Louisiana’s Energy Transition Powered By New Investment
Long recognized as a major U.S. energy hub, Louisiana has recently emerged as a leader in global energy transition by adopting an “all of the above” strategy that pairs support for evolving legacy oil and gas companies with an aggressive pursuit of new energy investments. The result is a state firmly established as a Top 10 oil and Top 5 natural gas producer that is experiencing extraordinary growth in wind and solar power, alternative fuels, and carbon capture and sequestration projects.
As with any state that is winning in this game, government support is key to success, and this state has plenty of it. In fact, Governor John Bel Edwards made formal commitments at the COP26 Summit in Glasgow in 2021 that touted his vision for the state’s long-term sustainability which includes serving the existing fossil fuel market while transitioning to cleaner energy. Governor Edwards signed the Race to Zero campaign, a global effort by thousands of governments and he backed up that commitment by enacting the first Climate Action Plan in the Gulf South, setting clear goals and guidelines for energy transition investment.
One of the hottest investment frontiers in renewable energy is wind energy, and Louisiana’s location is tailor-made for offshore wind opportunities. The state’s advantages include these environmental assets: its geographic position on the Gulf Shelf affords shallower depths offshore, which reduces the need for tall, expensive turbines and facilitates the construction, installation, and maintenance of power lines connecting back to the mainland.
Louisiana’s pro-business environment has provided another edge for the state. The LM Wind Power America’s Technology Center at NASA Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans has designed and tested turbine blades for wind farms off the coasts of Massachusetts and New York, as well as the United Kingdom and China. Several companies well-established in Louisiana’s offshore oil and gas industry were contracted to lead the design, logistics, and construction of the Block Island Wind Farm in the state of Rhode Island. Among them was Houma-based Gulf Island Fabrication, which furnished four-legged, latticed foundation platforms for the wind turbines. This level of innovation uses both new renewable energy resources, along with its current fossil fuel industry resources together, proving that racing to Net Zero does not mean a state has to choose one industry over the other.
Virginia’s Dominion Energy Aims To Be Leading Sustainable Utility In The Nation
The Virginia Clean Economy Act (VCEA) requires the Commonwealth of Virginia to reduce carbon emissions to zero by 2045. The VCEA also requires Richmond, VA-headquartered Dominion Energy to have 16.1 gigawatts of solar generation by 2035; 5.2 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2034; and 2.7 gigawatts of energy storage by 2035. To meet that demand, Dominion Energy is investing $37 billion in solar, wind, battery storage, renewable natural gas (RNG), and other renewable energy technologies over the next five years.
In fact, that investment includes the 2.6-gigawatt Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) project, which is the largest such project under development in the United States. In January 2020, Dominion chose Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy to be the preferred turbine supplier for the 176 14.7-megawatt turbines to be installed in the 112,800-acre commercial lease area.
“Like Dominion Energy’s commitment to be the most sustainable utility company in the country, many corporations focus on renewable energy as a location choice strategy because they are increasingly committed to more sustainable business practices,” says Felicia Howard, Dominion’s Vice President, Economic Development Strategy. “Renewable energy is a significant component in helping corporations meet their sustainability goals. While Dominion Energy’s electric rates are among the most competitive in the southeast/United States, a corporation’s decision to purchase renewable energy isn’t just about the price of electricity. It is often about showing their consumers they are making a strong commitment to sustainability and the advancement of renewable energy. Many companies don’t want to just purchase renewable energy credits they want to be able to point to a specific project and say, ‘This project is generating renewable energy because of our commitment to fund it.’”
Iowa: First Industrial Scale Renewable Natural Gas Facility In North America
As of May 2022, the nation’s first industrial scale renewable natural gas (RNG) facility is fully operational near Ames, IA, and state leaders could not be prouder of this game changer in the renewable energy industry. Local utility, Alliant Energy partnered with German-based VERBIO on the project.
“This is a special day for Iowa and for the renewable fuels industry,” Governor Kim Reynolds told the DesMoines Register at the grand opening ceremony for the VERBIO Nevada Biorefinery in Nevada, IA, which is making renewable natural gas from corn cobs, husks and other crop residue it buys from central Iowa farmers.
