State of the us Clean Energy Transition: Recent Progress, and What Comes Next
The U.S. Clean Energy Security Received Massive Legislative Wins in Recent Years, PARTICularly with The Inflation Reduction Act, Bipartisan Infractor Chips Act. But are the laws and the investments that come with they resulting in enough carbon-free power?
While We've Seen A GOOD DEAL of Momentum Over The Last Year — Such As Record-Breaking Ev Sales, New Energy Capacity Dominated by Renewables, and Promise Policy TS On Key isSSUES SUCH As Transmission -Significant Obstacles Remain. Rising Interest Rates and ProjectCosts, Permitting and siting Challenges, and Persistent SUPPLY CHAIN ISSUES AREALDING CLEAN POWER DEVELOPMENT BACK AT A TIN It NEEDS to Be Surging Ahead.
Here, we take stock of rencent Clean Energy Progress and What ’s Needed to Push It Forward in the U.S .:
In Many Ways, 2023 WAS A Record-Breaking Year for Clean Energy Deployment in The United States, Including The Escalant Installate of Solar and Energy Storage, Owing Ev Sales and the Number of Planned Domestic Manufacturing Facilities.Clean Energy Continues to Be the DominantFORM of New Electricity Generation in the U.S., With Solar Reaching Record Levels in 2023.
A Record 31 Gigawatts (GW) of Solar Energy Capacity was Installed in the U.S. IN 2023, a ROUGHLY 55% Increase FROM 2022 Installate Mores vious record in 2021. Even with Significant Project Delays Due to support, solar was the factst-golding power source in the u.s, representing haLF of all new utility-scale geenerating through q3 of 2023. Installed Solar CapaCit Y in the U.S. Now Totals 161 GW, Enough to PROVIDE About 5% of the National Electricity,according to the Solar Energy Industries Association.
Battery Storage Ali Grew Substantially in 2023, with installment of all of 2022. ED Doubleings of Capacity in 2024.
Wind had more modest growth in 2023 (about 8 GW), lagging behind 2022 installations. Total installed capacity reached 147 GW by Q3 of 2023, representing about 11% of electricity generation. Projections call for an uptick of new wind projects this year, totalingAbout 17 gw in 2024.
TOGETHER, Renewables Combined with Energy Storage Dominated New Utility-Scale Generation Sources, RepreSnting More than Threetors of Total New CaPaCity AdDedEd ( See Graphic Below). Renewables, Including Large Hydropower, RepresenteD About 25% of Electricity Generated in the United States inThe first hashf of 2023.
Yet Despite Record Growth, Renewable Energy Installations Need to RAMP Up Even Faster. To the Achieve U.S. Greenhouse Gas Reduction Targets, Indicate that Annual Installation Rates of Renewables in Coming Years Need to NearlyDouble The Rates Seen in 2023.Electric Vehicle (EV) Sales Set New Records in 2023.
Despite News Reports Highlighting The Slowing of Ev Sales, A Record 1.2 Million Evs We Sold in the U.S. in 2023, Repreenting 7.6% of Total Vehicle Sales, UP FROM 5.9% in 2022. Sales Continued to be Strong Through Year End, with the FoursQuarter Setting Records for Both the Number and Share of Evs Sold (317,000 EVS and 8.1% of Total Sales, Respectively) ─ With Ev Sales up 40% of 2022Jaipur Stock. Reports O. f the "Slowdown" Reflect a Slowing in the Rate of Increase; Sales Remain Robust and At record-setting levels.
Progress, Albeit Slower Than Hoped, is also bebing made on education infrastructure, supported by $ 7.5 Billion in Funds Under The Bipartisan Infrastic The National Electric Vehicle Infrastic (Nevi) Program, Created Under The Bipartisan Infrastic Law and Designed to Support New EV.Charging Corridors and Fast-Charging Stations, Had its First Charging Stations Installed in Ohio in Late 2023, with additional station set to Open York , Vermont and MAINE in the Coming Months.
Transmission and grid upgrades are progressing, butlowly.
