By Michael Bergey, DWEA President

Dangerous, record-breaking heat across the globe is bringing home the real impact of our continued use of fossil fuels. But also in the news is the impressive surge of domestic investments in clean energy and storage manufacturing, as well as project deployment, stemming from federal legislation enacted less than a year ago. Story after story, many coming from “red” states, tell the tales of new factory investments in wind, solar, and storage, including the jobs that will ensue. President Biden’s and Congressional Democrats’ big bet on aggressive industrial policy to change the trajectory of CO2 emissions in the U.S. and build huge new clean energy industries appear to be paying off. It may well be the new jobs, and not the heat, that most effectively help erode Republican opposition to all thing’s climate change. One can hope.

Meanwhile, the work at DWEA continues. We were not successful in getting distributed wind inserted in the $7 billion EPA “Solar for All” program, but we did accomplish having a reserve fund for USDA REAP included in a “marker bill” that will help influence the critically important 2023 Farm Bill. We have yet to learn whether our request to the Treasury Department to allow the use of imported towers for distributed wind projects up to 1 MW to qualify for the Sec. 48 10-percent domestic content bonus. On the horizon is a multi-technology campaign to close the gap between the Sec. 48 and the Sec. 25D (residential) tax incentives.

So please, stay out of the heat but do publicize even your smallest business accomplishments in order that your voice is added to the good news on clean energy jobs and investment growth. You will be helping yourself and DWEA’s ongoing mission.