This Week in Climate & Clean Energy Wins: Week of 5/12/23:

Three Numbers to Know

  • $620

    Million

    The amount of clean energy funding announced by DOE this week. 

  • 4.2

    Million

    The number of homes projected to be powered by BLM’s renewable energy  permits. 

  • 300,000+

    The amount of tons of lithium that a California reserve is expected to produce per year.  

This week in the private sector, Tesla broke ground on a new lithium refinery in Texas that will produce enough to support 1 million EVs by 2025, making the company the only U.S. automaker to refine its own lithium. Aspen Power acquired 10 new solar projects in Pennsylvania, Xcel Energy is expanding in Minnesota on its way to tripling the amount of solar in its Upper Midwest System by 2028, and Ingeteam is expanding its production facility in Wisconsin. NextEra Energy Partners also announced they will sell all their remaining natural gas pipelines and focus exclusively on renewable energy by 2025.

Led by Tesla, North American factories produced a 93% increase in battery powered cars from this time last year, carbon emissions are expected to decline due to transitions to clean generation sources after the last peak in 2022, and lithium operations are being developed in southeastern California – a reserve that could supply upwards of 300,000 tons of lithium per year in a critical step toward building a U.S.-based EV supply chain.   

The Department of Energy (DOE) made 3 major funding announcements this week. First, $26 million will be dedicated to research on reliable clean energy resources. Second, $40 million will kickstart 15 data cooling center projects to lower the carbon footprint of critical infrastructure. And third, $554 million in funding is going toward revolutionizing the American hydroelectric power and marine energy systems. The White House celebrated the clean energy boom, which the Administration has led the way on with $470 billion in funding since President Biden took office. Just one snapshot of this progress is the efforts of agencies like the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) permitting push – resulting in enough renewable projects to power 4.2 million homes.

Lastly, the Inflation Reduction Act continues to spur clean energy projects that are growing states’ green economies, from Massachusetts to California and Hawaii, to name a few. 

Private Sector

New Reports 

Biden Administration 

State-Level  

###