REPORT RELEASE: The Economic Benefits of Solar Energy in Arizona

REPORT RELEASE: The Economic Benefits of Solar Energy in Arizona

 Casa Grande, AZ– On Friday, August 16th, The Western Way released a new economic impact study focusing on the benefits of utility scale solar development in Arizona.  The economic impact study was prepared by Rounds Consulting Group and was released at the Pinal Partnership Meeting, where Jim Rounds shared the report findings during a panel discussion.

The report found that in 2023 there were over 360 solar companies, including manufacturers, installation businesses, developers, and other ‘solar related’ companies operating in Arizona which generated the following annual economic impacts in Arizona:

• $7.3 billion annual economic output and $2.2 billion in labor income from construction and operational activities

• The industry directly supports 8,300 jobs throughout the state, an additional 2,800 supplier related (indirect) jobs, and 11,200 spending induced jobs for a total of 22,300 jobs. 

• $155.4 Million in state and local tax revenues from the industry’s activity in 2023. This includes personal income, sales, excise, and property taxes, among others. Of that total, local counties received $21.2 million and local municipalities and taxing districts like fire and school districts received $50.7 million.

In addition to the statewide economic impact, the report analyzed the construction and ongoing operations impact of two prospective solar projects in Eloy and Coolidge:

• Case Study #1: A $1.1B solar and energy storage (800MW solar + 800MW BESS) project in Eloy, AZ.

• Case Study #2: A $400M solar and energy storage (150MW solar + 150MW BESS) project in Coolidge, AZ.

“The commitment of these projects to provide reliable energy, rural workforce development, new technology, and economic security to Pinal County sends a strong message that sets us apart from many unprepared communities around the country.” Said Andy Tobin, former Speaker of the Arizona House and Director of The Western Way’s Arizona Rural Energy Network

Link to Report Website  

Link to Fact Sheet

Link to Full Report

Solar Panel Complaints Are the Latest Attack on Private Property Rights for Farmers

This piece from TWW’s Greg Brophy first ran on August 12, 2024 in RealClear Energy and can be accessed here.

Solar Panel Complaints Are the Latest Attack on Private Property Rights for Farmers

By Greg Brophy
August 12, 2024

There are so many things to love about being a farmer. But here’s something I can’t stand – people who pretend to care about our land when they really just want to control our land.

It’s always something. I remember when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency tried to expand the Clean Water Act to apply to ditches on private property as a way to seize control over farms. And don’t even get me started on the anti-fracking campaigners who wanted to ban farmers from supplementing their income with oil and natural gas development.

But recently, I’ve started seeing another variation of the same “we know better” attitude towards rural and farming communities. This time around, however, the target happens to be farmers who choose to install solar panels on their land.

Over the past few months, I’ve noticed an increasing number of headlines claiming that America’s most productive farmland is being taken over by solar panels. Not housing developments or shopping malls, which involve the sale and permanent conversion of farmland, but the installation of solar panels – which can co-exist much more easily alongside active farming and ranching operations, and at the end of the life of the facility, the equipment can be pulled and the land returned to full agricultural usage very quickly.

To be sure, the loss of farmland is a legitimate issue that should be closely monitored. But we shouldn’t abandon all common sense when discussing the issue, either.

For example: Between 2017 and 2022, the U.S. lost just over 2% of its active farmland, according to the most recent Census of Agriculture. But over the same period, the value of total U.S. agricultural production jumped by 17% after fully accounting for inflation, which is a testament to “the adaptability of farmers and ranchers,” according to the American Farm Bureau Federation.

Now let’s get back to those headlines. The narrative of solar panels taking over farmland got a big boost back in April when the financial newswire Reuters tackled the subject.

The story was focused on the Midwest. It revealed that solar leases in the region were paying between 3.5 times to 6 times more per acre in land rents as corn and soybean production, with annual rate increases to boot.

Naturally, farmers who chose to put some land towards solar energy production – and diversify their income in the process – are criticized in the story. In the opinion of “[s]ome agricultural economists and agronomists,” Reuters reported, “taking even small amounts of the best cropland out of production for solar development and damaging valuable topsoil impacts future crop potential in the United States.”

Let’s put aside the question of whether agricultural economists and agronomists know better than farmers when deciding on the most productive use of farmland. Instead, let’s focus on this question: Just how small are the small amounts of farmland being used to harvest solar electricity?

The article cites a study from the U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Department of Energy which found that just “0.02% of all cropland in the continental U.S. intersected in some way with large-scale, ground-based solar panel sites.”

I assume “intersected in some way” means something like “on a farm, next to a farm or within sight of a farm.” Two-hundredths of a percentage point of American farmland fitting that description doesn’t strike me as a crisis.

Later, the Reuters story cites another Department of Energy study that shows even under the most aggressive scenarios, solar energy production “is not expected to exceed 5% of any state's land area, except the smallest state of Rhode Island, where it could reach 6.5%, by 2050.”

To make sense of those figures, consider that agriculture currently takes up about 45% of the U.S. land mass. In Colorado, that figure is about 48% and there are states like Nebraska where the percentage of land in agriculture is close to 90%.

If you’re telling me that 25 years from now, solar panels will take up no more than 5% of any given state’s land mass – with the possible exception of Rhode Island – then I’m not seeing a crisis there either.

What I am seeing, however, is yet another effort to second-guess the choices of individual farmers when it comes to managing their own land and making a living from their own land.

And once those choices are called into question, next there’ll be some proposed regulation at the local, state or federal level that takes control away from the people who know the land better than anyone. Don’t fall for it.

For those who see a land-use challenge in the development of solar energy in rural communities, I can tell you the solution: Private property rights.

Farmers who think solar panels make sense on their land will install them. Farmers who don’t, won’t.

Anything beyond that is a thinly veiled play for control over farmers and farming communities, and rural communities have had more than enough of that already. 

Greg Brophy is a former state senator and a fourth-generation corn and melon farmer from Wray. He is the Colorado director of The Western Way.

Put politics aside, cut the red tape and allow state regulation of carbon capture projects in Utah

This piece from TWW’s Steve Handy was originally published in the Salt Lake Tribune on July 18, 2024 and can be accessed here.

Opinion: Put politics aside, cut the red tape and allow state regulation of carbon capture projects in Utah

Carbon capture and storage is critical for reducing emissions from power plants and essential for producing climate-friendly fuels.

By Steve Handy | For The Salt Lake Tribune

The debate over energy and climate is often presented as a divisive, hyper-partisan issue. But if you know where to look, there is actually some common ground between conservatives and progressives about the best way forward.

It’s no secret that conservatives support an “all of the above” approach to energy and climate that includes carbon capture and storage technologies for fossil fuels, especially natural gas and coal.

For example, when I served in the Utah Legislature, I sponsored HB244 Geological Carbon Capture Sequestration Amendments to accelerate carbon capture projects here by putting state regulators — not the federal EPA — in charge of permitting. It passed and is now being implemented.

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But on the left, you might be surprised to learn that the importance of carbon capture is also recognized by some progressives like Democratic Governor Jared Polis of Colorado.

“I wish it was just as simple as saying there’s going to be more solar and wind,” Governor Polis said last year when signing a bill on state-level regulation of carbon capture. “That gets us to a big part of [net-zero carbon emissions], but for the final piece, if we truly seek to be net zero … we need to look at carbon dioxide removal and carbon capture and sequestration and direct air capture.”

