Hill Heat

Full committee business meeting.

The purpose of the business meeting is to consider the matters on the attached agenda and short list. These are the listed nominations and an amendment to Rule 6(b) of the Committee’s Rules. The change in Rule 6(b) is necessary for the Committee’s Rules to remain in compliance with the Rules of the Senate with respect to the quorum necessary to report legislation and nominations.

Agenda:

• Amendment of Rule 6(b) of the Committee Rules to establish reporting quorum (the committee now has 20 members instead of 19, so a majority is 11, not 10).
• Nomination of the Honorable Doug Burgum to be Secretary of the Interior
• Nomination of Mr. Christopher A. Wright to be Secretary of Energy
• An Original Resolution to provide for the funding of the Committee for the 119th Congress

Doug Burgum, whose nomination hearing was January 16th, was reported favorably by the committee by a vote of 18-2.

Sens. Wyden (D-Ore.) and Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) were the only no votes; Democrats Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Catherine Cortez-Masto (D-Nev.), John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), and Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) voted with the 11 Republicans in favor.

Chris Wright, whose nomination hearing was January 15th, was reported favorably by the committee by a vote of 15-5. (The clerk incorrectly verbally reported the vote as 15-6.)

Sens. Wyden, Hirono, Cantwell, Cortez-Masto, and Padilla voted no. Democrats Heinrich, Kaine, Hickenlooper, and Gallego voted with the 11 Republicans in favor.

01/23/2025 at 09:30AM

The purpose of the hearing is to consider the nomination of Chris Wright to be Secretary of Energy.

Nominee:

• Chris Wright, to be Secretary of Energy

Wright is a fracking executive and ideological climate denier.

• Testimony
• Responses to questions for the record

Wright, in response to a question about the rising costs of fossil-fueled extreme weather: “The most important factor regarding extreme weather is the impact that it has on human lives. Wealthier societies with abundant access to affordable energy are far safer places to live than they were a century ago. A large majority of deaths from extreme weather are concentrated in poorer nations with high rates of energy poverty. Spreading energy access to those currently in energy poverty is the key to further driving down deaths from extreme weather.”

01/15/2025 at 10:00AM

The most efficient and targeted event for utility-scale renewable companies. CLEANPOWER puts you at the table and helps you get results that can grow your business and our industry, and prepare for more opportunities in the future. This expanded and targeted business development event will help your company reach new heights.

Day One | Day Two

Agenda (all times are Central)

8:30 AM – 9:30 AM ACP Energy Storage Council Meeting

9:00 AM – 10:00 AM Networking Coffee Break

10:00 AM – 11:00 AM General Session

Speakers:

• Heather Zichal – American Clean Power Association
• Secretary Jennifer Granholm – US Department of Energy
• Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR)

11:15 AM – 12:15 PM Bringing Green Hydrogen Within Reach

Moderator: Jacob Susman – Ambient Energy

Speakers:

• Janice Lin – Green Hydrogen Coalition
• Megan Reusser, PE – Burns & McDonnell
• Adolfo Rivera – Avangrid Renewables

11:15 AM – 12:15 PM The Clean Energy Market Today

Moderator: John Hensley – American Clean Power Association

Speakers:

• Douglas Giuffre – IHS Markit
• Tara Narayanan – BloombergNEF
• Aaron Barr – Wood Mackenzie

11:30 AM – 11:55 AM Scaling and Performance of Real-time Operations and Maintenance of Renewable Energy Plants

Speaker: AJ Singh – Hitachi Energy

2:30 PM – 2:55 PM Experiences Deploying Utility-Scale Storage Systems

Speaker: Mark Powell – Sungrow

12:30 PM – 1:30 PM ACP Trade Committee Meeting

1:30 PM – 1:55 PM Long Duration Storage- Today’s Trends and Tomorrow’s Opportunities

Speaker: David O. Stripling – ORMAT

1:30 PM – 2:30 PM Building the Clean Energy Workforce

Moderator: Adam Edelen – Edelen Ventures

Speakers:

• David Hickey – Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy
• Tim Maag – Mortenson
• Jose Antonio Miranda Soto – Avangrid
• James Murphy – President and Corporate Business Leader, Invenergy
• Susan Nickey – Hannon Armstrong

