge,” the effort looks to leverage the department’s research and development expertise across the national laboratory complex to help bring down costs and extend storage times for a technology sometimes hailed by advocates as the “holy grail” to combat climate change. [ read more … ]

Is climate change driving blazes? Experts say no

Climate change played a minor role in the wildfires that devastated California in the past three years, a panel of experts said yesterday, blaming most of the damage on land management and development. Scott Stephens, a professor of fire science at the University of California, Berkeley, said 20% to 25% of the wildfire damage resulted from climate change, and “75% is the way we manage lands and develop our landscape.” [ read more … ]

Legislation shows Democrats’ shifting strategy on climate

Long-awaited draft climate legislation unveiled by Energy and Commerce Democrats yesterday does not seek to price carbon, a surprising absence in the fluid policy landscape. Since they took over the House a year ago, Democrats have given few hints as to what they had in mind when it comes to large-scale climate policy, except one. “I think that should be the center of our comprehensive plan — a price on carbon,” Environment and Climate Change Subcommittee Chairman Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.) said in March [ read more … ]

House Democrats tee up sweeping climate bill as alternative to Green New Deal

Top House Democrats are teeing up a sweeping climate bill that aims to be an alternative to the Green New Deal. The so-called CLEAN Future Act aims to eliminate U.S. carbon emissions from the power, transportation and manufacturing by 2050. It’s establishment Democrats’ highest profile countermeasure to the Green New Deal, which calls for a more radical reduction in emissions over the next decade and captured the attention of the party’s left wing. [ read more … ]

Democrats outline sweeping legislation to make U.S. carbon neutral by 2050

House Democrats outlined their vision for sweeping climate legislation Wednesday, offering a first look at a bill that would push the U.S. to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
Wednesday’s white paper provides the framework that lawmakers in July promised to deliver by early 2020 – a broad climate bill targeting every major sector of the economy. [ read more … ]

‘Soft costs’ threaten EV charging build-out — study

Electric-vehicle charging stations are slow and expensive to build, and it’s the “soft costs” — permits and paperwork — that are the toughest culprit, according to a new study. The paper by the Rocky Mountain Institute, released today, is meant to bring transparency to what the components and services that make up a charging station actually cost. The report observed that the early struggles of the EV charging industry are similar to the early travails of the solar industry. As was the case with solar arrays, the costs for charging equipment are dropping steadily, but overall project costs aren’t, because the permits and other processes are so cumbersome. [ read more … ]

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