With this level of bipartisan support, you’d think Western states like Utah and Colorado would be racing ahead with carbon capture and storage projects. But that’s not happening, because of — you guessed it — federal red tape.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has been inundated with permit applications for deep underground injection wells. These wells are a critically important storage solution for carbon dioxide captured from power plants and factories. Deep injection wells are just as important for the emerging technology of direct air capture, in which carbon dioxide is pulled directly from the atmosphere.

The EPA has approved just four permits for carbon dioxide storage wells, with a backlog of roughly 140 permit applications. Under federal law, there’s a solution for this bottleneck — handing over the lead permitting authority to individual states.

But the EPA has only granted primacy to three states so far — Wyoming, North Dakota and Louisiana.

The Western Governors Association, under the leadership of Republican Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon, is actively working to change this.

In early June, the WGA published a landmark report on carbon capture, which outlines a series of recommendations to clear the permitting backlog.

According to the report, 25 states and Native American tribes are seeking primacy for the permitting of carbon dioxide storage wells, including the state of Utah.

“As more states look to gain primacy, EPA should establish clear and consistent guidelines for obtaining primacy and should increase agency capacity to review state primacy applications in a more timely manner,” the report states.

But speeding up the permitting process for carbon dioxide storage wells isn’t completely in the control of the EPA. Some environmental organizations will also have to overcome their historic opposition to state-led environmental regulation of the energy industry.

For example, shortly after the release of the WGA report, environmental groups filed a lawsuit against the EPA for granting primacy to Louisiana for the permitting of carbon dioxide storage wells. The lawsuit claims EPA’s decision should be overturned because the agency “handed over authority without the required showing that Louisiana has the staff and expertise to safely run the program.”

By taking this legal action, these groups are sending the EPA and state-level regulators a clear message — any efforts to speed up permitting for carbon dioxide storage projects will be opposed. And even if they lose in court, the activist groups will be able to delay the approval of these projects for years as the process of litigation drags out.

These groups need to face reality. Delaying these projects will make the job of reducing emissions harder, not easier.

Carbon capture and storage isn’t just a critical technology for reducing emissions from power plants that currently run on coal and natural gas. It’s also essential for producing climate-friendly fuels like green hydrogen from the West’s abundant natural gas reserves.

Just as important, if activist groups can make the U.S. permitting process for carbon capture and storage projects unworkable, these projects will be pursued in other countries with much, much lower environmental standards than we take for granted in this country.

That isn’t just a bad economic outcome — it’s a bad outcome for the environment too.

Steve Handy is a former Utah legislator and current Utah Director for The Western Way, an organization focused on fiscal, conservative and market-driven solutions to environmental and conservation challenges.

Businesses are driving the expansion of solar energy

This piece from Andy Tobin was first published by the Pinal Central on July 2, 2024 and can be accessed here.

Businesses are driving the expansion of solar energy

By ANDY TOBIN Guest Column

Arizona has one of the strongest economies in the country because we are a pro-business state. But what does that mean in practical terms?

It means that Arizona officials — state and local — have a strong track record of listening to the needs of businesses. Then, we make sure those needs are met, whether it’s low taxes, commonsense regulations, skilled workers or a diverse, secure and affordable energy mix.

That last business need — energy — is becoming more important in some surprising ways.

A growing number of businesses want to play an active role in choosing the energy sources that power their operations. Whether it’s generating their own electricity on site or working with a utility company to pick and choose their preferred sources, these businesses are demanding the freedom to do things their way.

For a good example, look no further than The Home Depot, which opened a new location in San Tan Valley last year. The opening of this new location was eagerly anticipated for years and was a major win for Pinal County.

The Home Depot has an aggressive energy-choice strategy. By the end of this decade, it aims to either produce directly or purchase 100% of its electricity needs from renewable sources.

To meet this goal, The Home Depot is pursuing a major construction program for rooftop solar at its stores in Arizona and seven other states. The company already has a mix of solar power and fuel-cell generators at 280 stores nationwide.

The Home Depot is far from alone.

Consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble, which is building a manufacturing plant in Coolidge and bringing 500 new jobs to Pinal County, has chosen to power 100% of its global operations with renewable energy by 2030.

The Frito-Lay snack food manufacturing facility in Casa Grande is a major generator of solar power, in line with the company’s choice to power 100% of its plants, offices and distribution centers with renewable energy.

Also in Casa Grande, kitchen and bath products manufacturer Kohler Co. just opened the doors of a newly built plant that will employ 400 people. The company has chosen to power 100% of its North American operations with renewable energy, and in line with that goal, it will install a 21-megawatt solar array and a battery energy storage system on site at the new Pinal County facility.

Then there’s LG Energy Solution. The developer of the massive $5.5 billion battery manufacturing complex in Queen Creek, has specifically cited the growing availability of solar power in Pinal County and the rest of Arizona for choosing to build here.

“There is no better place to build the source of our sustainable energy here in Arizona, where the abundant solar energy surrounds the region,” a senior executive with LG Energy Solution said recently. “Quality batteries, made right here in the Copper State, will reach every corner of America to provide power.”

So, if you are wondering why solar power is expanding so much in Pinal County and the rest of Arizona, the one-word answer is: business.

Business owners in general are demanding more solar power because it’s one of the cheapest sources of electricity on the market — having fallen in cost by more than 80% over the past decade.

And businesses that choose solar are very likely to choose Arizona. Because in addition to all of our economic strengths, our state is one of the best places in the U.S. — and the world — to generate electricity using the power of the sun.

———

Andy Tobin is former speaker of the Arizona House and a former member of the Arizona Corporation Commission. He is president and owner of Tobin Business Solutions LLC and director of The Western Way’s Arizona Rural Energy Network.

Battery Energy Storage strengthens the grid

This piece from TWW’s Greg Brophy first ran in the Fairplay Flume on July 3, 2024 and can be accessed here.

Battery Energy Storage strengthens the grid

Greg Brophy

Technological innovations over the last several decades are changing the way we use batteries in nearly every aspect of our lives.  Smart phones, laptops, tablets, hybrid cars and fully electric vehicles – we are literally surrounded by these technologies which all, to some extent, are built around batteries.

In the late 2000’s, as a farmer and state legislator from Colorado’s Eastern Plains, I remember turning heads by driving a Toyota Prius – the first hybrid-electric car to be a commercial success. Years later, however, it was no big deal when I traded up to a hybrid SUV.

Ironically enough, one area where batteries have been slow to take off is the power grid itself. But thanks to falling costs and safety advancements that is quickly changing.

According to 2023 data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the U.S. power sector has added 16 gigawatts of battery storage capacity in just a few short years.  For scale, a medium sized city of 750,000 homes can be powered by 1 gigawatt.  

The biggest reason for battery storage growth is pure economics: Over the past decade, the cost of battery storage has fallen by more than 80%. By the end of this year, battery capacity on the U.S. power grid could almost double to 31 gigawatts, the EIA predicts.

Battery storage will provide a critically important source of backup electricity for the power grid during severe weather and other interruptions.  But batteries can also help our electrical transmission grid operate more efficiently, which is good for rate payers.  

