On August 8, Advanced Energy Economy (AEE) held a second gubernatorial candidate roundtable in Florida with Democrat Philip Levine, a businessman and former Mayor of Miami Beach. The businesses participating in the roundtable represented a diverse set of advanced energy technologies, including renewable energy and electric vehicles (EVs). The conversation was focused on strengthening the advanced energy industry in Florida, which now employs more than 160,000 people across the state. The group shared its vision to make Florida a more competitive state for attracting advanced energy businesses and provided insight on how the governor can work with stakeholders to make Florida’s grid more secure and resilient to natural disasters.

On August 6, Advanced Energy Economy (AEE) held its first gubernatorial candidate roundtable in Florida. Business leaders met with Republican candidate for governor U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis. DeSantis has served Florida’s 6^th Congressional District since 2013. He is endorsed by President Donald Trump.

CEC Commissioner Janea Scott, Sen. Nancy Skinner, and CPUC Commissioner Carla Peterman, on the Pathway to 2050 main stage. 

The wildfires raging to the north and west gave the air in Sacramento a pungent haze and added poignancy to the conversations at this year’s Pathway to 2050. AEE’s sixth annual conference on California policy focused as it usually does on the big ticket energy topics of the day: the push toward 100% clean electricity, regionalization of the western power grid, new utility business models, transportation electrification. But in the background – and on the tip of everyone’s tongues – was the now year-round threat presented by California’s parched landscape, a threat now extending to the solvency of one of the state’s investor-owned utilities. Also in the background was another challenge to California: the announced rollback of federal auto standards for emissions and fuel efficiency, and attempted withdrawal of California’s longstanding right to set higher standards, including requirements for zero-emission vehicle sales, for itself and more than a dozen states that follow along. But none of this threw Pathway off track. If anything, the challenges from a warmer, drier climate and from Washington, D.C., gave the conference’s core purpose of economic transformation through advanced energy even more urgency.

Colorado Governor's Residence, photo by Eric Allix Rogers, used under a Creative Commons license. 

On August 7, Advanced Energy Economy (AEE) and our state and regional partners, Interwest Energy Alliance and Colorado Cleantech Industries Association, held conversations with Colorado’s gubernatorial campaigns, meeting with Democratic nominee U.S. Rep. Jared Polis (D) and policy advisor for State Treasurer Walker Stapleton, the Republican nominee, along with candidate for attorney general Phil Weiser. One message consistently reverberated throughout our meetings: Colorado is well positioned to take advantage of a significant advanced energy opportunity.

The energy sector is currently undergoing a massive transformation as dynamic technologies change the way customers receive and use electricity. This change has brought economic growth to the United States, with the advanced energy industry burgeoning to $200 billion in annual revenue to support more than 3 million jobs. Dozens of states have already taken notice of the advanced energy opportunity – and taken advantage, whether by comprehensive legislation, as in Michigan, North Carolina, and Virginia, or by reducing barriers to technologies, as Texas, Pennsylvania, and New York have done. Despite the progress being made, some policy hurdles remain for advanced energy. That’s why AEE and CRES Forum teamed up to write a policy paper outlining five ways Congress can modernize the grid.