Advanced Energy Perspectives

This legislative session, Colorado is on its way toward modernizing how electricity infrastructure is built and propelling the interstate conversation on grid regionalization. Passed by the Colorado Senate and approved by its first committee in the House, bipartisan Senate Bill 72  would put Colorado on the map for leading the West toward a regional electricity market that helps the Rocky Mountain State capitalize on its immense resources and give households and businesses from New Mexico to Washington State the affordable clean energy they want. All it will take is one last push in the Colorado House of Representatives.

This post is one in a series of excerpts from the Advanced Energy Now 2021 Market Report, prepared for AEE by Guidehouse Insights.

Advanced energy revenue reached over $1.4 trillion worldwide in 2020, growing by 2.5% over 2019, following 7% growth the year prior. Advanced energy revenue is now greater than pharmaceutical manufacturing globally, and double that of coal mining. In the United States, advanced energy revenue had a strong year in 2019, growing a robust 18%, before falling 2% in 2020, in parallel with the decline of U.S. GDP overall. Still, at $240 billion, U.S. advanced energy revenue is close to that of food and beverage stores and twice the revenue of electrical equipment and appliances. Since 2011, U.S. advanced energy revenue has grown at CAGR of 5%.

Images compiled from separate virtual meetings with candidates. Clockwise from top left: Audrey Lee, Microsoft; Harry Godfrey, AEE; Jennifer Carroll Foy, candidate for Governor; Ebo Entsuah, AEE; Terry McAuliffe, candidate for Governor; Delegate Jay Jones, candidate for Attorney General; Senator Jennifer McClellan, candidate for Governor; Delegate Jason Miyares, candidate for AG; Attorney General Mark Herring, center. 

Advanced energy and transportation have made tremendous strides in Virginia over the past four years. The Grid Transformation and Security Act (GTSA), Virginia Clean Economy Act (VCEA), and Clean Cars Act are some notable examples, and there are plenty of smaller wins as well. This success was built upon early and frequent engagement with Gov. Northam’s Administration and lawmakers at the General Assembly, beginning with business roundtables AEE held with gubernatorial candidates four years ago. Now, with Gov. Northam ineligible for re-election this fall because of Virginia’s single-term limit on its chief executive, we are doing it all again, focusing on candidates for both Governor and Attorney General.

When most people think about electric cars and California, they think about Tesla. The buzzy automaker was the first all-electric vehicle (EV) company to reach mass production. Having grown significantly over the past decade, the company now employs over 30,000 workers in California between the solar-storage-EV company’s corporate headquarters in Palo Alto and EV assembly factory in Fremont. But there’s a quieter yet equally important story of EV industry growth unfolding in nearly every corner of the state.

On this Earth Day, all eyes in Washington, D.C., are watching for news about U.S. climate commitments, but we turn our attention to new developments in the advanced energy industry, whose technologies and services can help fulfill those commitments while providing customer savings, economic growth, and jobs at the same time. And there is news aplenty – in solar power, energy storage, offshore wind, and electric transportation, to name a few. Let’s go to the clips.