1:30 PM – 2:30 PM Financing the Clean Energy Transition

1:30 PM – 2:30 PM What Energy Storage Customers Want

Moderator: Catherine Sullivan – Fluence

Speakers:

• Brent Bergland – Mortenson
• Ricky T. Elder, III – Dominion Energy
• Andrew Foukal – East Point Energy
• Troy Miller – GE Renewable Energy

2:00 PM – 2:25 PM Digital Technology Landscape in Renewable Energy Asset Management

Speaker: Feng Zhang – Utopus Insights

2:45 PM – 3:45 PM Enabling Domestic Investments in the Solar Supply Chain

Moderator: Leo Moreno – AES Clean Energy

Speakers:

• Nigel Cockcroft – Jinko Solar US Inc.
• Tristan Grimbert – EDF Renewables
• Michael Wathen – Nextracker
• Becca Jones- Albertus

05/18/2022 at 09:30AM

The most efficient and targeted event for utility-scale renewable companies. CLEANPOWER puts you at the table and helps you get results that can grow your business and our industry, and prepare for more opportunities in the future. This expanded and targeted business development event will help your company reach new heights.

Day One | Day Two

Agenda (all times are Central)

8:00 AM – 9:30 AM ACP Offshore Wind Council Meeting

8:00 AM – 10:00 AM ACP Federal Legislative Affairs Committee Meeting

9:00 AM – 10:00 AM Networking Coffee Break

10:00 AM – 11:00 AM Welcome & General Session

Speakers

• Heather Zichal – American Clean Power Association
• Tommy Beaudreau – U.S. Department of the Interior
• Chairman Richard Glick – Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

11:15 AM – 11:40 AM Challenges and Advantages of Standalone Energy Storage Project Development

Speaker: *Michael Jungreis – ORMAT

11:15 AM – 12:15 PM Building the Clean Energy Economy: Industry Executive Panel Discussion

Moderator: Craig Cornelius – Clearway Energy Group

Speakers:

• Pat Byrne – GE Renewable Onshore Wind
• Theresa Eaton – WECS Renewables
• Alicia Knapp – Berkshire Hathaway Renewables
• Leo Moreno – AES Clean Energy
• John Zahurancik – Fluence

11:15 AM – 12:15 PM Transition to Offshore Wind

Moderator: Joshua Kaplowitz – ACP

• Andrew Burke – Shell Renewables & Energy Solutions
• Michael Celata – BOEM
• Paula Major – Mainstream Renewable Power
• Robert Miner – bp

11:45 AM – 12:10 PM Independent Cell Vetting for a Stronger Storage Market

Speaker: Logan Weber – Powin

12:00 PM – 1:30 PM Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Lunch

Speakers:

• Elizabeth Laine – Clearway Energy Group
• Heather Zichal – American Clean Power Association

1:30 PM – 2:30 PM Headwinds & Tailwinds of Energy Storage Market Growth

Moderator: Jason Burwen – American Clean Power Association (ACP)

Speakers:

• Michael Arndt – Recurrent Energy
• Jeff Bishop – Key Capture Energy
• Sara Graziano – SER Capital Partners
• Mateo Jaramillo – Form Energy

1:30 PM – 2:30 PM Texas-sized opportunities and challenges for renewables in the Lone Star State

Moderator: Jeff Clark – Advanced Power Alliance

Speakers:

• Russell Gold – Texas Monthly
• Michael Jewell – Jewell and Associates, PLLC
• Collin Meehan – Bird Dog Energy
• Jean Ryall – Advanced Power Alliance

2:00 PM – 2:25 PM Enabling a Net Zero Vision by Proactively Developing Power Grids

Speaker: Fabio Fracaroli – Hitachi Energy

2:45 PM – 3:45 PM Ensuring Clean Power Resilience

Moderator: Jacqueline DeRosa – Ameresco

Speakers:

• Balki Iyer – Eos
• Hans Jacob – Duke Energy
• Roger Lueken, Ph.D. – Fluence
• Reem Bashlaty – DNV

2:45 PM – 3:45 PM Transmission Policy and Buildout

Moderator: Michael Garland – Pattern Energy

Speakers:

• Caroline Golin – Google
• Chris Hansen – Colorado General Assembly
• Elliot Mainzer – California Independent System Operator

3:00 PM – 3:25 PM Fire safety: Battery manufacturer’s assessment

Speaker: Neil Bradshaw – Sungrow

05/17/2022 at 09:00AM

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.), the chair of the Senate energy committee, has released the text of his Energy Infrastructure Act, which will undergo committee markup tomorrow.

