"Renewing” Passion for Accessible and Affordable Renewable Energy at the RE+ Conference

RE+ is one of the largest North American conferences for the clean energy industry, gathering energy leaders from far and wide over the past 20 years. It’s a terrific venue to find smart, dedicated people to learn from and think through together how the future energy system will best serve our country and the world as a whole. One way this will happen is by helping make sure people can engage more directly in the energy decisions that affect their lives so that everyone benefits from the lower costs, greater reliability, and cleaner air and water that new technologies will bring.???

At this year’s conference, I was honored to take part in a thoughtful and far-ranging discussion on the topic with Destenie Nock, PhD , Joan White , Jose Bodipo Memba and Jackie Omotalade of Dream.org , skillfully moderated by William Kenworthy of Vote Solar. Our discussion focused on equity in the energy system, and specifically how technologies and processes can be designed so that the people and communities with the least—the fewest resources, the least time and information, the fewest entry points to make their voices heard—see meaningful improvements in their energy services and quality of life.??

A few common themes emerged: the importance of resources to defray the costs of investments that are cost-effective over time but require initial financial commitments; the need for improved data to understand and track benefits and impacts more granularly; the value of greater awareness of how to access and utilize those resources and data; and fundamentally, the essential role of trust. In order for any of the above to work, people on the receiving end need to know that whoever is providing them those resources, that data, that information, genuinely have their interests at heart.??

Getting this right is critical if our shared energy future is going to truly benefit all of us. It is a core value of DOE, and here in EERE we have a number of programs that support this mission. Given the origins of RE+ in the solar industry, I’d like to share some of those programs that focus on solar energy, specifically related to solar project siting, product manufacturing, and increasing access to solar systems and their benefits.??

Siting. ? Between our recently selected siting projects through our R-STEP Program and a new $8 million prize to co-locate solar projects with agricultural land, we’re giving our communities the resources to access the benefits of renewable energy. We’re seeing an increase in good-paying jobs, lower U.S. household energy costs, and a stronger electric grid, ensuring every American benefits from our national transition to a clean energy future. Learn more about our investments in renewable energy siting: https://www.energy.gov/eere/articles/biden-harris-administration-invests-nearly-20-million-improve-siting-renewable-energy ??

Scaling up manufacturing. By increasing the manufacturing of solar technologies here in the U.S., we’re revitalizing industrial communities across the country, making the best use of old facilities and bringing jobs back to the communities that need them most. The Biden-Harris Administration has announced $40 million in entrepreneurship investments to secure our solar energy supply chain, increasing our competitiveness and building a stronger clean energy manufacturing sector. We’re improving the life cycle of photovoltaic solar systems through the Materials, Operation, and Recycling of Photovoltaics (MORE PV) funding program. Solar energy funding opportunities like the American-Made Promoting Registration of Inverters and Modules with Ecolabel (PRIME) Prize and the multimillion-dollar American-Made Solar Prize are also an important part of our vision for the future clean energy economy, encouraging research, development, and demonstration for solar projects and a better understanding of market barriers for photovoltaic thermal systems. Learn more about how to get involved with the growth of the solar energy marketplace: https://www.energy.gov/articles/biden-harris-administration-announces-40-million-support-domestic-solar-supply-chain-0 ??

Access . Our recently expanded National Community Solar Partnership coalition of solar stakeholders works hard to bring affordable solar energy to American households, supporting them with education and workforce development needed to install more solar on rooftops and schools. Our Community Power Accelerator has trained over 250 community solar developers and Round 3 of the prize will award $10 million to expand the ecosystem of developers who incorporate meaningful benefits into clean energy projects. Learn more about our expanded accessibility programs: https://www.energy.gov/eere/articles/doe-expands-programs-increase-access-solar-energy-disadvantaged-communities ?

To bring clean energy to our most vulnerable communities, it’s going to take all of us. Government, utilities, researchers—all of us using our collective expertise to make clean and sustainable energy affordable and accessible. With thousands of attendees convening to mark the 20th anniversary of RE+, the conference was an amazing opportunity to witness incredible organizations committed to working together to bring communities and neighborhoods innovative clean energy solutions and a more resilient and robust energy economy. Even if you weren’t able to attend RE+ this year, I encourage you to apply to one or more of our funding opportunities and work with EERE to help build a better clean energy future: https://www.energy.gov/eere/funding/eere-funding-opportunities ??