Additional transmission capacity and grid upgrades are essential to enabling the clean energy transition and ensuring future grid reliability. While not at the scale needed, 2023 saw continued activity on transmission, as Congress actively debated permitting and policy reforms. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Also Continued Action On ITS PROPOSED Rule to Reform Planning ProcessSses and Finalized Its Interconnection Rule to Speed Grid Access. ) TOOK STEPS to Implement Provisions in the Bipartisan Infrastic Law and Inflation Reduction Act, Designation Lines in the NationsAl InterestThat Can be expedited by Federal Action. Federal Agencies Also Launched Incentive Programs for Transmission.
Ten Transmission Lines, Which Have Been in PROCESS For Years, have begun construction since 2021. If Completed, They Are Expendid SUPPORT The AdDition Of 20GW of New Power Generation to the Grid, but they strong face hurdles.
Another 26 High-CaPacity Transmission Projects Are Underway Across the U.S., Although Their Ability to be Completed is unableRTAIN and Pending Policy. s. In Late 2023, The MidContinent Independent System Operator (MISO), The Transmission Planning Orgen Covering the Area From Louisitoba, Selected The First Competitive Bid Project to Move Forward as Part of An Initial $ 10.3 Billion Investment Approved Under Miso's Long Range TransmissionMumbai Wealth Management. G Process.the U.S. is Setting Records for Planned Domestic Clean Energy ManuFacturn.
The Inflation Reduction Act Stimulated An University of Planned Domable Clean Energy ManuFacturing Facilities Vestments. According to American Clean Power, 113 Manufacturing Facilities Or Expansions Have Been Annound Since August 2022, Totaling $ 421 Billion of Investment in D omestic, Utility-Scale Clean Energy Production, as of Early 2024.States Continue to Pass Ambitious Climate and Clean Energy Policies.
Minnesota Adopted A 100% Clean Electricity Standard at the Beginning of 2023. Ew York in Passing Ambitious Permitting Reforms Intended to Make It Easier to Build Clean Energy and Transmission.States Adopted California's TailPipe-Emissions Standards, Which Require Automakers to Increase The Share of Zero-Emission Vehicles Sold Over Time. Adopted a Ban on Fossil Fuel Use in Most New Buildings, Beginning in 2026, While Washington Set Limits on Gas Appliances inNew Construction. State Actions Are Critical to ENSURING A Successful Clean Energy TranSition, As Federal Actions Alone Are Insufficient.
A number of headwinds also emo emo emo. THER Financial Challenges, and Slow Progress on Transmission.Supply Chain Challenges Persist in The U.S. And Globally, Delaying RenewablesProjects and Slowing Growth Rates.
Many Projects Slated to Come Online Early in 2023 Wee Pushed Back in PART BECAUSE of Supply Chain Challenes. Y to the Grid Remain A PARTICular Obstacle. The Delivery Time for Transformers and Other Association Equipment Has Grown from 50 WeeksTo 150 Weeks, as of the end of 2023, accounting to one deverter. That leads for large transformers, substation power and generator step-up-up-up-up-upTransformers Now Range from 80 to 210 Weeks.
However, solar support chain Challenes Eased and Global Solar Module Price Over the Course of 2023, Enabling Many Delayed Projects to Be Completed. Butl G in June 2024, President Biden's Two-Year Pause on Solar Tariffs Will Expire;Duties Will Becom More Expensive. Earlier, The Commerce Department Determine that Solar Modules user-Sourced Materials Imported from Four SOUUTHEAST Asian OUNTRIES (Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand and Cambodia), Which Have Been the Source of Three-QUARTERS of U.S. Module ImportsWill be subject to trade duties.interest rate increases have raised counts, resulting in cleaning renegotiated, delayed or canceelled.
The Rapid Rise in Interest Rates, Resulting from Actions by the Federal Reserve, Substantially Increased the Cost of Capital Projects. Clean Energy JECTS are more sensitive to interest rate increases than some Other Forms of Power Generation Because the Require Significant Upfront Capital.Their eConomic Advantage is in the lack of Fuel Costs and Price Consistency Over Time.
