This Week in Climate & Clean Energy Wins: Week of 10/28

Clean energy companies continued the race to claim Inflation Reduction Act credits this week, with new factories and expansions announced in Michigan, Ohio, Texas, and Alabama. The speed of these announcements is already shattering projections for the sector’s development, and this week it began to pay off for consumers, with Duke Energy announcing $56 million in refunds to ratepayers because of a retroactive climate law clean energy tax credit. On their quarterly earnings calls, utility CEOs across the country projected similar savings for their customers as the climate law makes renewable energy even more affordable and competitive. Providing the certainty to drive these commitments was a series of climate announcements from the Biden administration, including $1 billion in grants to more than quadruple the nation’s electric school bus fleet, saving money for school districts and protecting children from harmful pollution.

Solar and EV companies announced new projects and accelerated timelines worth billions of dollars:

• Hyundai broke ground on their new $5.5 billion Savannah plant, and shared an accelerated construction timeline. [Fortune, 10/26/2022]

• OCI to invest $40 million to expand Mission Solar Energy’s solar cell module production facilities. [Korea Economic Daily, 10/23/2022]
• Automotive supplier Manga International expanding production in Michigan. [MLive, 10/25/2022]
  • The company is expanding its battery housing plant in St. Clair, Michigan, and opening two new plants for powertrains and seats.
  • The investment will create more than 1,500 new jobs. 
• GM announced an accelerated timetable for building up domestic EV manufacturing in order to meet the climate law’s tax credit requirements. [Bloomberg, 10/25/22]
• First Solar to build a solar R&D facility in Ohio. [Electrek, 10/27/2022]
  • The Arizona-based company will invest $270 million on a new facility to facilitate the development and deployment of next-generation thin film solar modules.
• Hyundai Mobis will build a $205 million electric vehicle battery system assembly plant in Montgomery, AL.
  • The facility will employ 400 people and supply more than 200,000 batteries to Hyundai plants in the region.
  • Construction is expected to begin in December with production beginning in 2024.
• Eco Energy World (EEW), a global developer of utility-scale solar photovoltaic projects, announced plans to become listed on NASDAQ in order to finance new projects in the U.S. [Forbes, 10/25/2022]

The EV, battery, and solar markets are shattering pre-climate law projections:

• Top automakers plan to spend $1.2 trillion through 2030 on EV development and production. [Reuters, 10/21/2022]
  • That’s more than twice Reuter’s prediction a year ago.
• U.S. EV market set to grow 390% by 2028. [OilPrice.com, 10/21/2022]
  • A quarter of U.S. car sales could be electric by 2025, a year earlier than previous predictions.
• U.S. corporate funding of solar reached $18.7 billion through nine months this year. [PV Magazine, 10/24/2022]
• The EIA estimates that by the end of the year, the world’s installed photovoltaic capacity could increase 50% over last year. [PV Magazine, 10/21/22]
• With renewables making up 58% of the pipeline for new energy projects in the Southeast, S&P projects the region is positioned to benefit enormously from the climate law. [S&P Global, 10/25/2022]
• The climate law opened a new market for battery storage by giving standalone battery storage access to the investment tax credit. [Reuters, 10/27/2022]

Spurred by the climate law, clean energy is already saving families and businesses money on energy bills, and is projected to do a lot more:

• Duke Energy to pass first $56 million wave of Inflation Reduction Act tax credits to customers [Utility Dive, 10/21/2022]
• The climate law’s tax credit for businesses to purchase EVs is less restrictive than those for consumers—and it goes up to $40,000. [CNBC, 10/21/2022]
• Utility CEOs expect climate law to lower rates for consumers and costs for renewable projects. [E&E News, 10/28/2022]
  • Garrick Rochow, CEO of Jackson, Mich.-based CMS Energy said the new law’s production tax credits (PTC) will reduce solar deployment costs by 15 percent, which could lead to $60 million in consumer savings.

Wisconsin could eliminate greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 while driving economic growth.

• A new report found that Wisconsin could replace virtually all fossil fuels with clean energy sources from existing technologies without impacting reliability.
• Fuel savings would offset $100 billion in infrastructure costs. The clean energy transition would grow the state’s economy by about 3% and add about 68,000 jobs. [Wisconsin State Journal, 10/26/22]

The Biden administration announced millions in new funding to create clean energy jobs in underserved communities, and took steps to build out the green bank and reduce construction and refrigerant emissions:

• Biden-Harris Administration Announces New Funding for Maryland, Ohio and Virginia to Create Good-Paying Union Jobs, Catalyze Economic Revitalization [Department of the Interior press release, 10/26/2022]
• Biden-Harris Administration Seeks Public Input on Inflation Reduction Act’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund [EPA press release, 10/21/2022]
• President Biden announced a deal with major corporations to use more climate-friendly materials in construction. [Politico, 10/21/2022]
• Biden signs international climate deal on refrigerants [Washington Post, 10/27/2022]
• EPA Awards Nearly $750,000 in Funding to Research PFAS Exposure Pathways [EPA press release, 10/28/2022]

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