Can CLEAN ENERGY POWER the RECOVERY?
In mid- April, as COVID- 19 was paralyzing the Northeast, Massachusetts made an eyebrow- raising announcement. The state’s Department of Energy Resources, in what it called an emergency order, doubled the capacity of its key solar program and declared its solar industry an essential service. While states like Connecticut included the solar sector in their stay- athome ranks — contributing to what would become a more than 620,500 loss of clean energy jobs nationally by the end of May — Massachusetts kept its solar people working.
“We need to give clarity long term for the solar industry,” said Patrick Woodcock, commissioner of the Department of Energy Resources. “We wanted to signal this was going to be a priority for Massachusetts.”
The paperwork to make that happen had to be filed physically. “I remember the drive into Boston. It was an absolute ghost town,” he said.
Now, with northeastern states trying to jump- start their economies following the flattening of COVID- 19’ s spread, a question being asked by many here, as well as worldwide, is whether renewable and clean energy can be the key economic driver to do that.
“Absolutely,” Woodcock answered, calling offshore wind alone one of the foundations of the Massachusetts economy
While Massachusetts has a head start in leveraging renewable and clean energy as economic engines, Connecticut’s approach during the height of the shutdown, and its vision of clean and renewable energy’s potential, has been more subdued. There have been no broad declarations about it as an economic driver from Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Commissioner Katie Dykes. She has focused instead on the state’s current commitments, such as its considerable entry into offshore wind, which includes plans to revitalize ports in New London and Bridgeport, and a final plan released in April on how to accelerate electric vehicle adoption — known as the EV Roadmap — as a way of reducing greenhouse gases. “Even before this crisis, we’ve been on a path of dramatic expansion of clean energy resources, of electric vehicles and other policies that can help us continue to meet the needs of the climate crisis,” she said.
But there are many who see not only an economic potential, but an opportunity — even with its unfortunate origins in a pandemic — to go big. In the spirit of never letting a good crisis go to waste, these environmental experts want Connecticut to make faster, harder and more ambitious energy changes than the state has been pursuing.
In the nearly 10 years since Connecticut has been pursuing clean energy in earnest, there has been repeated criticism that pilot projects are too conservative, time has been wasted with studies of technologies other states have already evaluated, and that balky utility companies have driven policies. Coupled with this is criticism that the state’s laser focus on electric rates has blocked state officials from recognizing that investments — actually spending money — would create jobs and revenue.
The state also faces a steep environmental climb to reach its clean energy and greenhouse gas emissions goals: a 100 percent clean energy electric grid by 2040 and emissions 80 percent below 2001 levels by 2050. And now there is empirical evidence from the worldwide COVID shutdowns that such measures make a difference — the steep drop in the use of fossil fuels did lower emissions of all sorts.
“I do think this is a very useful pivot point,” said Ken Gillingham, an economics professor at Yale who specializes in energy and environmental economics as well as energy and climate policy modeling. He was also a senior economist for energy and the environment for the White House Council of Economic Advisers during the Obama administration.
Karl Rabago, a senior advisor at the Pace Energy and Climate Center who has advised Connecticut on energy and climate policy for years, agreed.
“Should clean energy be the white steed that we use to ride out triumphantly from the COVID pandemic? And the answer is — among the many rides we could choose, this is a very good one,” Rabago said. “It’s a good one because it affects everyone. It’s a good one because it starts paying a serious down payment on the severe changes we need to address with climate change.”
There is precedent in the U. S. for using renewable and clean energy projects as economic drivers . to overcome a recession.
In 2009, more than $ 27 billion of the $ 800 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act went toward renewable energy. In the last few months a slew of reports, national and international, have made the case that the renewable energy sector and efforts to mitigate climate change have huge economic potential.
A three- year Sustainable Recovery Plan for the post- COVID world developed by the International Energy Agency and the World Bank stated “governments have a unique opportunity today to boost economic growth, create millions of new jobs and put global greenhouse gas emissions into structural decline.”
A report by the University of California at Berkeley offered a path to a 90 percent carbon- free grid by 2035, stating that doing so would provide “a huge opportunity for economic recovery — a fantastic way to invest in a healthier economy and support new jobs, without raising electricity bills.”
In addition to Massachusetts keeping its solar industry going as COVID- 19 peaked in the Northeast, New York repeatedly doubled down on its commitment to clean energy growth with Gov. Andrew Cuomo, in one of his daily briefings, even saying renewable energy would “jumpstart the future.”
When re- imagining the big renewable energy ideas that could help Connecticut’s economic recovery from COVID- 19, energy efficiency is inevitably the first stop.
After that, a little imagination is helpful as well as regulatory and/ or governmental approval and — let’s face it — money. But more and more private investors are seeing the wisdom in getting behind renewable energy and little- to- no point in getting behind additional fossil fuel development.
Among other suggestions are larger investments in community solar, which has the potential to scoop up renters, multi- family units, low and moderate income households and all manner of people whose properties can’t accommodate solar panels, and greater emphasis on energy storage.
“I think it’s inherently going to have to be a policy mix or a mix of technologies,” said Yale’s Gillingham. “These are technologies coming to play that are being implemented around the world. There’s no reason for Connecticut to be behind the curve.”
“Should clean energy be the white steed that we use to ride out triumphantly from the COVID pandemic? ... Among the many rides we could choose, this is a very good one.” Karl Rabago, a senior adviser at the Pace Energy and Climate Center