This Week in Climate & Clean Energy Wins: Week of 12/2:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DATE: December 2, 2022
CONTACT: Erik Mebust, [email protected]

See our state by state breakdown here. 

THREE NUMBERS TO KNOW:

Clean energy companies continued their massive spurt of new investments in American made clean energy, with over $3 billion announced this week for new factories in Tennessee and Arizona. Analysts and utility executives painted a picture of the Inflation Reduction Act luring factories for clean energy products to America from European and Chinese manufacturers, and making things like domestically produced batteries and green hydrogen profitable for the first time. The Biden administration continued to power this transformation, including through $13 billion in new funding for expanding and modernizing the grid and $550 million for lowering energy costs, as well as a suite of new regulations to make energy production cleaner.

Thanks to the clean energy tax incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act, clean energy companies are continuing to launch major new initiatives across the country: 

• LG Chem, investing over $3 billion, is set to launch the largest cathode plant in the US in Tennessee for EV Batteries. [The EV Report, 11/23/2022]
  • The plant will produce 120,000 tons of cathode material, enough to power batteries in 1.2 million EVs with a range of 310 miles, and create more than 800 jobs. 
• KORE Power raises $75M to build lithium-ion battery cells in Arizona, allowing it to break ground. [Canary Media, 11/30/2022] 
  • The Idaho based lithium-ion battery company announced $75 million of a planned $150 million investment round necessary to start construction of its Gigafactory in Arizona. 
• Additionally, ​​Lithium CEO is ‘accelerating’ his U.S. investment plans, thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act. [Fortune, 11/29/2022] 
• Hyundai chose SK On Co., a company that manufactures in the U.S., over Chinese manufacturers in order to qualify for climate law incentives. [Bloomberg, 11/29/2022]
  • The two companies are mulling a $1.9 billion investment in new manufacturing facilities in the U.S, on top of the $5.5 billion Georgia project they announced earlier this year. [Electrek, 11/28/2022]
• Barclays Plc, one of Europe’s biggest coal financiers, said its analysis of the climate law has led it to commit to wind down its funding for coal in the US five years earlier than planned. Barclays Coal Plan Exposes Reach of Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act [Bloomberg, 11/30/2022]

The Inflation Reduction Act tax incentives are so successful, they are drawing investment in new manufacturing facilities away from Europe to the U.S.:

• The CEO of Europe’s biggest utility Enel said the Inflation Reduction Act is superior to Europe’s system for supporting domestic energy sector components. [Reuters, 12/1/2022]
  • “There are better ways to doing things than the system in Europe, and the U.S. have a great package not only to change the infrastructure and the energy generation mix but also to help re-shore some critical components.”-Francesco Starace, CEO of Enel.
• The Inflation Reduction Act is luring clean energy manufacturing investment away from Germany to the U.S.  [Bloomberg, 12/1/2022]
  • “IRA has changed the dynamics for suppliers. The entire value chain is looking at North America instead of at Europe,” said a spokesperson for Northvolt, a major European battery company that has delayed a planned battery factory in Germany to consider building it in the U.S. instead.

Clean energy is providing innovative solutions in states to modernize and expand grid infrastructure and helping to create new job opportunities: 

• According to a report, a potential RPO covering 11 Western states could add 4,400 MW of new clean energy while saving states $2 billion annually on energy costs.  [E&E News, 11/22/2022]
• The Latino Academy of Workforce Development in Madison, WI led a pilot program to teach minority contractors skills needed to expand their businesses into solar installation, weatherization, and other clean tech areas. [Yale Climate Connections, 11/23/2022]
• A new New York project will use high-tech sensors to get more clean energy onto grid. [Canary Media, 11/29/2022]
  • In a first of its kind project for the U.S, National Grid and LineVision will deploy technology that senses the real-time capacity of transmission lines by 2023, limiting output reductions at two wind farms.
  • This will result in reducing curtailments by more than 350 MW and increasing capacity by 190 MW, making this grid more energy efficient. 

Due to the Inflation Reduction Act, companies, states, and workers that have been hesitant to transition to clean energy, are now embracing the clean energy incentives in the historic climate law: 

• A top Goldman Sachs analyst said the climate law changed the game for the economics of clean energy, making several technologies profitable for the first time. [CNBC, 11/30/2022]
  • “It finally makes technologies like green hydrogen, local green battery production [and] carbon capture, profitable in large scale.”
• U.S. wind outlook lifted by tax breaks for long duration storage [Reuters, 12/1/2022]
• With Federal Aid on the Table, Utilities Shift to Embrace Climate Goals [New York Times, 11/29/2022]
  • Major utilities have started collaborating to transition away from fossil fuels, instead of fighting federal regulators to keep fossil-burning power plants open, and are looking to partner with federal regulators. 
• Green Factories Are Changing Minds in More Conservative US States [Bloomberg, 11/28/2022] 
  • Bloomberg reports that the QCells solar panel factory in Dalton Georgia is winning support for clean energy in Marjorie Taylor Greene’s congressional district. “Everyone is trying to move forward. If we don’t change what we’re doing, we’re going to get left behind,” admits Wayne Lock, a quality engineer at a solar factory in Dalton, Georgia.
• Green Jobs Are Flourishing & Winning Over The Hearts Of Conservative Workers [CleanTechnica, 11/30/2022]

This week, the Biden administration announced a grant to update America’s school infrastructure with clean energy, and released new rules and regulations to support tribal communities and workers: 

• Interior Department Takes Action to Reduce Methane Releases on Public and Tribal Lands [Department of Interior press release, 11/28/2022]
• Grants for Energy Improvements at Public School Facilities [Department of Energy press release, 11/29/2022] 
• Biden Interior rule would limit methane leaks, gas flaring from public lands drilling [CNBC, 11/29/2022] 
• Treasury outlines wage, apprenticeship requirements for clean energy tax credits [CNBC, 11/29/2022]
• Biden-Harris Administration Makes $135 Million Commitment to Support Relocation of Tribal Communities Affected by Climate Change [Department of the Interior press release, 11/30/2022] 
• Departments of the Interior, Agriculture Advance Mining Reforms Aimed at Protecting and Empowering Tribal Communities [Department of the Interior press release, 12/1/2022]

And in case you missed this while we were off last week, the Biden Administration announced new multi billion dollar clean energy investments and rolled out an economic justice screening tool:  

• The Biden Administration announced $13 billion aimed at modernizing and expanding America’s electric grid. [Department of Energy press release, 11/18/2022]
• Using funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act, President Biden announced $550 million to support community-based clean energy in state, Tribal, and local governments. This funding, through the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant, will develop local programming to support the deployment of clean energy. [Department of Energy press release, 11/22/2022] 
• The White House announced its first version of the Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool (CEJST), which is an essential first step in achieving the administration’s goal of 40% of climate investments going to frontline communities.  [White House press release, 11/22/2022]