It’s expected that society will continue to produce waste that emits naturally occurring surface-level methane as it decomposes. According to The Coalition for Renewable Natural Gas, RNG takes that waste and creates a clean energy resource compatible with current energy infrastructure. Alliant’s partnership with VERBIO means that VERBIO produces the gas and injects the RNG into Alliant’s natural gas pipeline for distribution across the country.
“Working with Alliant Energy has been like a breath of fresh air for us,” said Greg Northrop, President of VERBIO NA Holdings Corporation, at the facility ribbon cutting. “When we started talking about what we needed to do, Alliant Energy did a very good job of listening and understanding what we needed to be successful.”
The Supreme Court EPA Ruling
In June 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court put forth a controversial landmark opinion in West Virginia v. EPA. How does this ruling affect the renewable energy industry in the nation?
“We are deeply concerned about the Supreme Court ruling and its broader repercussions” said Gregory Wetstone, president, and CEO of the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE), when the ruling was announced, “At a time when we should be using the most powerful tools in our toolbox to combat the climate crisis, the Supreme Court is blunting our key instruments. Curbing the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions will inevitably hinder America’s climate progress and negatively impact the world we leave to our children and theirs.”
Ultimately, what the ruling did was limit the EPA to regulating emissions from standalone powerplants, but not to devise caps on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions based on a system-wide approach or to mandate power-sector-wide measures. In other words, the ruling says the law does not give the EPA the authority to create regulation based on power plants moving their energy-producing sources away from fossil fuels toward renewables as it did in the 2015 Clean Power Act (which never went into effect). According to ACORE’s Wetstone, the utility sector will still continue shifting to more renewable energy just as it has done in the absence of EPA regulation up until now. However, for the EPA, which in the process of crafting new regulations, this ruling may curtail its ability to push for stricter controls.
Much like its recent ruling on Roe v. Wade, this Supreme Court ruling takes some of the power away from the centralized federal government agency and puts the power in the hands of the states. In response to the decision, 24 state governors who are part of the U.S. Climate Alliance have pledged to redouble efforts to reduce their state’s carbon emissions. These states have pledged to cut GHG emissions by at least 50% to 52% below 2005 levels by 2030, and to achieve the overall net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
“This ruling makes clear that the actions of governors and state legislatures are more important than ever before,” Alliance co-chairs Govs. Kathy Hochul, D-NY, Jay Inslee, D-WA, and Gavin Newsom, D-CA, said in a statement after the ruling was publicized. “We reaffirm our commitment to decarbonizing the power sector using our authority at the state level.”
As the global population grows, the World Bank projects solid waste to increase nearly 70% by 2050. RNG is an immediately available and “no-regrets” solution to help improve society’s response to waste and the emissions created from it. Because RNG captures emissions from society’s waste streams and redeems its energy value, it has the lowest lifecycle carbon intensity (CI) of any clean energy source available today. Once fully operational, the plant projects it will produce renewable natural gas containing the energy of 19 million gallons of RNG ethanol and 60 million gallons of corn-based ethanol annually. Iowa was already the leading producer of U.S. corn-based ethanol in the nation. According to Claus Sauter, VERBIO AG’s CEO, no other U.S. company is making RNG using farm residue at an industrial scale.
“At a time when Russia’s assault on Ukraine threatens our food and energy supply chains, restoring our energy independence has never been more important,” said Governor Reynolds.
Kansas Attracts Corporate Investment With Green Tariff
According to the American Clean Power Association, wind is the largest source of renewable electricity generation in the U.S., providing 9.5% of the country’s electricity and growing. Today, nearly 70,000 wind turbines across the country are generating clean, reliable power. Wind power capacity totals 139 GW, making it the fourth-largest source of electricity generation capacity in the country. Kansas touts the second largest percentage of net electricity generation by wind power of all the states with 43% being generated by wind. In fact, wind is the primary energy sources of in-state electricity generation after overtaking coal in 2019.