An analysis by Friends of the Earth finds only $410 million in funding for renewable wind, solar, geothermal and tidal energy but nearly $30 billion for non-renewable energy programs.

Even the investments in storage and energy efficiency are less than half of spending in polluting energy.

The legislation proposes to make $95 billion in infrastructure investments mainly concentrated in the energy sector. But a close look at exactly where the money is going to go reveals an undeniable bet on dirty energy from the 20th century over clean energy from the 21st. In fact, the bill authorizes $28.8 billion in nuclear, carbon capture and dirty hydrogen over only $410 million in direct authorizations for wind, solar, geothermal and tidal. That’s a ratio of dirty to renewables of over 70-to-1. Even when combining the renewable provisions with the bill’s meager storage and efficiency programs, Manchin still proposes spending twice as much on dirty than he does on clean.

Most of the language for the carbon capture text was taken from the SCALE (Storing CO2 and Lowering Emissions) Act from Sen. Christopher Coons (D-Del.).

The nuclear provisions were drawn from the American Nuclear Infrastructure Act from Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.).

The fossil & polluting energy provisions include:

• $12.6 billion for carbon capture projects, including financing for carbon-dioxide pipelines used for enhanced oil recovery to extend the life of oil wells.
• $6 billion for subsidy payments to the nuclear industry to extend the lifetime of aging plants past economic viability.
• $7 billion in research and development from hydrogen programs; 95 percent of hydrogen production is from fracked gas.
• $1.9 billion in subsidies for commercial logging on public lands

On the storage and energy-efficiency side, provisions include:

• $6 billion for battery production: minerals mining, processing, manufacturing, and recycling
• $3.5 billion for the low-income energy efficiency efforts under the Weather Assistance Program

In addition, there is a further giveaway to the coal industry worth hundreds of millions of dollars in the text: a 20% cut to the Abandoned Mine Land fee paid by the coal industry.

Senior ExxonMobil lobbyist Keith McCoy revealed to a journalist posing as a corporate recruiter that Manchin holds weekly calls with Exxon. He named Coons and Barrasso as two other “crucial” allies to the oil giant’s agenda.

Witness:

• Jennifer Granholm, Secretary, U.S. Department of Energy

05/06/2021 at 01:00PM

For the first time, the U.S. Energy Information Administration is hosting a major energy conference in partnership with the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University. The conference attracts U.S. and international attendees from government, industry, non-profit organizations, the media, and academia.

2010 Energy Conference with Keynotes

• Dr. Steven Chu, Secretary of Energy
• Dr. Lawrence H. Summers, Director of the National Economic Council

Session	Moderator
U.S. Climate Change Policy: What’s Next After Copenhagen	Richard Newell (EIA Administrator)
Short-Term Energy Prices — What Drivers Matter Most?	Howard Gruenspecht (EIA Deputy Administrator)
The Energy-Water Nexus: Availability and Impacts	Howard Gruenspecht
EIA’s 2010 Annual Energy Outlook Highlights	John Conti (EIA)
Regulating Energy Commodities	Steve Harvey (EIA)
Biofuels: Continuing Shifts in the Industry and Long-Term Outlook	Michael Schaal (EIA)
Natural Gas: U.S. Markets in a Global Context	Glen Sweetnam (EIA)
Smart Grid: Impacts on Electric Power Supply and Demand	Joseph Paladino (DOE, Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability)
Energy and the Economy	Adam Sieminski (Deutsche Bank)
Energy Efficiency: Measuring Gains and Quantifying Opportunities	Deborah Bleviss (School of Advanced International Studies)