The National Renewable Energy Lab located in Golden, Colorado noted that battery systems “can help defer or circumvent the need for new grid investments by meeting peak demand with energy stored from lower-demand periods, thereby reducing congestion and improving overall transmission and distribution asset utilization.”

As a national leader in all forms of energy, Colorado is not sitting on the sidelines when it comes to battery storage. Plans on the table would add almost 2 gigawatts of new battery storage capacity in Colorado by 2030 – a roughly eight-fold expansion of our current capacity.

Here in Park County, it was recently reported by The Flume, that a 200 MW battery storage project is being planned 12 miles south of Fairplay.  The storage project is being developed by RWE and is estimated to create 60 local construction jobs and “millions of dollars in tax revenue for the county”.

“BESS is a technology used to store excess electrical energy during times of high generation, and then discharge that energy during times of high demand, helping to stabilize the grid and reduce the need for backup power sources,” said RWE’s Jonathan Berry, Utility-Scale Development Manager. 

To be sure, energy storage projects have their critics. Some of the loudest voices point to a 2019 explosion at an energy storage facility in Arizona, which injured nine first responders.

At the time, energy storage facilities were still very new and the firefighters had not received specialized training, as they receive for other kinds of energy infrastructure like electrical transformers or oil and gas wells.

However, since then, the National Fire Protection Association has developed standards and training courses to fill this gap. In addition, energy storage systems receive the same regulatory scrutiny as other pieces of infrastructure on the power grid that we live and work around every day without any safety concerns.

And personally, I can say that over the past 17 years, I’ve driven more than 600,000 miles in three different vehicles, each with sizable batteries, and I’ve never had any reason to worry. Like other energy technologies, from fracking to rooftop solar panels and everything in between, the risks are manageable and are actively being managed.

For decades, Colorado has been an “all of the above” energy state, where new energy sources and innovations are welcomed, because they provide more choice and competition in a critical economic sector.  Battery storage is the next chapter.  

Geothermal electricity holds great promise, but where should we build? Mapping tools can show us the way

This piece from TWW’s Steve Handy first ran in the Desert News on June 28, 2024 and can be accessed here.

Opinion: Geothermal electricity holds great promise, but where should we build? Mapping tools can show us the way

June 28, 2024

By Steve Handy

Renewable energy extends far beyond the stereotypical image of wind turbines and solar panels. Notably, the Western United States is witnessing a surge in a powerful and often-overlooked renewable resource that leverages established technologies from the oil and gas industry.

This resource is geothermal energy. It capitalizes on the Earth’s internal heat, employing the same drilling and hydraulic fracturing techniques used in conventional fossil fuel extraction. However, instead of targeting oil and gas reserves, geothermal energy taps into a constant subterranean heat source.

The core process is ingenious. Cold water is injected down a wellbore, where it absorbs thermal energy before being propelled back to the surface at significantly elevated temperatures. This heated water then drives a turbine, generating electricity with no carbon emissions.

Like any energy source, a big question facing the geothermal industry is: Where does it make the most sense to build?

The ideal location will have suitable geology, along with infrastructure to connect to the power grid. Or, instead of connecting to the power grid, geothermal can also be co-located with a large energy user, like a military base or a data center, which will use all of the power it produces directly.

Finding the perfect combination of geology, infrastructure and energy users is a complicated task. But now, a nonprofit called Project Innerspace has developed a new mapping tool to simplify the process.

The tool, called Geothermal Exploration Opportunities Mapping, or GeoMap, offers amazing insight into the untapped U.S. potential for geothermal electricity production. With help from Google, the developers of GeoMap have combined more than 150 datasets with below-ground and surface-level information that will help siting decisions.

In addition to the areas with the best geothermal potential, GeoMap has dozens of surface-level layers, including the location of older coal plants that could be re-powered with geothermal after they retire and the location of major energy users. There’s even a layer that includes policy factors, including tax incentives for geothermal electricity production.

Unlike wind and solar power, geothermal electricity does not depend on variable weather patterns. If tools like GeoMap can accelerate the process of finding the best locations for geothermal electricity, then it will accelerate the process of making the power grid more decentralized and more stable.

To see what this looks like in practice, consider Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho and Joint Base San Antonio in Texas.

Last year, the U.S. Air Force announced the two bases would build geothermal electricity plants to produce “continuous clean energy for direct consumption at the installations.” The Air Force is partnering with Zanskar Geothermal & Minerals, a geothermal technology firm based in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Having a direct source of power will help the bases defend against cyberattacks from geopolitical adversaries like China. “We need to ruggedize our installations with redundant energy systems and make use of clean energy sources that reduce our fuel demands,” said Dr. Ravi Chaudhary, assistant secretary of the Air Force for Energy, Installations and Environment.

“Geothermal sources strengthen our energy grids and give us the ability to isolate threats before they impact our operations,” Chaudhary said.

Another example is a recently announced deal between Google and Nevada utility company NV Energy.

Under the terms of the deal, NV Energy will dramatically expand its output of geothermal electricity from 3.5 megawatts to 115 megawatts — a more than 30-fold increase — to power two Google data centers in Nevada. To carry out the expansion, NV Energy has chosen another geothermal tech firm, Fervo Energy, which had already worked on a pilot project with Google in Nevada and the 400-megawatt Cape Station project in Beaver County, Utah.

Nationwide, over the next three decades, U.S. officials project that geothermal electric capacity could grow by 60,000 megawatts. For scale, that is the equivalent of building two large-scale nuclear plants per year for 30 years.

In addition to supporting our energy needs, just think about the job creation potential, especially for workers in the oil and gas sector, who already know all there is to know about drilling and fracking.

Most good ideas make sense for more than one reason. In the case of geothermal energy, it makes sense for reasons of national security, energy independence and job creation, not just environmental stewardship.

Geothermal also offers an important lesson about what the nation’s energy future will look like. It won’t involve scrapping all the energy sources we currently have and starting over from scratch, as some would have you believe. Instead, the energy technologies of the future will mostly come from new applications of the technologies we have today. And in the case of geothermal, now we have a map — quite literally — to show us the way.

Steve Handy is a former Utah Legislator and current Utah Director for The Western Way, an organization focused on fiscal, conservative and market-driven solutions to environmental and conservation challenges.

Mesa County is now a role model for how to deal with growth in solar

This piece from TWW’s Greg Brophy originally ran in the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel on May 28, 2024 and can be accessed here.

Mesa County is now a role model for how to deal with growth in solar

Mesa County is now a role model for how to deal with growth in solar energy

Serious and thoughtful policymaking — based on facts, not feelings — is hard to come by these days. But it should come as no surprise that western Colorado is one place that you’ll find it.

Case in point: Mesa County’s process for developing regulations on the construction of solar energy facilities.

Early this year, Mesa County faced a surge in proposals for large-scale solar projects. Recognizing the need for responsible development, the county commissioners enacted a temporary moratorium on approvals.

This pause wasn’t meant to block solar energy altogether, but rather to create clear land-use regulations that were missing from the county’s existing code.

Still, for pro-energy observers, the moratorium did make us nervous. In other settings, similar permitting pauses have been used to shut down energy development altogether, especially in the case of oil and natural gas production.

But thankfully, officials in Mesa County were acting in good faith. The lack of specific guidelines for solar projects in the county code created uncertainty for both developers and local officials.

