Green Your Eats

Good morning and happy Friday,

In this week’s headlines, West Virginia is at a coal crossroads with a new pilot program, California’s (NEM) 3.0 policy makes battery storage look good, and the partisan landscape (may be) changing as evidenced by the IRA.

Read on for more.

Green Your Eats

The Farm Bill has been a mainstay of U.S. agriculture policy since the earliest forms of this legislation were introduced in the 1920s. Last passed in 2018, the current bill is up for reauthorization at the end of September, and clean energy advocates are hoping this will offer opportunities for renewables. Here’s some barnyard buzz on the bill:

• The federal Rural Energy Assistance Program (REAP) has been successful in providing financial assistance to agriculture producers and rural small businesses to purchase, install, and construct renewable energy systems or energy efficiency improvements. Under the 2018 Farm Bill, grants can pay up to 25% of an eligible project’s costs.
• The 2022 Inflation Reduction Act allows funding up to 50% and doubles the maximum grant amount to $500,000 for efficiency projects and $1 million for renewable energy systems. Under the 2018 Farm Bill, mandatory funding for REAP is $50 million per year; the IRA provides additional funding of roughly $2 billion for REAP projects focused on clean energy.
• This includes technical assistance – something that’s key for smaller operations, many of which lack resources and may find the application process daunting. This is consistent with the Biden administration’s Justice40 Initiative, which states that 40% of overall economic benefits from government programs should flow to disadvantaged communities.

?? The Takeaway

A low-carbon diet. Virtually every aspect of modern life involves energy, and therefore a corresponding carbon footprint. While things like electricity production and transportation may be the first items that spring to mind when we think of carbon emissions, a significant amount of energy goes into producing the food we eat – something that also contributes to the cost of food. Here’s to finding ways to bring more renewables into U.S. agriculture!

Seismic Shifts Ahead

The CERAWeek by S&P Global conference was held in Houston this week and featured a diverse array of influential speakers who shared their views on a range of key topics including energy security, innovative technologies and fuels, energy storage, decarbonization, and more. Here are some key takeaways from the first day:

• The Inflation Reduction Act could shift global investment away from China and into a new wave of U.S. clean energy projects, according to John Podesta, senior adviser to President Joe Biden for clean energy innovation and implementation, who said that “We, for too long, let our supply chains drift overseas, particularly to China.”
• Liquified natural gas was another major theme, particularly as we enter the second year of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The U.S. could become a much more significant supplier, particularly to Europe where countries are trying to shut off Russian fossil fuels, but this will depend in large part on permitting reform.
• Fortunately, permitting is finally getting the attention it deserves from the current administration, according to Podesta. “I’ve worked in three White Houses. Permitting has never been a top priority of senior administration officials in the past. Now, thanks to President Biden, it is,” he said, while noting that Congress also “needs to do its job.”

?? The Takeaway

Getting to net zero. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, CEO of the state-run Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (ADNOC) and president-designate of the upcoming U.N.-brokered COP 28 climate negotiations which will be held in the UAE in December, told the conference “Let’s aim to achieve net zero even earlier. Why wait until 2050?” Three cheers for that.

• Shorten the Chain: U.S. solar builders face delivery woes in pull away from China
• Go Big or Go Home: Offshore turbines are dramatically bigger
• Litigious: Developer sues township for failing to consider large project in West Michigan

• Entergy Louisiana seeks approval to add nearly 225 megawatts of solar power to its generation mix
• Origis Energy announces $750 million credit facility for solar and energy storage development pipeline in the U.S.
• Duke Energy begins operation in Navarro County, Texas of its largest solar plant

Put On a Sweater

As the nation prepares to say farewell to Jimmy Carter, we wanted to dedicate this Last Byte to the president who tried to save the planet. Clean energy and climate advocates will surely remember President Carter for his interest in energy efficiency and renewables, not least because he famously had 32 solar panels installed on the White House in 1979.

In response to rising energy costs resulting from the 1970s energy crisis, he gave his “Moral Equivalent of War” speech – mocked as the “MEOW” speech by his critics – which laid out ten principles to make the country more energy independent. In 1979 he gave his “Crisis of Confidence” speech (commonly referred to the “malaise speech”) in which he encouraged Americans to moderate their consumption of energy, attracting scorn from some who saw the notion of conservation as profoundly un-American.

Many historians feel Carter’s impact and influence were greater post-presidency, as he and Rosalynn, his wife of 77 years, worked tirelessly to advance humanitarian causes and promote peace, efforts that were recognized by awarding Jimmy the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002. As President Carter spends his last days in hospice at his home in Plains, Georgia, we reflect on a life well lived, and thank him for a lifetime of service to our nation.