Confirmed speakers

• Paul N. Argyropoulos (Environmental Protection Agency)
• David M. Arseneau (Federal Reserve Board)
• Thomas Beauduy (Susquehanna River Basin Commission)
• Guy Caruso (Center for Strategic and International Studies)
• Brooke Coleman (New Fuels Alliance)
• John Conti (EIA)
• Sean Cota (Cota & Cota)
• Tom R. Eizember (Exxon Mobil Corporation)
• Michelle Foss (University of Texas)
• Peter Gross (EIA)
• Jason Grumet (Bipartisan Policy Center)
• Karen Harbert (U.S. Chamber of Commerce)
• M. Michael Hightower (Sandia National Laboratories)
• Skip Horvath (Natural Gas Supply Association)
• Gina McCarthy (Environmental Protection Agency)
• Edward L. Morse (Credit Suisse Securities)
• Deanna L. Newcomb (McDermott Will & Emery LLP)
• Mary Novak (IHS Global Insight)
• Matthew C. Rogers (DOE)
• Timothy D. Searchinger (Princeton University)
• Benjamin Schlesinger (Benjamin Schlesinger and Associates/Galway Group)
• Andrew Slaughter (Shell)
• Glen Sweetnam (EIA)
• Jeff Wright (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission)

International Trade Center
1300 Pennsylvania Avenue N.W.
Washington, DC 20004

04/06/2010 at 12:00AM

The 2009 EIA conference is being held April 7-8 at the Washington Convention Center.

Please register onsite at the Walter E Washington Convention Center starting at 7:30am on Tuesday, April 7th.

Wednesday agenda

7:30 AM	Registration and Badging
	Concurrent Sessions
9:00 AM	(7) Energy Data Needs (8) Energy and the Media Moderator: Margot Anderson (EIA) Moderator: John Anderson (Resources for the Future) Speakers: Jeff Genzer (Duncan, Weinberg, Genzer & Pembroke, P.C.) Philip Hanser (Brattle Group) Shirley Neff (Center for Strategic and International Studies) Frank Rusco (U.S. Government Accountability Office) Speakers: Barbara Hagenbaugh (USA Today) Steven Mufson (Washington Post) Eric Pooley (Harvard University) Robert Rapier (R-SQUARED Energy blog)
10:30 AM	Break
11:00 AM	(9) Investing in Oil and Natural Gas – Opportunities and Barriers (10) Greenhouse Gas Emissions: What’s Next? Moderator: Bruce Bawks (EIA) Moderator: Howard Gruenspecht (EIA) Speakers: Susan Farrell (PFC Energy) John Felmy (American Petroleum Institute) Michelle Foss (University of Texas) Paul Sankey (Deutsche Bank) Speakers: Joe Aldy (Executive Office of the President) Dave Cavicke (House Committee on Energy and Commerce) Greg Dotson (House Committee on Energy and Commerce) Joe Goffman (Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works)

04/08/2009 at 07:30AM

The 2009 EIA conference is being held April 7-8 at the Washington Convention Center.

Please register onsite at the Walter E Washington Convention Center starting at 7:30am on Tuesday, April 7th.

Tuesday agenda

7:30 AM	Registration and Badging
9:00 AM	Plenary
	Welcome – Howard Gruenspecht Acting Administrator, Energy Information Administration Keynote Address – Dr. Steven Chu, Secretary of Energy Energy and the Macroeconomy – William D. Nordhaus, Sterling Professor of Economics, Yale University Energy in a Carbon-Constrained World – John W. Rowe, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Exelon Corporation
10:30 AM	Break
	Concurrent Sessions
11:00 AM	(1) The Future for Transport Demand (2) What’s Ahead for Natural Gas Markets? Moderator: Andy Kydes (EIA) Moderator: Steve Harvey (EIA) Speakers: Lew Fulton (International Energy Agency) David Greene (Oak Ridge National Laboratory) Lee Schipper (Precourt Institute, Stanford University) Speakers: Brian Jeffries (Wyoming Pipeline Authority) James Simpson (BENTEK Energy, LLC) Rick Smead (Navigant Consulting) John Strom (Haddington Ventures, LLC) Christine Tezak
12:30 PM	Lunch Break
1:45 PM	(3) Meeting the Growing Demand for Liquids (4) Electric Power Infrastructure: Status and Challenges for the Future Moderator: Glen Sweetnam (EIA) Moderator: Scott Sitzer (EIA) Speakers: Eduardo González-Pier (PEMEX) David Knapp (Energy Intelligence Group) Fareed Mohamedi (PFC Energy) Speakers: P. Kumar Agarwal (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) Timothy J. Brennan (University of Maryland) Mark G. Lauby (North American Electric Reliability Corporation)
3:15 PM	Break
3:30 PM	(5) Renewable Energy in the Transportation and Power Sectors (6) Financial Markets and Short-Term Energy Prices Moderator: Michael Schaal (EIA) Moderator: Tancred Lidderdale (EIA) Speakers: Denise Bode (American Wind Energy Association) Bob Dinneen (Renewable Fuels Association) Bryan Hannegan (Electric Power Research Institute) David Humbird (National Renewable Energy Laboratory) Speakers: Jeffrey Harris (Commodity Futures Trading Commission) Robert McCullough (McCullough Research) Adam E. Sieminski (Deutsche Bank) Robert Weiner (George Washington University)
5:00 PM	Adjourn