The commissioners set a clear deadline of six months for county planning staff to develop a comprehensive set of regulations. This process was open and inclusive, incorporating diverse perspectives and concerns from the community.

And the regulations were finalized in just four months. Imagine if state and federal regulatory agencies had the same work ethic as Mesa County planning officials.

The new regulations establish a clear distinction between small-scale solar projects, like rooftop panels, and large-scale utility projects. Importantly, applications for large-scale projects will now need to consider various factors like project height, equipment location, wildlife impact, and grid connection. Additionally, projects near scenic byways will be subject to specific setbacks.

The regulations also prioritize responsible practices. Utility projects must have insurance, decommission plans for the end of their lifespan, and clear documentation of how the generated electricity will be used.

A proponent of the moratorium, Rhiannon Lawson, praised the regulations when they were approved by county commissioners in late April.

“I certainly didn’t get everything I was going for in this, but speaking for those of us who were at all the meetings and all the discussions and reading all the emails on the public portal, everybody really did a good job,” Lawson said.

“If everybody is unhappy in the end, then we have found the right compromise.”

These regulations prioritize both environmental and economic benefits. They respect private property rights and leverage industry expertise, avoiding misinformation and fearmongering that can often surround energy projects of all kinds.

It isn’t just oil and gas development that has to deal with false claims — solar and wind have the same problem too.

As a farmer and former state legislator from the Eastern Plains of Colorado, I was privileged to participate in Mesa County’s process. I work with a conservative nonprofit that tries to find pro-market energy solutions, especially in rural communities, and in my part of the state, we have benefited greatly from the expansion of renewable energy — especially wind — over the past 15 years.

I shared some of the lessons learned from our experience and a sense of the economic benefit — roughly $5.9 billion in economic activity for the Eastern Plains — when local regulations strike the right balance between community concerns and property rights.

Don’t get me wrong — Mesa County isn’t going to see billions of dollars in solar investment overnight. But attracting construction jobs, growing the local tax base, and diversifying the region’s energy mix will undoubtedly have positive economic benefits.

Perhaps the most important takeaway from the past several months is this: Mesa County now serves as a role model for other local governments when it comes to managing the growth of renewable energy projects.

That should be a point of pride for the county commissioners — and the people they represent.

Greg Brophy is a former state legislator from the Eastern Plains who now operates The Western Way, a conservative group that promotes land-use issues and energy development.

Nevada's 'Lithium Loop' is Driving Jobs and Investment

In a piece that ran in the Reno Gazette Journal on May 28th, Nevada’s Lieutenant Governor Stavros Anthony detailed why the ‘Lithium Loop’ is positioning Nevada become a global leader in every stage of the battery supply chain - mining, manufacturing, and recycling.

“Nevada is home to the nation’s only operating lithium mine, which has been in operation since the late 1960s. But rapidly growing demand for battery technologies, especially in the automotive sector and on the nation’s power grid, is fueling a major expansion in Nevada’s lithium mining sector.

This is critically important because currently, the world’s leading producers of lithium are Australia, Chile and China. Unless this trend is reversed, the U.S. economy could be even more dependent on foreign lithium than we used to be dependent on foreign oil.”

Lt. Governor Stavros noted how the Nevada Tech Hub has been created to focus on developing the ‘Lithium Loop’ in Nevada.

“Under the leadership of the Nevada Tech Hub, community colleges, state agencies, industry leaders and labor representatives will coordinate to train the workforce needed to make the lithium loop a reality.

Research efforts will be centralized on a single, dedicated campus to accelerate breakthroughs in lithium battery technology and other crucial materials for electric vehicles and energy storage systems.

Regulations will be streamlined to ensure that the mines, manufacturing plants and other pieces of essential infrastructure for the lithium loop are built in a timely manner.”

There are already tangible results of this strategy including Lithium Nevada Corp.’s Thacker Pass manufacturing plan a $514M chemical manufacturing, Lithion’s 80,000 square foot facility manufacturing facility in Henderson, and Redwood Materials announced $3.5B expansion of battery recycling operations.

“For many years, leaders in the public and private sectors have talked about bringing manufacturing investment and jobs back to America. Here in Nevada, it isn’t just talk — we are actually making it happen.”

As Costs Fall, Battery Storage Is Surging

This piece from TWW’s Greg Brophy originally ran in RealClear Politics on May 28th and can be accessed here.

As Costs Fall, Battery Storage Is Surging

By Greg Brophy

Over the past 25 years, our lives have changed in so many ways. But one of the biggest changes would have to be the role that batteries play in our everyday activities.

Smart phones, laptops, tablets, hybrid cars and fully electric vehicles – we are literally surrounded by these technologies which all, to some extent, are built around batteries.

As a farmer and state legislator from Colorado’s Eastern Plains, I remember turning heads by driving a Toyota Prius – the first hybrid-electric car to be a commercial success – in the late 2000s. Years later, however, it was no big deal when I traded up to a hybrid SUV.

Ironically enough, one area where batteries have been slow to take off is the power grid itself. But that is quickly changing.

In the space of a few years, the U.S. power sector has added 16 gigawatts of battery storage capacity, according to 2023 data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. For scale, a large nuclear power plant has a capacity of roughly 1 gigawatt.

The biggest reason is pure economics: Over the past decade, the cost of battery storage has fallen by more than 80%. By the end of this year, battery capacity on the U.S. power grid could almost double to 31 gigawatts, the EIA predicts.

This will provide a critically important source of backup electricity for the power grid during severe weather and other interruptions.

It’s also a big deal for renewable energy facilities, everywhere from wind farms on the Eastern Plains to stand alone storage facilities on the Western Slope. Batteries can store electricity from the all sources of generation on the grid including wind and solar so it can be used around the clock, not just when the wind is blowing and the sun is shining.

As a national leader in all forms of energy, Colorado is not sitting on the sidelines when it comes to battery storage.

Colorado is currently the seventh largest battery storage state. We have about 20% more battery storage than New York, in fact.

Plans on the table would add almost 2 gigawatts of new battery storage capacity in Colorado by 2030 – a roughly eight-fold expansion of our current capacity.

One example of this trend can be found where the rural electric cooperative United Power is expanding its battery storage portfolio to keep up with rapid growth of about 6% per year.

“The use of batteries on our distribution network is essential to a resilient and responsive power system, and we are excited to be moving ahead with one of the most aggressive plans for such a system,” Mark Gabriel, United Power’s President and CEO, said when the expansion was announced.

“These battery arrays will allow us to balance our power needs throughout the day and incorporate local renewables more efficiently.”

Another project worth watching is happening in Pueblo. Xcel Energy is partnering with a company called Form Energy to build a long-duration energy storage facility next to the Comanche coal-fired power plant. 

The battery will use iron-air batteries – an alternative to lithium-ion technology – to store electricity from solar and wind facilities for up to four days at a time. 

To be sure, energy storage projects have their critics. Some of the loudest voices point to a 2019 explosion at an energy storage facility in Arizona, which injured nine first responders.

At the time, energy storage facilities were still very new and the firefighters had not received specialized training, as they receive for other kinds of energy infrastructure like electrical transformers or oil and gas wells.

However, since then, the National Fire Protection Association has developed standards and training courses to fill this gap. In addition, energy storage systems receive the same regulatory scrutiny as other pieces of infrastructure on the power grid that we live and work around every day without any safety concerns.

