Renewable Energy Remains on the Rise
power. It’s something that is a factor supporting customers’
Susan Bruce, a member of McNees Wallace & Nurick, discusses the current state of the renewable energy sector, including the regulatory implications of a new presidential administration and what businesses can do to position themselves for success in this burgeoning industry.
CCBJ: What would you say is responsible for the continued rise in interest, investment and adoption of renewable energy sources? Susan Bruce: It’s a combination of factors. First of all, I see a rise in customer preference for renewable energy. Customers want to understand where their power is coming from, especially with the growing concern around climate change. Whether they’re residential customers or businesses, customers want to feel like they’re doing their part by supporting renewable energy projects. Another factor is that regulatory policies are changing in such a way that customers, whether residential or business, can take advantage of different policies that might make it more economically advantageous to pursue renewable energy. That could mean investing in a solar project through a power purchase agreement, buying renewable energy credits, or doing what’s called net metering, where you put solar panels on a roof or install another renewable resource “behind your meter” to offset your electricity consumption. All of these strategies are driven by regulatory policies that support renewable energy.
preference to pursue renewable energy as part of their energy purchasing strategies. What do you expect the industry to look like in five years? This is a time of tremendous change in the energy industry. We have a new presidential administration with clean energy investment being a priority. It’s hard not to see the industry growing in the next five years. Right now, much of the development is occurring on a state-by-state basis, where different state policies are supporting different renewable energy technologies. It’s possible that we could have a more cohesive national strategy supporting renewable energy in five years. While I see the industry continuing to grow over the next five years, an important thing to consider is that most renewable energy resources are intermittent in nature. A solar project will produce electrons only when the sun is shining. Wind turbines need the wind to be blowing to generate electricity. So, it’s important to consider what types of resources will be developed to complement these more intermittent products. For instance, there’s expected to be a good deal of development of batteries and other storage to complement these intermittent renewable resources. What policy changes do you anticipate with the Biden administration? What impact might they have? We have definitely seen clear signals of a shift in this area
Equally important is price. Renewable energy is becoming
with the new administration, in terms of renewable energy
more and more cost-competitive compared to conventional
and climate change being priorities. In the short term, we
types of energy. And it can provide valuable hedges to a
expect the president to unveil details of a major infra-
business that might be purchasing other more conventional
structure package that is expected to include spending on CORPORATE COUNSEL BUSINESS JOURNAL
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