Creative Courage

Good morning and happy Friday,

In the week’s headlines, the oil and gas industry is accused of trying to hold?US public schools hostage, ACP released its?annual market report on solar, wind and energy storage industry performance for 2021, and solar installations?could fall by 50%?under the new tariffs.?

But all is not glum — as we witnessed the world’s leading clean energy companies and policymakers converge at the CLEANPOWER2022 conference in San Antonio this week and still see a path where a net zero carbon electricity grid by 2035 is possible.?

Read on for more.

Creative Courage

Community acceptance of wind can make or break a project, and the question of how to achieve local support remains at the crux of the clean energy transition. Developers, researchers, and advocates are delving into what factors influence attitudes toward clean energy and taking new approaches to community engagement.?

This year, Apex Clean Energy launched an experiment testing a?collaborative, community-driven development process?in Vermillion County, Indiana. Led by Dahvi Wilson, Apex’s VP of Public Affairs, the experiment aimed to combat ineffective county processes and give the community more control over the project. Here’s how it unfolded:

• The hypothesis:?If communities have a say in a project, see developers as transparent, and have influence over the project outcome, they will be more supportive of it. Ideally, this will increase the community’s sense of ownership over the project and trust of the company.?
• The experiment:?Apex’s “Exploring Wind Vermillion” campaign let residents help decide where and how a project could fit into their community. The campaign used direct mail, phone calls, surveys, and social media to solicit opinions about community values and wind energy, as well as hosting several webinars and events and opening a local office. Apex also hired third-party facilitators to help keep the process accountable and earn trust, and pledged a 1% project profit share to an organization of the residents’ choosing.
• The results:?Low engagement and local bans. Despite Apex’s efforts, they could not break through the standard “decision-making for the loudest few” dynamics in the community, leading county commissioners to set project-killing wind restrictions.

?? The Takeaway

Where do we go from here??While being proactive and transparent didn’t work out how Apex had hoped, it is still an integral part of project development. Yet, the issue of engaging rural communities on the topic of clean energy remains an ongoing question. Are developers best fit to lead community outreach or does their role make them untrustworthy? Is it more a matter of renewables gaining social license as a form of legitimate land use? Ultimately, Apex’s experiment prompts new, important questions about project communities–and shows that there is no one-size-fits all approach to local engagement.

Pressure Point

Joe Manchin, the West Virginia Democrat who chairs the Senate?Energy and Natural Resources panel, has played a key role in hindering the clean energy transition, at the state and national level. While he supports clean energy as an addition to his state’s energy portfolio, he helped block Biden’s climate package and continues to protect his state’s coal industry. Now, he’s facing competing pressure from conservatives, climate activists, and the coal industry, placing the fate of the climate transition in his hands. Where things stand:

• Manchin fears that a rapid shift to clean energy would come at the expense of the state’s coal workers. In particular, he is skeptical that older coal workers could find jobs in clean energy or be willing to even retrain.?
• There’s a likely conflict of interest. Most of Manchin’s wealth comes from his family’s coal company. He cites a blind trust to justify his climate voting record, but the blind trust is?too small?to account for all of his reported coal earnings.?
• While coal miners have urged Manchin to support Biden’s climate package bill, coal mine owners oppose it. They share the fear that more clean energy would put miners out of jobs or force them to take other occupations.

?? The Takeaway

Stuck in his ways.?Manchin’s continued climate opposition and skepticism about transitioning clean energy has made the deep red state a major obstacle to national climate goals. With his conservative beliefs about coal and personal ties to the industry, West Virginia’s pathway to a carbon-free future falls majorly out of step with the rest of the country.

• Miscommunication Mishap: BNEF says Auxin misinterpreted its research in calling for solar tariffs.
• Impact Investing: It’s time for investors to use their collective power to advance the clean energy transition.?
• Fuel Switch: It’s now cheaper to switch from coal to renewables instead of from coal to gas.
• An ASAP Request: A bipartisan group of 19 governors sent a letter urging the Biden Administration to end the solar tariff case.

• ?rsted to Acquire?121 MW Illinois Wind?Project
• GE Reveals?Sierra Turbine Model?for North America
• EDP Inks?100 MW Solar?Deal
• DOE Provides $505M to Advance?Long-Duration Energy Storage?Fed by Renewables

It's Always Sunny?

Google just got one step closer to its goal of running on 100% renewable energy by the end of the decade. Its newly opened campus in Mountain View, California is covered in 50,000 small?“dragonscale” solar panels?designed to optimize power generation at all hours.

As a solution to the mismatch between the time solar power is generated and the time that it’s used, the panels are made to capture light from different angles. Some catch more light earlier in the day and others get more in the afternoon, both times when the grid has less renewable energy. It’s aesthetic and efficient, giving the look of a futuristic circus tent.