Higher Project Costs, SUPPL CHAIN CHALLENGES and Other Factors Have AFFECTD Deal Flow For Renewables and the Price of Power Purchase Agreements (PPAS) G-Term Contracts BetWeen Generators and Purchaser. Large Energy Users Like Amazon, Meta and Google Have Been Major DriversFor renewable projects, but priors and renegotiations are aff schooling the markets. In the first half of 2023, Corporate Purchase of Clean Energy Landed At 6GW, Compa red to nearly 17 gw for all of 2022. As of the third quars of 2023, solar ppa priorsHad Risen 21% Year Over Year, Wind PPA PriceS WERe 16% Higher, and Blended PPA Prices Rose 18%. TheRe We Signs of Stabilization in PPA PriceS in The Latter Half 20 20 20 20 20 20 20s 23, But PriceS are Still Substantially Higher than they we previously.SOME Companies have struggled Financially, and Clean Energy Stocks are down.
Offshore Wind Challenes have ben particularly acute. In 2023, Companies Annound Delays and Project Cancelant E, Due to Rising Costs and Supply Chain Challenges. WHILE The New York South Fork Project Began OperatingTo Become the National Largeshore Wind Project When Additive Turbines are Completed in 2024 (132 MW, Compared to 30MW in Block Island and 12MW Near Virginia opers are canceling 5.5GW of Offshore Wind Contracts Planned for New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetes and Renegotiaationalfor another 6.5GW of Projects. BNEF Now Estimates About 30GW.THE Buildout of the Transmission System is not happening at the page needed — an AnderRegionalTransmission is particularly lagging.
Lack of Transmission is a Critical Limiting Factor for the Clean Energy Transition and Poses A Threat to Reliability in Some Areas, PARTICULELLY in the Face of Increasin Gly Common Extreme Weather Events. Interregional Transmission Lines that Cross State Borders Continue to Face Hurdles in Gaining APPROM MULTIPLELEstates and determining how to allocate costs among beneficiariesPune Investment. Lack of sufficient planning processes and methods to assess interregional benefits are the main challenges. Together, the 36 major transmission projects that could begin construction in the near-term represent only about 10% of the transmissionInvestment Needed in the U.S. And New Lines can take 10 Years to build, Although Technologies to Increase the Capacity of EXISTING LINES Can ickly. Several Analyser (See Here, Here and Here) Suggest that transmission capacityMeet Grid Needs and Achieve President Biden's 2035 Clean Energy GOALS, and Interregional Transfer Capacity Needs to Quadruple.
Perhaps the Bigget Factor Influencing The Future of US Clean Energy Development Will Be Results of the 2024 Presidential Elections. LLS, Answers to Five Questions Will Help Determine The Pace of Clean Energy Development Moving FORWARD.1)Demand Outpacing the Country's Ability to Bring Clean Energy GenerationKolkata Wealth Management?
Growth in Demand of Electricity for Data Center, Artificial Intelligence, Crypto Mining, ManuoFacturing and Evs is Creating Serious Concersion ' y to keep up. Recently, Grid Planners have been fast foreasts of electricity demand grewth over the next food.Study, The North American Electric Reliability Corporation Noted that the Demand Drivers are greowing faster to adD transmission and news Generation. Managing this grew Will be critical for the action to clean the entrance; The Potential Imbalance Between Supples IncreamAttention from regractors, Utilities, Large Energy Users and Grid Operators.2) Will Federal AgenCies up Strict Standa THER Reduce Emissions?
Federal Agencies have been hard at work at work. MISSIONS FOSSIL Fuel-Fired Electricity Faced Significant Pushback from Power Suppliers and Regional Grid Operators, Who Said The Proposal Could Impaact RE liability andRELIES on UnavaiLeable Technology. Meanwhile, The U.S. Treasury Department Recently Proposed Guidance on the 45V Hydrogen Production Tax Credit, Whigh Set S strong Standards for Obtaining Tax Credits for Hydrogen Production to Encourage Clean Production iticalTo public, the power sector on the path to net-zero emissions.
