Hill Heat

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

18/05/2022 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

17/05/2022 at 09:00AM

Citing the threat of global warming, Maryland governor Martin O’Malley vetoed legislation that would have stalled a major offshore wind project in his state. O’Malley bucked the state’s leading Democrats by killing House Bill 1168, which forbade the construction of the $200-million, 70-megawatt Great Bay Wind project near the Patuxent River Naval Air Station until July 2015. In his May 16 veto letter to Speaker of the House Michael Busch (D-Anne Arundel), O’Malley noted “the real threat to Pax River is not an array of wind turbines on the lower Eastern Shore but rising sea levels caused by climate change.”

After careful consideration, I am vetoing this bill because (1) there are meaningful safeguards in place that render the bill unnecessary; (2) the real threat to Pax River is not an array of wind turbines on the lower Eastern Shore but rising sea levels caused by climate change; and (3) increasing renewable energy is a core strategic goal for the future security and prosperity of our State.

Rep. Steny Hoyer, the U.S. House of Representatives Minority Whip, is a vigorous opponent of the wind farm, testifying in Annapolis against its potential threat to the naval base, although the project developer and U.S. Navy had come to an agreement to alleviate the Navy’s concerns about possible radar interference from the turbines. Hoyer was joined by Sens. Barbara Mikulski and Ben Cardin, as well as Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger in counseling delay. Cardin was one of the recent participants in the #Up4Climate all-night talkathon, during which he discussed the threat of sea level rise to Pax River and the need for investment in renewable energy.

O’Malley’s letter reiterated the importance of fighting the carbon pollution which is already damaging Maryland with investment in clean energy.

Ironically, the greater inconvenient truth threatening Pax River — and the billions of dollars of economic activity generated by that facility — is climate change. To address that threat, we must encourage the development of clean renewable energy. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions by shifting to clean energy will not always be easy or convenient in the short run, and it will challenge all of us to find new ways to coexist, but it is critical to sustaining the economy and living environment of our State.

He also noted the National Climate Assessment:

The recent release of the Third National Climate Assessment highlights the costs climate change is already imposing on Maryland and underscores the importance of doing everything we can to reduce the damage it will cause in the future. Our State in general, and Pax River in particular, are vulnerable to the very type of carbon pollution that renewable energy projects help reduce.

The Chesapeake Climate Action Network, Environment Maryland, and the Sierra Club mobilized thousands of activists to support the wind project.

Wind farm opponents have pledged to keep fighting against the project.

From the Wonk Room.

“Wind turbines accounted for 42 percent of all new generating capacity in the U.S.,” growing into “a key part of the energy infrastructure in Minnesota and Iowa,” which can now generate more wind power than California.

On Tuesday, Maine lawmakers “will take up one of the most far-reaching anti-global-warming bills to go before any state Legislature in the country” “to reduce dependence on fossil fuels and cut carbon dioxide emissions” but “Maine’s business community wants the Legislature to kill the proposal.”

U.S. Department of Energy officials and top commercial real estate executives kicked off the Commercial Real Estate Energy Alliance, a public-private partnership aiming to produce widespread net-zero-energy commercial buildings by the year 2025.

From the Wonk Room.

“Windmills off the East Coast could generate enough electricity to replace most, if not all, the coal-fired power plants in the United States,” Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Monday. “It is not technology that is pie-in-the sky; it is here and now.”

In a letter to Science not available to the public, prominent climate scientists argue “it is imperative we improve the exchange of information between scientists and public stakeholders.”

As Antarctic ice shelves crumble at the end of the southern summer, the northern summer begins with the Arctic “on thinner ice than ever before,” with 90 percent of sea ice less than three years old.

Originally posted at the Think Progress Wonk Room.

In October of last year, the administration of Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D) denied permits for two new coal-fired plants in her state because the greenhouse gases such coal plants would emit constitute a threat to the environment and public health. Last Friday, she vetoed a legislative attempt to allow the plants to be built. Opponents of the veto claimed “the decision is costing the state jobs and economic investment” and warned of “higher electric bills for Western Kansas,” where the plants were proposed.

But a landmark report released yesterday by an esteemed financial research firm finds that, in fact, Sebelius has been acting in her state’s best economic interests.

Innovest Strategic Value Advisors finds that Sunflower Electric Power Corporation, the company whose proposal was denied, failed to account for the effects of the likely regulation of carbon dioxide on the cost of coal-fired electricity when it sought to build two 700 MW coal plants in Holcomb, Kansas:

Innovest examined the economics of the transaction and determined that under the most plausible regulatory scenarios the decision to build new coal generating capacity will put Sunflower Electric’s ratepayers – who in this particular case are the actual owners – at significant risk. The report concludes that Sunflower’s management has not adequately addressed the competitive and financial risks associated with climate change in deciding to pursue the expansion of its Holcomb Station power plant.

Sunflower was remiss in not considering that federal legislation that places a price on carbon emissions is extremely likely, considering the bipartisan support and strong international pressure for such action.

The report compares the economics of coal plants versus natural gas plants, which have a considerably smaller carbon footprint, and concludes:

In general, this analysis demonstrate that gas is the more financially sound choice for the construction of baseload generating capacity in all scenarios except 100% free allocation [to power companies] of carbon allowances.

It is thus unsurprising that the coal lobby attacked the natural gas industry when the decision was made.

The report also notes that western Kansas has “among the nation’s most abundant wind resources” and that the cost of wind power has plummeted 80% in the last 20 years.

Originally posted at the Think Progress Wonk Room.

Last October, the Kansas Department of Health denied air quality permits to a proposed coal plant expansion near Holcomb, KS, because of the danger greenhouse gas emissions pose to the climate.

Today, Sebelius issued a long-expected veto of the legislature’s plan to not only approve the plant but also strip the Department of Health of its regulatory capacity. From her veto statement:

This decision not only preserves Kansans’ health and upholds our moral obligation to be good stewards of this beautiful land, but will also enhance our prospects for strong and sustainable economic growth throughout our state. Instead of building two new coal plants, which would produce 11 million new tons of carbon dioxide each year, I support pursuing other, more promising energy and economic development alternatives.

Industry opposition to the Sebelius administration has been intense. Following the air permit denial, Peabody Energy, one of the largest coal companies in the world, funded newspaper ads attacking the natural gas industry. Sunflower Electric Power Corporation, the rate-payer-owned company making the bid for the new plants – offered a quid pro quo to Kansas State University, promising millions of dollars to fund energy research if the coal plants were approved.