Photo: NREL/DOE
Our country has reached an amazing energy milestone, one that was made possible by thousands of local victories along the way, victories that just keep coming. In April, for the first time in history, the US is on track to produce more power from renewable energy than from coal. Grassroots leaders brought us here, to what CNN called it “a tipping point.” Even better, over that same month of April, grassroots leaders won a jaw-dropping number of new victories that make one thing clear -- we’re just getting started.
In case you haven’t figured it out, I love writing about local victories for clean energy. I love highlighting the community leaders, parents, students, scientists, business owners, clergy, and so many other folks who are working tirelessly to fight climate change by moving from coal to clean energy nationwide. And the string of most recent victories will make your head spin! As the Trump administration tries to slam the brakes on climate action, it’s this unstoppable freight train of progress by towns, cities, and states that is giving me hope.
This April, all those local leaders affected some serious change in state legislatures and utilities. Advocates made huge gains in continuing the shift away from coal and fracked gas to clean energy. Here are some highlights, and behind every single one of them is the tireless, tenacious work -- sometimes over many years -- of inspiring grassroots advocates:
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In Indiana, legislators rejected a coal industry lobbying effort, led by disgraced former EPA administrator Scott Pruitt, to create a moratorium on new electricity generation facilities that would compete with the state’s dirty, expensive coal plants. Since utilities in the state had already announced their plants to retire wide swaths of their coal fleets, the moratorium bill was seen as a last-ditch effort to stop utilities from moving away from coal.
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In addition to the coal bailout legislation being defeated in the legislature, Indiana utility regulators unanimously rejected a massive fracked gas plant proposed by Vectren and directed the utility to evaluate alternatives to large, centralized generation. This news served as another blow to the dirty fossil fuel industry, since cheaper, cleaner competitors like solar and wind are making regulators reconsider locking energy customers into 20-year contracts with fracked gas and its unpredictable fuel prices, as opposed to renewable energy technologies that are plummeting in price.
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In Virginia, the State Air Pollution Control Board voted to approve a limit on carbon pollution from dirty power plants across Virginia, which will take effect on January 1, 2020. The standard will cut carbon pollution in Virginia 30 percent by 2030
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Following the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power’s decision to retire nearly all of its fracked gas plants in the city -- opting for solar, wind, geothermal, and grid storage to meet its electricity demands -- Southern California Edison opted to invest in 195 megawatts (MW) of battery storage rather than the new Puente gas peaker plant they had previously proposed, which was defeated last year.
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In Arizona, the state’s largest utility, Arizona Public Service (APS), plans to build 850 megawatts of battery storage and approximately 150 MW of solar because it’s the least expensive way to deliver electricity to customers. The announcement is all the more shocking because it comes from APS, which has been caught up in a scandal for paying to keep pro-clean energy regulators off the state commission and spending nearly $40 million last year to defeat an Arizona clean energy measure.
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Shifting to statehouses, Nevada lawmakers approved legislation that will ensure the Silver State’s electricity providers meet at least 50 percent of customers’ energy needs with clean energy resources like wind, solar, and geothermal by 2030, with a goal of 100 percent by 2050.
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In Washington State, the legislature passed a bill that mandates an equitable transition to 100 percent clean electricity generation for the entire state by 2045, and no coal power by 2025, making the Evergreen State the fifth state and seventh state-level jurisdiction to join California, Hawaii, New Mexico, Nevada, Washington DC, and Puerto Rico in committing to 100 percent clean electricity. The bill, which some have called the strongest in the country, also includes energy assistance to 60% of low income families by 2030 and 90% by 2050, as well as incentives for fair labor standards in the development of renewables.
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On its last day in session, the Maryland legislature passed the Clean Energy Jobs Act, which requires 50 percent renewable energy to power the state by 2030, and the creation of a plan to power the state with 100% clean energy by 2040. The legislation includes strong targets for solar and offshore wind, plus benefits for workers and communities, including a workforce training program and new requirements for project labor agreements and community benefits agreements in the clean energy sector.
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The Minnesota House passed 100 percent clean energy legislation that includes a 100 percent carbon free standard by 2050, creating a preference for local hiring and requiring prevailing wage for big clean energy projects, supporting electric buses and electric vehicle infrastructure, creating a solar on school program, improving diversity in utility workforce, increasing energy efficiency for investor owned utilities, doubling low-income energy-efficiency programs -- and more!
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In utility news, PacifiCorp, one of the western United States’ largest utilities, finally released its coal fleet economic analysis after years of refusing to do so, revealing that customers could save $12 million through the early retirement of nine coal units in Colorado and Wyoming by 2023, and replacing the electricity generation largely with renewable energy and battery storage. The utility's announcement specifically identified four units as likely candidates for retirement: two at the Naughton plant and two at the Jim Bridger plant, both in Wyoming.
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In the same region, in Montana, another coal bailout effort was defeated when the state legislature refused to pass an uneconomic scheme to prop up the Colstrip coal plant that would have given a potential buyer dangerous monopoly power to charge electricity customers without oversight from the public utilities commission.
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In New Mexico, the state’s largest utility Public Service of New Mexico (PNM) announced plans to be 100% carbon free by 2040, five years earlier than required in the state’s new energy policy act passed a few weeks earlier. As part of this announcement, the utility reaffirmed plans to shut down the San Juan Generating Station coal plant.
These are the kinds of local victories that, over the past decade, have secured retirement of 287 coal plants (and counting), ushered in the clean energy era, and brought us to this milestone: The US Energy Information Administration announcement that renewable energy is set to surpass coal for the first month ever. As this incredible wave of victories makes clear, we aren’t slowing down, despite Trump. We’re in a race against time to stop the climate crisis, and we’re playing for keeps.
Our activists and allies are a force to reckon with -- they inspire me every day, and they’re giving us a fighting chance at a safe future for our kids. Join us.