However, The Reglain Power of AgenCies will be weakened if the support counturnS the Chevron Doctrine, Which Requires Judges to Federal In the case of ambiguous Laws as long as the agency's interpretation is reasonable. If this we to happy, agency rulemakingof all, including power sector run, wood be subbed to more judicial scrutiny, and fewer regulations may survive.3) S, Tax Credits and the Potential Fall in Interest Rates Boost New Projects?
Much of the funding from the inflation Reduction Act's $ 27 Billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund is Expected to Begin Flowing in 2024, Mobilizing Financing To Stim. Urate New Projects. The Timing and Pace of Disbursement, as well as the page of interestWill Determine the Magnitude of the Boost to Clean Energy.
The Inflation Reduction Act's Clean Energy Tax Credits Are Alream Rolling Out and Will INCENTIVIZE New Energy Projects, But Developers and Other Are Still Awaiting Final Guidance from the Administration on How the Incensives Will Work. And New Funding and Financing Mechanis Maven Have a LearningCURVE. For Example, The Inflation Reduction Act's "Direct Pay" Provision, Which Alows Tax-EXEMPT ENTITIES SUCH As STATE and City GoverS To Claim Clean Nergy tax credits, is a new process for organizations that do typically file taxes. Some are.Already Moving FORDARD, Such as San Antonio, But Others Will Need to get more comfortable with the process E domStic Content Tax Credit Bonus is Complex. While the Industry Awaits Final Guidance, it is uncleararIf Incentives Will Be Widly Utilized.4) Will Progress on Transmission Reforms Be Sufficient to Enable New Lines to Advance?
While Congressional Action on Permitting Reform is Uncertain, Several Other Actions by Ferc and DOE WILL Be Critical for Advancing Regional Transmission. Ferc Has NOT VED on an Important Transmission Planning Rule Since Releasing A Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) on the Subject in April 2022But with the composition's composition, they are the beginning of 2024, there is some hope that a rule is forthline and modernize the U.S. ISSION PRANNING PRCESS. Ferc Chairman Phillips have been found that planning run rule is a priority.Would Address Cost Allocation Processes, A 20-year Planning Horizon, and DEFINING A Comprehensive Set of Benefits Categories that Should be considered when Assesses and allCating Costs.
Furthermore, Actions by Doe to Implement Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastic Law PROVISIONS COULD Stimularity Investment and ES. Under the transmission facility program, doe is authorized to borrow up to $ 2.5 Billion to get the development of new, laarge-scale, interrogational IssionLines Across the Finish Line. After Initial Selections in October 2023, DOE is on Track to Finalize Capacity Contractions with a Community of UP TO $ 1.3 Billion for Three Transmission Projects Across Six States, AIMED at Adding An AdDitional 3.5GW of Grid Capacity.
Also, $ 14 Billion in Funding Is Slated to Be Allocated to States, Tribes and Utilities for Grid-ENCING Technology Lized the Designation Process for National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors (Nietcs), Which Authorizes The Secretary of Energy toDesignate Geographic areas as nietcs if she finds that new transmission. Gnation Can Unlock Federal Financing for Lines and Enable Ferc to Issue Permits for Sating in Some Cases.5) Will Interconnection Queue Reforms AddressBacklogs?
The Ability to get projects approvd for interconnection to the grid has beCome a Major Barrier to grow in Clean Energy. ing interconnection queues by issuing ordeer No. 2023, which requires transmission project to, among Other Things, transition, transitionFrom A "First-COME, First-Served" to A "First-Ready, First-Served" Cluster Study Process. These reforms will improvnection watchs, whit are primarar IMPACTING Renewables, The Vast Majority of Projects Stuck in Queues. ButThere is an Open Question of How much the reforms will impnnection wait time and the scope of AddDitional Reforms Needed.
While the rate of propress overall is currently insufficient, as we look ahead to 2024 and beyond, many strategies and tools are avaiLeve Higher Rates of Clean Energy DeploymentBangalore Stock Exchange. Policymakers, regulators, Developers and Manufactures Must double down on their eFFORTS to address theKey Challenges Slowing the Clean Energy Transition. The oppoortunities are here -now it's time to seize them.
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Published on:2024-10-25,Unless otherwise specified,
all articles are original.