A bipartisan pair of former congressional leaders, backed by corporate money, are launching a seven-figure advocacy and lobbying group in support of a carbon tax.
Why it matters: It’s a pivotal step bolstering an initiative, first launched last year by conservative leaders from earlier GOP administrations, pushing a carbon tax in which its revenue is returned back to most Americans in the form of dividend checks. Tuesday’s announcement comes one year after four global oil companies announced support for the plan.
Solar energy has experienced rapid growth in the U.S. — from essentially no share of the nation's generation only 7 years ago to 1.5% of the total by 2016's end.
What to watch: In the medium term, solar energy will face significant headwinds in the form of tariffs, tax code changes and diminishing incentives, which threaten to reduce its cost-competitiveness. Despite these challenges, investors and developers remain bullish on solar’s long-term potential, with installed capacity projected to more than double in less than 5 years.
Ben Walker, the Department of Energy's assistant secretary for the Office of Electricity, said the department is "uniquely situated" as part of the intelligence community and makes "classified intelligence decisions," to secure the United States in response to criticism of administration plans to aid economically struggling coal-fired and nuclear power plants on the Columbia Energy Exchange podcast.
Why it matters: The comment shows how the department is positioning itself at a time when many critics from various quarters say the potential aid is unneeded and accuse the administration of grafting a new post-facto rationale onto their longstanding goal of saving coal plants.
The U.S. took a back seat in pursuing renewable energy goals through federal policy after announcing plans to pull out of the Paris Climate Agreement last year, but a survey published by the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE) found that confidence in the sector remains high among investors.
Where it stands: Surveying financial firms that make up a third of annual renewable energy investments nationwide, ACORE found that two-thirds plan to increase their investments in U.S. renewables by 5% or more in 2018 when compared to 2017.
