A signed article Think smartgrids, partner site.
President Biden on March 31 proposed investing some $ 2,000 billion (€ 1,706 billion) in infrastructure, with the stated goal of creating millions of jobs, standing up to China and fight against climate change. Investments in the program ” Build Back Better Would be spread over eight years and financed by a corporate tax hike from 21% to 28%. The plan includes an important energy component, broken down into several chapters.
Revitalize the United States’ Electricity Infrastructure
“As the recent power outages in Texas demonstrated, our aging power grid is in urgent need of modernization, Recalled the Joe Biden. “Department of Energy study found power outages cost the US economy up to $ 70 billion a year.” To meet 100% carbon-free electricity target by 2035, President Biden calls on Congress to invest $ 100 billion
A more resilient electricity transmission system
The plan provides for the creation of a targeted investment tax credit ” to encourage the construction of at least 20 gigawatts of high voltage power lines and mobilize tens of billions of dollars of private capital ”. President Biden announces the creation of a Grid Deployment Authority ” that will make better use of existing rights-of-way – along roads and railways ” as well as ” creative financing tools to stimulate investment in priority high voltage transmission lines ”.
Modernize electricity production by providing clean electricity
The plan provides for the 10-year extension of investment and production tax credits for clean energy technologies, reducing their cost to energy buyers.
It aims to make these credits refundable, meaning that suppliers could claim them through a process called “direct payment”. The plan also plans to support the initiatives of the states and territories ” who choose to accelerate this modernization “. It will mobilize the considerable purchasing capacity of the federal government to promote the deployment of clean energy “Buying 24/7 clean energy for federal buildings.”
An Energy Efficiency and Clean Electricity Standard (EECES) will be established “To reduce electricity bills and electricity pollution, increase competition in the market, encourage more efficient use of existing infrastructure, while continuing to take advantage of the carbon energy supplied by nuclear and hydropower.”
$ 35 billion for technological breakthroughs in clean energy
The plan provides for the creation of an agency, ARPA-C (C for climate) ” to develop new methods of reducing emissions and strengthening climate resilience ”: $ 15 billion will be directed towards large-scale energy storage, carbon capture and storage, hydrogen, advanced nuclear, tidal turbines, biofuels, quantum computing and electric vehicles, with the objective posted from “To strengthen the technological leadership of the United States in these areas in global markets.”
174 billion dollars to conquer the electric vehicle market
The plan aims for the emergence of a complete battery and vehicle manufacturing sector. It provides for discounts and tax incentives for consumers, building a network of 500,000 electric vehicle chargers by 2030, replacing 50,000 diesel public transport vehicles and electrifying yellow school buses as well as the postal service fleet.
Favorable reception from renewable energy professionals
The plan has been welcomed by stakeholders in the renewable energy and storage sector. They had already considered the designation of Jennifer Granholm as energy secretary, the arrival of Jigar shah (a popular figure in the microgrid community) at the head of Loan Program Office (LPO) of the Department of Energy (a program with a budget of $ 40 billion of loans and loan guarantees available to help deploy energy infrastructure projects: this program had been suspended during the Trump presidency ), as well as the recruitment of Kelly Speakes-Backman at the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy of the Department of Energy. Kelly Speakes-Backman headed the Energy Storage Association (ESA) a few weeks ago.
Pour l’American Clean Power Association (ACP), « it’s about building a clean infrastructure system that will be the envy of the world. We cannot afford to miss this moment. Fragmentary approaches have failed in the past. It will take bold efforts to transform our country’s crumbling infrastructure into modernity. The energy provisions provide certainty and predictability for America’s cleanest technologies and the hundreds of thousands of workers who depend on these jobs and the jobs to come ”
Energy Storage Association (ESA) applauds plan “Which gives priority to the deployment and manufacture of energy storage as well as to jobs in this sector”, including targeted subsidies to increase battery manufacturing capacity in the United States and “Create a reliable and independent supply chain”. «To achieve the presidential goal of a carbon-free electricity system by 2035 ”, the ESA had strongly advocated for the extension of the investment tax credit to autonomous energy storage systems and to make it a subsidy with direct payment rather than the current tax mechanism considered too complex.
For the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), the plan “ is an important step in achieving our collective clean energy goals. The plan creates jobs, stimulates the economy, tackles the climate crisis and advances environmental justice ”.
Same satisfaction for l’American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE) who greets “The direct payment option for renewable energy production credits”. For Acore, “The inclusion of a federal standard on energy efficiency and clean electricity is essential to ensure that we stay on track with emission reductions… The Grid Deployment Authority will facilitate the modernization of the infrastructure of the today’s balkanized and obsolete network with an advanced MacroGrid capable of providing abundant, cheap and reliable clean energy ”.
Un « Smart Grid moment »
Anticipating the main measures of the Biden plan, IndustryWeek evoked a “Smart Grid Moment”. “The Texas energy collapse is the backbone of Biden’s massive infrastructure plan. Occurring in the first month of the Biden administration, the massive blackout in Texas’s power grid may have had a good result. The cascading effects of power and heat loss, outrageous bills for the few who had electricity, economic shutdown, floods, fires, etc. provide the best possible argument for developing quickly the Smart Grid that would literally and figuratively fuel the billion dollar infrastructure plan. Elsewhere, California’s obsolete grid played a major role in the global warming-induced wildfires that hit the state. (…) The interdependence and synergies between the measures of the plan are calculated to both build a diverse political coalition in favor of the plan, while maximizing economic and environmental benefits, rather than simply spending to repair the existing infrastructure and obsolete of the twentieth century ”.
The speech delivered on March 31 in Pittsburgh is only the beginning of a bitter battle in Congress, the outcome of which is uncertain.
Similar articles
–
