This newsletter was originally published on March 7, 2016.

Global Advanced Energy Industry Tops $1.4 Trillion

The global advanced energy industry now stands at $1.4 trillion, larger than global fashion and nearly as large as the entertainment industry. That’s the finding from Advanced Energy Economy’s 2016 Market Report, released last week. If global advanced energy were a country, it would have the GDP of Mexico.

In the US, the advanced energy industry totaled $200 billion in revenue, surpassing pharmaceutical manufacturing. Advanced energy has seen dramatic growth, expanding by 29 percent in the last five years.

The largest sector of the industry is building efficiency, totaling $63.6 billion in revenue and growing 50 percent in five years. Solar grew over 21 percent last year and tripled over the last five. Wind also had a great year, growing over 75 percent from 2014. The fastest growing sector was energy storage, growing twelve fold over the last year. It’s an exciting time to be in the advanced energy industry!

 

Crain’s Detroit Business Highlights the Michigan Energy Industry

Crain’s Detroit Business released a special report this week on energy in Michigan, which included a story highlighting corporate investment in renewable energy, quoting Michigan EIBC President Liesl Clark. The special report also included an overview of  legislative activity on comprehensive energy policy affecting retail open access, renewable standards and energy efficiency standards. The Crain’s report also highlighted the rise of solar power in Michigan due to declining prices and the ITC extension, as well as efforts to build out additional wind generation.

 

Michigan Energy News

A pair of ordinances that would facilitate wind development in Sanilac County were defeated as part of Tuesday’s election. The ordinances in Argyle and Wheatland Townships were voted down by votes of 139-61 and 60-105, respectively. A similar ordinance involving Moore Township was defeated in November. At the same time, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality has approved a controversial permit for oil and gas exploration at a Southfield church. Unlike wind development, oil and gas development is regulated at the state –not local – level, and local units of government do not have the ability to block oil and gas exploration and development activities.

Walker Mayor Mark Huizenga has an opinion article in Mlive about the importance of an increased energy efficiency standard.

Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette requested that the Michigan Public Service Commission limit DTE’s proposed rate hike, Crain’s reports.

The US Supreme Court denied a request for a stay on the EPA’s new mercury rule.

The Times Herald has a piece about the continued investigation on the turbine collapse in Huron County last week.

State Representative Bill LaVoy  (D-Monroe) won the Legislator of the Year award from the Coalition to Keep Michigan Warm, the Monroe News reports.

 

National Energy News

The Senate Energy Bill continues to stall over Senate Democrats hoping to get $100 million in funding for the Flint Water Crisis. Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) continues to oppose this and other provisions.

Utility Dive released their 2016 State of the Electric Utility report. Download it here.

Utility Dive reports that Michigan EIBC member OPower will extend demand management tools in 2016.

Bloomberg Business has a story on the global green-bond market slowing down.

Utility Dive has a piece on the need for utility evolution when developing smart cities.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the total number of oil rigs is now lower than 2009 levels.

Utility Dive has a feature on the 2016 ARPA-E summit.

The Houston Chronicle has a piece on the uncertainty around liquefied natural gas.

Reuters has a piece on national employment, highlighting that the mining industry losing 171,000 jobs since September 2014.

US energy storage is expected to exceed 1 GW in capacity by 2019, from a new report from Greentech Media Research.

 

Michigan Events
SPECIAL MICHIGAN EIBC MEMBERS-ONLY EVENT: Michigan EIBC Members are invited to a special tour of Suniva’s solar manufacturing facility in Saginaw. The tour will take place on Monday, March 14, from 1:30 to 2:30 PM. Michigan EIBC members can register here.

The Engineering Society of Detroit – together with DTE Energy – is hosting its annual Energy Conference and Exhibition on Tuesday, May 3, 2016 at the Suburban Collection Showplace in Novi.
 
The 4th Annual Michigan EIBC Members Meeting will take place on Wednesday, May 4 at the Kellogg Hotel and Conference Center in East Lansing. Registration is available here; contact Nicole Forward for sponsorship information.
 
The 2016 Michigan CHP Conference will be held Tuesday, May 10 at Oakland University in Rochester. The theme for this year’s conference is “Moving to Clean Energy with Combined Heat and Power: Matching CHP Customers to Suppliers.”
 

National Events
ACEEE’s 2016 National Symposium on Market Transformation will take place in Baltimore on March 20-22.
 
AWEA’s annual WINDPOWER event will take place May 23-26 in New Orleans.
 
Intersolar North America will take place July 12-14 in San Francisco.
 
Solar Power International is scheduled for September 12-15 in Las Vegas.
 
The Battery Show, collocated with the Critical Power Expo and Electric and Hybrid Vehicle Technology Expo, will be held in Novi from September 13-15.

Additional Resources 
Advanced Energy Economy (AEE) is home to PowerSuite, a suite of tools that allows companies a one-stop on-line portal to search, track, and collaborate on state legislation and regulatory proceedings from around the country.
 
PowerSuite includes both BillBoard, the AEE dashboard for managing state legislation, and DocketDash, the AEE dashboard for managing state public utility commission proceedings. Subscription required.
 
SolarPermit.org is a national solar permitting database that provides information on permitting for solar in jurisdictions across the country. The database includes a variety of information, from average permit turnaround times, to information required to be included in the permit, to contact information for individual jurisdictions. You can browse the requirements for the Michigan cities included in the database here.
 
The U.S. Department of Energy is offering A Guide to Federal Finance Facilities Available for Energy Efficiency Upgrades and Clean Energy Deployment. The downloadable guide provides information about the various federal financing programs available for energy efficiency and renewable energy — making it easier for state, local and tribal leaders, along with their partners in the private sector, to find capital for energy efficiency and renewable energy projects.
 
The Department of Energy has offers free public access to accepted peer-reviewed manuscripts or published scientific journal articles from projects funded by the DOE within 12 months of publication.