And personally, I can say that over the past 17 years, I’ve driven more than 600,000 miles in two different vehicles, each with sizable batteries, and I’ve never had any reason to worry. Like other energy technologies, from fracking to rooftop solar panels and everything in between, the risks are manageable and are actively being managed.

For decades, Colorado has been an “all of the above” energy state, where new energy sources and innovations are welcomed, because they provide more choice and competition in a critical economic sector.

As we write the next chapter of Colorado’s energy storage, it’s clear that battery storage will be one of the promising new technologies that will join with others to support our economy and our way of life.

Greg Brophy is a farmer and former state senator from Wray, Colo. He is the Colorado director for The Western Way. 

Navigating the Energy Landscape: Anticipating AI's Impact on Power Consumption

In the vast landscape of technological advancement, Artificial Intelligence (AI) stands as a promising changes across industries and societies. As AI permeates deeper into our daily lives, from smart assistants to autonomous vehicles, one crucial consideration emerges: its impact on energy consumption.

The integration of AI into various sectors brings both unparalleled efficiency gains and heightened energy demands. AI is expected to require much more energy in the years ahead. Demand is estimated to ramp up from 8 terrawatt-hours this year to 652 terrawatt-hours in 2030. A terrawatt-hour is equivalent to consuming 1 trillion watts of power for an hour, according to interim CEO for American Electric Power Co. (AEP), Ben Fowke.

"Demand for electricity was almost flat for two decades. We are now beginning to see this trend reverse - driven by large customers such as industrial manufacturers, data processors and others who require significant amounts of power," Fowke said as he spoke before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

Understanding and mitigating these energy needs is paramount as we navigate this technological advancement.

Unleashing Efficiency:

AI's greatest allure lies in its ability to process vast amounts of data and perform complex tasks with unprecedented speed and accuracy. This prowess translates into efficiency gains across industries. For instance, in manufacturing, AI-driven predictive maintenance minimizes downtime, optimizing energy usage in production processes. Similarly, in transportation, AI-powered route optimization reduces fuel consumption and emissions.

Surging Demand:

However, the proliferation of AI comes with a surge in computational requirements. Deep learning algorithms, a cornerstone of AI development, demand substantial computational power, often facilitated by data centers brimming with servers. These data centers, essential for training and running AI models, constitute a significant portion of global energy consumption.

Moreover, as AI applications become more sophisticated, the demand for computational resources escalates. From training complex neural networks for medical diagnostics to simulating climate models for environmental research, AI's hunger for computing power knows no bounds.

Tackling the Challenge:

Addressing the energy needs of AI requires a multifaceted approach:

1. Optimized Algorithms: Developing energy-efficient AI algorithms is crucial. Researchers are exploring techniques to streamline model architectures, reduce computational redundancies, and optimize resource utilization without compromising performance.

2. Hardware Innovation: Advancements in hardware, such as the development of specialized AI chips and quantum computing, hold promise for more energy-efficient computation. These technologies aim to deliver higher performance with lower power consumption, driving sustainability in AI development.

3. Renewable Energy Integration: Powering AI infrastructure with renewable energy sources can significantly mitigate its environmental impact. Data centers can leverage solar, wind, or hydroelectric power to reduce carbon emissions associated with AI operations.

4. Efficient Infrastructure Design: Implementing energy-efficient cooling systems and server designs in data centers can curb energy consumption. Adopting modular and decentralized architectures also enhances flexibility and efficiency in AI deployment.

5. Regulatory Measures: Governments and regulatory bodies can incentivize energy-efficient AI development and enforce standards for sustainable computing practices.

A Collaborative Endeavor:

Addressing the energy needs of AI requires collaboration among stakeholders. Industry players, policymakers, researchers, and environmental advocates must work hand in hand to steer AI development towards sustainability.

As we embark on this journey, it's imperative to recognize that the energy footprint of AI is not an insurmountable obstacle but a challenge ripe for innovation and collaboration. By harnessing the transformative potential of AI while mindful of its energy implications, we can pave the way for a more sustainable and technologically advanced future.

The trajectory of AI's energy consumption is pivotal in shaping our collective tomorrow. By embracing innovation and fostering collaboration, we can harness the full potential of AI.

Community solar drives choice, competition on the power grid

This piece from TWW’s Greg Brophy ran in The Fence Post and the Greeley Tribune.

Community solar projects are surging as consumers seek more choice, competition on the power grid

By Greg Brophy

Choice and competition are hallmarks of well-functioning markets and conservative economic policies. But in the energy sector, increasing the amount of choice and competition available to consumers hasn’t been easy.

Historically, the electrical grid has been dominated by centralized, large-scale power plants. Homes and businesses didn’t have any choice in the matter — either they accepted the electricity from those big power plants or they went without electricity.

In recent years, this has started to change. The introduction of market-friendly policies and falling technology costs have allowed homeowners and businesses to generate their own electricity. The most visible example is rooftop solar, but even this option has its limitations.

First, if you’re renting a home or leasing your place of business, then you don’t own the roof. But even in cases where the occupant of a home or business owns the building, not all rooftops are suitable for installing solar panels. Shade from nearby trees and buildings, along with other environmental factors, can effectively rule out the installation of solar panels in some cases.

Thankfully, however, an additional breakthrough in market-friendly energy policy has given people who can’t directly generate their own electricity another option. That breakthrough is known as community solar.

Through community solar programs, even those who can’t install solar panels on their own rooftops can subscribe to a much larger shared solar facility. Through the subscription, they are effectively buying a percentage of the facility’s electrical output. Then, that electrical output is credited towards the utility bill of the homeowner or the business owner who purchased the subscription.

Under this model, subscribers to a community solar project are able to take control of their own energy use without having to own a property that’s conducive to installing solar panels. And for grid operators, community solar creates a useful “in between” option that’s bigger than individual rooftop solar installations but smaller than the large-scale solar arrays that connect directly to the bulk power system.

The size of these community solar projects — which are sometimes called solar gardens — makes them suitable for both rural and suburban communities in Colorado. Since these projects come in all shapes and sizes and their popularity is taking off all across Colorado. The experience of Denver-based solar developer Pivot Energy really tells the story.

In 2022, Pivot Energy completed a total of seven community solar projects in Weld, Logan and Crowley counties. These projects, which have a cumulative generating capacity of 13 megawatts, signed up more than 1,700 households and businesses as subscribers. At the same time, the Weld RE-5J School District signed up as a subscriber, which is expected to save the district almost $400,000 in utility expenses over 20 years. In Weld County alone, these community solar projects are expected to generate $1.4 million in property taxes, most of which will go towards public education.

For its next major project, Pivot Energy is dramatically scaling up the community solar concept even further. The company was selected by Xcel Energy to build 41 megawatts of new community solar projects, which will also exclusively serve lower-income households.

As part of this new portfolio, Pivot Energy is taking their farm-friendly designs even further at a site in LaSalle that will feature solar energy production, food crop production and irrigation. The subsurface drip irrigation system maintains the landowner’s water rights, is expected to save 33% water usage, increase crop yields and lower the cost of production. At this initial solar cropping site, a local Weld County producer will cultivate in between and around the solar array which occupies ~32 acres of land. This new configuration will serve as a template that Pivot Energy hopes to replicate as they scale up community solar in Colorado.

