Good morning! Jeff St. John starts us out today with a fresh study that shows, contrary to the Trump administration’s insistence, that repealing federal clean energy incentives will raise power bills dramatically over the next decade.
Next up, Michael Grunwald’s Eating the Earth column returns with an examination of how we shouldn’t expect much federal clean energy progress over the next four years — but there’s still room for climate action within the food system.
Plus, we’ve got a new report on storage progress, and a map that shows what the world’s clean energy footprint looks like from space.
The latest U.S. Energy Storage Monitor report finds the U.S. installed 12.3 GW of new energy storage in 2024, and the vast majority came from utility-scale rather than residential installations. (Latitude Media)
CLEAN ENERGY
The Nature Conservancy, Planet, and Microsoft use satellite imagery to map large-scale solar and wind installations around the world. (New York Times)
The U.S. EPA’s Office of the Inspector General says it will audit the $7 billion Solar for All program that finances solar projects in low-income communities. (E&E News)
Renewable energy developers and advocates lobby Texas lawmakers against bills to restrict the booming industry, which faces growing headwinds as the federal government seeks to roll back clean energy incentives. (Houston Chronicle)
FOSSIL FUELS
The Trump administration approves an export authorization for the controversial CP2 liquified natural gas terminal in Louisiana, letting it send LNG to customers beyond the 20 countries the U.S. has free trade agreements with. (NOLA.com)
Greenpeace says it will appeal a North Dakota jury’s decision that it must pay a fossil fuel company more than $660 million in damages for its role in supporting protests against the Dakota Access pipeline. (Associated Press)
Legal experts say the verdict could have a chilling effect on public protest and free speech, but also that Greenpeace has a good case for an appeal, which could eventually make it to the U.S. Supreme Court. (E&E News)
POLITICS
Attorneys general from California, Illinois, Maine, and Minnesota file a lawsuit against the U.S. EPA and Citibank, accusing them of illegally withholding funds from state green bank programs. (Star Tribune)
GRID
Midwest grid operator MISO asks federal regulators for permission to fast-track certain generation projects to avoid a looming reliability threat. (E&E News)
Energy Capital Partners and Abu-Dhabi-based ADQ plan to invest over $25 billion to build 25 GW worth of power projects for data centers and other large industrial electricity customers in the U.S. (Axios)
CLIMATE
The World Meteorological Organization finds the global climate is rapidly warming, noting sea level increase, glacier melt, and extreme weather events are all on a drastic rise. (Axios)
ATTENTION CHICAGO: UPCOMING EVENT
On stage: Conversations with clean energy experts, including Rep. Sean Casten of the U.S. Congress, Naomi Davis of Blacks in Green, Kara Demirjian Huss of TCCI Manufacturing, A.J. Patton of 548 Enterprises, David Roberts of Volts, Angela Tovar of the city of Chicago and Lisa Clemmons Stott of the Illinois Department of Commerce.
Off stage: Drink, eat, and socialize with clean energy leaders, investors, inventors, public leaders, and advocates.
🗓️March 27, 2025, 2:00 - 7:00p.m. CDT
📍 mHUB • 1623 West Fulton Street Chicago, IL 60612
Powering Possible: AI and Energy for a Sustainable Future
This report from Microsoft identifies seven areas of collaboration and action for the energy and technology sectors to accelerate a just, orderly, and equitable energy transformation to net-zero and to unlock the full potential of Artificial Intelligence.
.jpg?upscale=true&width=1200&upscale=true&name=CL-chicago-banner%20(1).jpg)
