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Q&A

Just Having Fun at RE+ Edition

Talking with the director of the Energy Department’s Solar Energy Technologies Office, the CEO of Empact Technologies, and more

Jael at RE+
Heatmap Illustration.

This week I’m in Anaheim wandering the halls of RE+ for the first time. It’s been a thrill to learn about the cavalcade of companies working on the frontlines of the energy transition. I’ll have a LOT more to say about my trip in next week’s edition of The Fight. But during my first day there I decided to ask a few impressive individuals to sit in my hot seat. Here’s what they said!

Becca Jones-Albertus – Director of the Energy Department’s Solar Energy Technologies Office

  • Does the federal government’s neutrality on what U.S. regions are best for renewables help or hurt the energy transition, given how many competing interests are at play? “I think for our country it helps. It provides more opportunities for local areas to engage and take charge of their own futures. The clean energy transition doesn’t depend on whether we develop a plan in [one] particular area. That means there are more communities that can engage, can push for benefits for those systems. There’s more room and opportunity there.”

Kevin Diau – CEO of 1Climate, an AI permitting assistance tool

  • Can AI help with NIMBY problems? “I think AI can make it easier to understand where all those regulations are that exist. But I think that a lot of the challenges when it comes to people having NIMBY conflicts, that’s a lot of interpersonal dynamics that AI can’t necessarily address head on. I think developers still have these NIMBY challenges from people in the community.”

Charles Dauber – CEO of Empact Technologies, policy consulting firm

  • What’s the question you’ve been asked most about the IRA at RE+? “Even though the IRA’s been around for like, two years, it turns out given safe harbor last year, many companies didn’t have to deal with this until now. So we’re just now starting to get questions about dealing with prevailing wage and apprenticeship compliance requirements. We see that probably from 70% of the people that walk up here: How do I go do this? I’m getting requirements from my investors that want to prove we’re going to be compliant with these requirements.

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Spotlight

How a Fight over Cables Could Kill Offshore Wind in New Jersey

Let's dive deep into the campaign against the so-called “high-risk” cables.

Cable and offshore.
Wiki Commons / Joel Arbaje / Heatmap

One of the biggest threats to American offshore wind is a handful of homeowners on the south Jersey shoreline spouting unproven theories about magnetic fields.

Within a year of forming, the activist group “Stop The High-Risk Cables” has galvanized local politicians against the transmission infrastructure being planned for wind turbines off the coast of New Jersey known as the Larrabee Pre-built Infrastructure. The transmission route, which will run a few miles from the beaches of Sea Girt, New Jersey, to a substation nearby, is expected to be a crucial landing zone for power from major offshore wind projects in south Jersey waters, including Atlantic Shores, a joint venture between EDF Renewables and Shell that received final permits from federal regulators last week.

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Hotspots

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And more of the week’s biggest conflicts in renewable energy.

Map.
Heatmap illustration.

1. Nantucket County, Massachusetts – A new group – Keep Nantucket Wild – is mobilizing opposition to the Vineyard Wind offshore wind project, seeking to capitalize on the recent blade breakage to sever the town of Nantucket’s good neighbor agreement with project developer Avangrid.

  • Keep Nantucket Wild was started weeks ago by raw bar restaurateur Jesse Sandole and yoga studio owner Evie O’Connor. The group already has amassed more than 1,000 signatures on a petition to the town select board to pull out of the good neighbor agreement.
  • Town officials have previously said they will renegotiate the pact, which included a $16 million company payment into a community fund and promises to reduce nighttime visual impacts.

2. East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana – One lowkey local election this fall may decide the future of Louisiana’s renewables: the swing seat on the state’s Public Service Commission, which is being vacated this year by a retiring moderate Republican.

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Policy Watch

Power Line Planning

And more of the week’s top policy news.

Power Line Planning
Olivie Strauss / Severin Demchuk / Heatmap

Transmissions on transmission – The Energy Department last week released a must-read national planning study for transmission to connect renewables to the grid through 2040.

  • The takeaway? We could reduce billions of tonnes of CO2 emissions with interregional transmission and constraining development would require new nuclear and hydrogen energy to meet emission reduction targets, instead of solar, wind, and batteries.
  • The lengthy report didn’t go into the permitting challenges at all though and the mapping does read aspirational if you know the context.
  • Regardless, we hope to see you on DOE’s webinar on the study next Wednesday.

SCOTUS shrugs for once – The Supreme Court declined to stay challenges to the EPA’s methane and mercury air pollution regulations, meaning at least two Biden regulatory tailwinds for renewables developers remains in play.

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