To be sure, community solar projects still represent a small share of Colorado’s overall electric power portfolio. But it’s growing fast, because the policies around community solar are built on a solid foundation — providing more choice and competition to consumers.

As long as that foundation remains intact, you can expect to see more and more community solar projects being developed all over the state.

Brophy, of Wray, is a farmer and former state senator. He is the Colorado director of The Western Way

2024 Washington D.C. Fly-In

TWW joined the Conservative Energy Network and Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions for a fly-in to Washington D.C. on April 30th and May 1st.  TWW met with 16 Congressional offices from AZ, CO, NV, UT, and WY to discuss the importance of All of the Above Energy policies to protect rate payers and keep energy costs competitive, permitting reform at the Federal level to speed the buildout of critical infrastructure, and rural economic development opportunities for the West. 

TWW Tours Largest Battery Storage System in AZ

On April 24th, TWW hosted ACC Commissioner Lea Marquez Peterson and ACC Candidates Renee Lopez and Rachel Walden on a tour of the Sonoran Energy Center in Buckeye, AZ. 

The 260 MW solar and 260 MW battery energy storage system is one of the newest in the state and the largest operation battery energy storage system in Arizona.

The Sonoran Energy Center was a $600 million dollar investment which created 500 construction jobs and will result in $17.5 million in tax revenue for the City of Buckeye.

Utah must be better at planning for electricity needs

This piece from TWW’s Steve Handy was first published in the Deseret News on April 16, 2024 and can be accessed here.

Opinion: Utah must be better at planning for electricity needs

Published: April 16, 2024

By Steve Handy, Utah director for The Western Way

Utah is currently embroiled in a debate over whether the coal-burning Intermountain Power Plant should be kept open past its planned retirement next year. I’ll steer clear of the many issues raised by SB161 — which was signed last month by Gov. Spencer Cox and would allow the state to take over the plant. But I do want to highlight one argument the bill’s proponents have made: It’s needed to boost the reliability of the electric grid.

The fact of the matter is that mounting reliability issues are less about how we generate our electricity and more about how we move that power from Point A to Point B. And the sad truth is, our aging electric grid is badly in need of modernization.

This is not just about meeting current needs; it’s about ensuring reliability, resilience and sustainability for generations to come. The Western Interconnection, of which Utah is a part, faces major reliability challenges, and expanding electric transmission is a crucial solution to addressing them.

Spanning from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Coast, the Western Interconnection is a sprawling network of power generation and transmission systems. It’s served our region well for decades, but is increasingly showing signs of strain — especially from the growing frequency and severity of power outages. While Rocky Mountain Power has been proactive in planning transmission for the local footprint, much more can be done to integrate within the region.

Unless we expand transmission capacity by building more transmission lines, power losses from extreme weather events will continue to leave us in the dark — as happened last month when a winter storm knocked out power to thousands in the Salt Lake City region. These have become an all-too-common feature of life in our state that not only inconveniences consumers and businesses but also poses serious public safety risks.

Inadequate transmission also leaves Utahns at risk of losing out on economic growth, which depends on access to reliable electricity. New economic engines such as data centers, artificial intelligence and manufacturing facilities spawned by recent federal investments are heavy consumers of electricity.

The demands for new power will only continue to grow. The International Energy Agency recently estimated that power demand from data centers and AI will double by 2026 – to the level of electricity consumed by Japan each year. Without a reliable electric grid to support the electricity required by these new projects, Utahns are at risk of losing out on the jobs that would be created by our changing economy.

A lack of transmission also deprives Utahns of the benefits of affordable power. Cheap clean energy is booming across the nation but can’t access the electric grid to provide that energy to customers without sufficient transmission capacity, keeping electric bills unnecessarily high.

We simply cannot keep operating under the current status quo. Our current incremental approach to planning transmission is the most expensive way to provide energy to households and businesses. In order to keep the lights on and attract economic growth, states and regions must plan transmission in a more forward-looking way that takes into account projected electricity supply and demand.

That means reforming the rules that dictate how transmission projects are planned and paid for, which are some of the biggest barriers to efficient and timely development of transmission lines. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is currently considering a regional planning and cost allocation rule that would go a long way toward improving things.

It is imperative that this final rule from FERC requires planners to take a long-term look at changing energy demand and future energy resources, as well as specify a comprehensive set of transmission benefits and a process for assigning costs in line with those benefits.

Fixing these three issues would mean a huge shift away from the status quo, and help strengthen our electric grid, unlock economic growth, and lower consumers’ electric bills.

Steve Handy is a former state legislator and the Utah director for The Western Way, an organization focused on market-competitive solutions to environmental and conservation challenges.

Lithion Bringing Battery Manufacturing to the U.S.

TWW toured Lithion, a Henderson, NV based battery manufacturer, on April 17th. Nevada Lt. Governor Stavros Anthony; Assemblywoman Heidi Kasama (Assembly District 2); Assemblyman Brian Hibbetts (Assembly District 13); and Henderson City Councilman Jim Seebock joined the tour to learn more about Lithion’s operations and battery manufacturing.

Lithion is a is a vertically integrated manufacturer of Primary & Secondary Battery Cells, Rechargeable & Non-rechargeable Battery Packs and Battery Modules that are used in a variety of products and markets including military and health care applications. Lithion is one of the few companies to manufacture batteries in the United States, starting in 2020 and expanding in a new facility in Henderson, NV. Lithion employs over 150 employees at their Henderson site and expects to add an additional 100 employees as their new facility opens.

Geothermal energy deserves the red carpet, not red tape

This piece from TWW’s Steve Handy first ran in the Salt Lake Tribune on March 20th and can be accessed here.

Geothermal energy deserves the red carpet, not red tape

Geothermal developers are drilling for zero-carbon sources of energy that can provide electricity consistently around the clock.

By Steve Handy | For The Salt Lake Tribune | March 20, 2024, 6:05 a.m.

One of the most promising energy sources in America today is geothermal, which harnesses the natural heat contained in deep geological formations to generate electricity. Tim Fitzpatrick, reporter for The Salt Lake Tribune, recently provided an excellent overview.

Using technologies and talented workers from the oil and gas industry, geothermal developers are drilling for zero-carbon sources of energy that can provide electricity consistently around the clock.

The federal government projects that 60 gigawatts of geothermal power generation could be built in the U.S. between now and 2050. That’s the equivalent of 60 large-scale nuclear power plants, or 8.5% of the nation’s projected power generating capacity by the middle of this century.

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Utah is already a leader in this promising sector. The Frontier Observatory for Research in Geothermal Energy (FORGE) is located in Beaver County and the state ranks third in the nation for geothermal electricity capacity, behind California and Nevada.

Given the tremendous potential of this energy source, the federal government should be rolling out the red carpet to geothermal developers. But instead, the opposite is happening — geothermal is getting tripped up by red tape.

For this reason, Republican Utah Congressman John Curtis is spearheading legislation aimed at cutting through this bureaucratic gridlock and unleashing the full potential of geothermal in our state and across the country.

The bill — the Geothermal Opportunity Act — addresses the permitting challenges that hinder the development of geothermal energy, especially on federal land in Western states. Right now, even after a project is approved, the U.S. Interior Department is withholding subsequent approvals that are needed for construction to begin because of lawsuits that are filed by environmental groups and other special interests.