04/07/2009 at 07:30AM

From the Wonk Room.

President-elect Barack Obama’s reported selection of Dr. Steven Chu as Secretary of Energy is a bold stroke to set the nation on the path to a clean energy economy. Chu, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist, is the sixth director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, a Department of Energy-funded basic science research institution managed by the University of California. After moving to Berkeley Lab from Stanford University in 2004, Chu “has emerged internationally to champion science as society’s best defense against climate catastrophe.” As director, Chu has steered the direction of Berkeley Lab to addressing the climate crisis, pushing for breakthrough research in energy efficiency, solar energy, and biofuels technology.

At Berkeley Lab, Chu has won broad praise as an effective and inspirational leader. “When he was first here, he started giving talks about energy and production of energy,” Bob Jacobsen, a senior scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley Lab, told the San Francisco Chronicle in 2007. “He didn’t just present a problem. He told us what we could do. It was an energizing thing to see. He’s not a manager, he’s a leader.” In an interview with the Wonk Room, David Roland-Holst, an economist at the Center for Energy, Resources and Economic Sustainability at UC Berkeley, described Chu as a “very distinguished researcher” and “an extremely effective manager of cutting edge technology initiatives.” Roland-Holst praised Chu’s work at Lawrence Berkeley, saying “he has succeeded in reconfiguring it for a new generation of sustainable technology R&D, combining world class mainstream science with the latest initiatives in renewable energy and climate adaptation.”

Under Chu’s leadership, Berkeley Lab and other research institutions have founded the Energy Biosciences Institute with $500 million, ten-year grant from energy giant BP, and the Joint BioEnergy Institute with a $125 million grant from the Department of Energy. The BP deal has raised questions and protests about private corporations benefiting from public research. At the dedication of JBEI last Wednesday, Chu “recalled how the nation’s top scientists had rallied in the past to meet critical national needs, citing the development of radar and the atomic bomb during World War II”:

The reality of past threats was apparent to everyone whereas the threat of global climate change is not so immediately apparent. Nonetheless, this threat has just got to be solved. We can’t fail. The fact that we have so many brilliant people working on the problem gives me great hope.

Chu’s leadership extends beyond this nation’s boundaries. As one of the 30 members of the Copenhagen Climate Council, Chu is part of an effort to spur the international community to have the “urgency to establish a global treaty by 2012 which is fit for the purpose of limiting global warming to 2ºC,” whose elements “must be agreed” at the Copenhagen summit in December, 2009.

Last year, Dr. Chu co-chaired a report on “the scientific consensus framework for directing global energy development” for the United Nations’ InterAcademy Council. Lighting the Way describes how developing nations can “‘leapfrog’ past the wasteful energy trajectory followed by today’s industrialized nations” by emphasizing energy efficiency and renewable energy.

It’s hard to decide if the selection of Dr. Chu is more remarkable for who he is – a Nobel laureate physicist and experienced public-sector administrator – or for who is not. Unlike previous secretaries of energy, he is neither a politician, oil man, military officer, lawyer, nor utility executive. His corporate ties are not to major industrial polluters but to advanced technology corporations like AT&T (where he began his Nobel-winning research) and Silicon Valley innovator Nvidia (where he sits on the board of directors). Chu is a man for the moment, and will be a singular addition to Obama’s Cabinet.