The proposed legislation is straightforward: It would compel the Interior Department to continue issuing authorizations unless a federal court nullifies the underlying drilling lease. This will do a lot to prevent arbitrary obstruction of geothermal projects in the federal court system, ensuring they can advance without unnecessary delays.

This legislation is well-timed, because permitting delays are threatening to stunt the growth of geothermal when the sector is making major breakthroughs.

Here in Utah, the geothermal developer Fervo Energy is building a 400-megawatt power project near the FORGE research facility. During construction, the project will support 6,600 jobs and when it enters operations, 160 workers will be employed there.

Fervo Energy recently reported major improvements in drilling efficiencies, which can speed up the drilling process by 70% and cut the cost of drilling almost in half. One of Fervo’s investors is Devon Energy Corp., a company that uses drilling and hydraulic fracturing to produce oil and gas.

“Fervo’s approach to geothermal development leverages leading-edge subsurface, drilling, and completions expertise and techniques Devon has been honing for decades,” said David Harris, Devon’s chief corporate development officer and executive vice president, in response to the time and cost savings.

The application of drilling and fracking technologies by Fervo Energy and other developers is one of the biggest reasons why geothermal is poised to dramatically expand.

Traditional geothermal power plants rely on extracting fluids from naturally occurring hot underground reservoirs to generate steam, which then drives turbines to produce electricity. However, this process is limited by the requirement for specific geological conditions, including the presence of hot rock, fluids, and underground fractures.

Enhanced geothermal systems can operate in underground areas lacking these natural geological conditions. Leveraging fracking technology borrowed from the oil and gas sector, enhanced geothermal developers can inject fluids into artificially created fractures to produce the steam needed for power generation.

But this technology is only useful if project developers can get the permits and other authorizations needed to start building new geothermal power plants.

That’s why geothermal permitting reform proposals — including Congressman Curtis’s bill — deserve to become law.

Red tape shouldn’t be allowed to hold back the development of innovative new energy technologies that increase choice and competition on the power grid. But without action from Congress, that may happen in the case of enhanced geothermal technologies.

That wouldn’t just be a loss for Utah — it would be a major missed opportunity for the country as well.

Steve Handy is a former Utah legislator and Utah director for The Western Way with a focus on fiscal, conservative, market-competitive solutions to environmental and conservation challenges.

NV Supports EV's without compromising consumer choice

This piece from Nevada Assemblywoman was first published in the Elko Daily on March 8, 2024 and can be accessed here.

Kasama: Nevada supports EVs without compromising consumer choice

·       HEIDI KASAMA

·       Mar 8, 2024

In most markets for goods and services, American consumers have choices. Why should the market for transportation fuels be any different? It shouldn’t, of course, and Nevada is quietly leading the country towards a truly open and competitive market for the fuels that make our cars and trucks run.

For more than a century, individuals and businesses effectively had once choice — petroleum. Gasoline and diesel continue to dominate the transportation fuels market. But major improvements in battery and fuel cell technologies have provided another choice — electricity.

Now, in typical fashion, some special interest groups aren’t satisfied with people choosing electricity over gasoline or diesel. Instead, they have tried to force electric vehicles into the market through government mandates.

The most obvious example is California, which is banning the sale of cars and SUVs powered by gasoline or diesel by 2035 — just 12 years from now.

The trucking industry is also in the sights of California’s bureaucrats and politicians. Newly purchased trucks that move freight between ports, railyards and distribution centers must be electric. Thankfully, Nevada is moving in a different direction — one that embraces the promise of new fuels and consumer choice, and, above all, trusts consumers to decide for themselves.

In this year’s legislative session, I had the honor of co-sponsoring AB184, championed by Assemblyman Howard Watts and subsequently signed into law by Gov. Joe Lombardo. This groundbreaking law establishes an incentive program for the acquisition of medium- and heavy-duty electric vehicles, powered by either batteries or hydrogen fuel cells. Additionally, one key aspect of this bill that resonates with me is the utilization of federal funds for incentives, ensuring that no state money is involved. When we collaborate across party lines, our community reaps the benefits of our collective efforts.

The legislation, which passed the Nevada Assembly with strong bipartisan support, reduces the upfront cost of purchasing electric trucks and buses for companies, independent truck operators, nonprofits, local governments, state agencies and other private and public fleet owners. The amount of the incentive varies by the size of the vehicle, and the potential purchaser of an electric truck or bus gets to decide if buying a vehicle powered by a battery or fuel-cell makes sense for their own needs.

This makes the program much more workable — and much less of a political lightning rod — than a California style mandate that ignores the individual needs of a business or a local government. For some purchasers, an electric truck or bus makes sense right now. For others, it may take years before switching .

The creation of Nevada’s new Clean Trucks and Buses Incentive Program is also an important reflection of the state’s role in developing and building the technologies that will support a truly competitive marketplace for transportation fuels.

Last year, Gov. Lombardo announced that Tesla would be investing $3.6 billion to expand its existing Gigafactory in Nevada. The investment would add an electric semitruck manufacturing plant and a battery assembly plant capable of producing enough batteries for 1.5 million electric vehicles per year.

The Tesla news was followed by a $2 billion U.S. Department of Energy loan to battery recycling firm Redwood Materials, which is planning a major expansion of its existing Nevada plant.

Once complete, the recycling plant is projected to produce enough batteries to power 1 million electric vehicles per year.

Nevada’s policy on electric trucks and buses is based in reality, not good intentions or political ideology. The successful adoption of new technologies takes time. It is driven by personal choice, as individual consumers weigh the costs and benefits of trying something new or sticking with what they have for a while longer.

The government didn’t mandate the use of smartphones or streaming apps. It shouldn’t try to force people in electric vehicles either. Because at the end of the day, if electric vehicles prove themselves to be a better product, they will sell themselves without the need for any heavy-handed mandates.

Heidi Kasama is a Republican Assemblywoman from Clark County. She wrote this opinion piece for the Elko Daily Free Press.

UT State Sen. Ipson Proposes Commonsense Measure to Improve Air Quality

Utah’s Senate Bill 170, Clean Truck Incentive Program is a commonsense way help increase air quality along the Wasatch Front and the rest of the state through the use of incentives rather than mandates.

Sponsored by Senator Don Ipson, (Dist 29) the legislation would transfer of $6 million over three years for a new grant program within the Utah Division of Air Quality for eligible purchasers of clean fuel trucks. 

The bill has the support of the Utah Trucking Association and other groups:

“As the Utah Trucking Association reviews legislation regarding alternative fuel options, we very much appreciate Senator Ipson’s approach in SB170.  This bill provides incentives to consider alternative fuel vehicles rather than significantly expensive mandates.  SB170 allows companies to explore electric vehicles that otherwise would be unattainable due to the extraordinary price gap between today’s diesel powered trucks and the currently available electric vehicles.”

Utah’s populous Wasatch Front, a 100-mile corridor where 80% of the state’s population resides, can experience notorious winter-time inversions that result in considerable air pollution especially dangerous to sensitive populations.

Since 50% of Utah’s air pollution is derived from trucks and vehicles, this bill would allow for additional steps to be taken to reduce air pollution from medium and heavy-duty vehicles.

TWW thanks Sen. Ipson for this incentive based policy that will help improve Utah’s air quality.

For energy and tech innovation, look to Wyoming

This opinion piece from TWW’s John Karakoulakis was originally published in the Washington Examiner on February 19, 2024 and can be accessed here.

For energy and tech innovation, look to Wyoming

By John Karakoulakis

February 19, 2024 7:00 am

When you believe in the power of innovation, so-called problems are actually future business opportunities.

That’s the story of a pioneering company, Crusoe Energy Systems, which is using a waste product from the oil and natural gas industry to make waves in the technology sector. And it wouldn’t have happened without Wyoming’s willingness to explore bold new ideas and foster innovation.

Crusoe Energy Systems builds portable data centers that can be placed on remote oil and gas well sites. The data centers use field gas that would be vented or flared (in other words, wasted) as their power source.

This helps to solve a big problem for the technology sector. More and more people are storing data and running computer programs through the “cloud” — remote servers that connect to your laptop or cellphone via the internet. But the continued expansion of cloud computing means more and more data centers are needed, and these data centers are very energy-intensive.

The team at Crusoe Energy Systems realized that the cheapest forms of energy never make it to the grid. Instead, they are “stranded” in the remote locations where energy is often produced, whether it’s an oil and gas well in rural America or a hydroelectric dam in Iceland.

If that stranded energy could be harnessed and used to power data centers, it could provide a cost-effective way to boost the tech sector’s cloud computing capacity. Not only that, but eliminating wasted energy would be good for the environment, too.

The idea of building portable data centers, moving them around to different locations in the oil patch, and remotely connecting them to other cloud-computing facilities was not the simplest idea to sell, according to Crusoe Energy Systems cofounder Cully Cavness.

The first place to let the company test out the concept was Wyoming in 2018, Cavness said in a recent interview on 60 Minutes.

“That’s not necessarily an idea that everyone’s going to embrace automatically right off the bat before it’s been done before,” Cavness said. “Wyoming was. They invited us to come do it for the first time here. We did it at a small scale. We proved that it could work. And that helped us attract the funding and the other projects that had helped us scale to where we are today.”

The company now has around 200 portable data centers powered by 20 million cubic feet per day of gas that would otherwise have been wasted, according to Cavness. That’s the equivalent of removing the carbon dioxide emissions of several hundred thousand cars from the atmosphere every year.

More recently, Crusoe Energy Systems has taken the lessons learned from limiting wasted energy in the oil and natural gas industry and applied them to limit energy waste in the renewable energy sector. Imagine that: a tech startup with roots in the oil and gas industry teaching wind and solar developers about how to limit waste and help the planet.

It’s not surprising that a company that got its footing in Wyoming would think this way and see these opportunities. Despite the stereotype of Wyoming being a fossil-fuel state, Wyoming is without doubt an “all of the above” energy state.

What that means is we don’t see artificial dividing lines between different energy sources. They all have their place, and they can all work together.

By definition, the all-of-the-above attitude is open to new sources and new technologies, whether advanced nuclear reactors or carbon capture and sequestration.

This approach to energy and innovation is personified by Gov. Mark Gordon (R-WY), who has taken heat from left-wing environmental groups and even some members of his own party for not treating different energy sources as “good” or “bad.”

“I have spoken, and will continue, to speak to audiences inside and outside Wyoming with the message that Wyoming provides energy of all types, and that our future — America’s and the world’s — depends on all types of energy,” Gordon wrote in a recent column.

Wyoming has a proud history of being open for business for all sources of energy. If we want to secure a prosperous future for the Cowboy State, then staying open for business is the right approach to take.

John Karakoulakis is the director of the Western Way, a nonprofit organization focused on free market solutions to western U.S. conservation issues.

The U.S. Military Looks to Geothermal for Secure, Firm Power

This piece from TWW’s John Karakoulakis originally was published by Real Clear Energy on February 5, 2024 and can be accessed here.

The U.S. Military Looks to Geothermal for Secure, Firm Power

By John Karakoulakis
February 05, 2024

There’s much more to renewable energy than just wind farms and solar arrays – and some of those renewable sources have more in common with conventional fuels like oil and natural gas than you might think.

That’s especially true in the Western U.S., where some of the latest breakthroughs in renewable energy are based on technologies that have been used for decades to harness our abundant fossil-fuel reserves.

The best example is geothermal energy, which involves the same drilling and hydraulic fracturing technologies used in oil and natural gas production. But instead of producing oil and gas, geothermal wells are drilled to access the constant source of heat that exists in deep rock formations.

There are different variations of this technology, but in general, cold water is pumped down the well and circulated back to the surface hundreds of degrees hotter. With the help of a heat exchanger, the hot water is used to drive a turbine that generates electricity without any emissions. 

Unlike wind turbines or solar arrays, electricity production from geothermal doesn’t rely on weather conditions, making it extremely reliable. And for this reason, the U.S. military is showing more interest in geothermal technologies to harden its facilities against power grid outages and cyber-attacks.

At Mountain Home Air Force Base, for example, officials recently announced a project that aims to use geothermal electricity as a source of “clean, reliable baseload energy, even in the face of grid outages.”

The U.S. Air Force has contracted with Zanskar Geothermal and Minerals to look at the feasibility of developing an on-site geothermal power plant within three to five years. A similar project is underway in Texas at Joint Base San Antonio with a different geothermal energy developer, Eavor Inc.

These projects will serve as prototypes to test the concept of using round-the-clock geothermal energy as an uninterruptible power source for military installations of all kinds. This work is urgent in light of state-sponsored cyberattacks from America’s geopolitical rivals – first and foremost, China.

“We are in an era of strategic competition with China, which means our installations are no longer a sanctuary from the full spectrum of threats,” said Dr. Ravi Chaudhary, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Energy, Installations and the Environment. “Geothermal sources strengthen our energy grids and give us the ability to isolate threats before they impact our operations.”

As with so many technologies used by the military, there are major civilian applications as well. Power companies in the Western U.S. already use geothermal technologies to generate some of their electricity, and the level of interest in this zero-carbon energy source continues to grow.

For example: In Utah, startup company Fervo Energy has received federal permits to drill dozens of geothermal wells with a combined generating capacity of about 90 megawatts, after successfully piloting the technology in Nevada. In addition, in Nevada and Colorado, fellow startup Transitional Energy has been exploring the use of existing oil and gas fields as new sources of geothermal energy. 

Nationwide, over the next three decades, U.S. officials project that geothermal electric capacity could grow by 60,000 megawatts. For scale, that is the equivalent of building two large scale nuclear plants per year for 30 years.

In addition to supporting our energy needs, just think about the job creation potential, especially for workers in the oil and gas sector, who already know all there is to know about drilling and fracking.

Most good ideas make sense for more than one reason. In the case of geothermal energy, it makes sense for reasons of national security, energy independence and job creation, not just environmental stewardship. 

Geothermal also offers an important lesson about what the nation’s energy future will look like. It won’t involve scrapping all the energy sources we currently have and starting over from scratch, as some would have you believe. Instead, the energy technologies of the future will mostly come from new applications of the technologies we have today.

John Karakoulakis is director of The Western Way, a nonprofit that seeks pro-market solutions to environmental challenges.