Good morning and happy Friday,

The 2024 election may be some 420 days away but as of last week you may have seen ads for President Biden’s re-election campaign begin coming-too-soon to a TV near you. Super PAC Future Forward USA Action is spending more than $12 million on ads in the biggest markets of six major battleground states.

The Washington Post’s Climate 202 spoke with the leaders of the Hydrogen Interagency Task Force about “the promise and challenges of clean hydrogen,” and cleverly named Greenbacker Capital announced “an exclusive, long-term partnership” with SOLARCYCLE to recycle its decommissioned solar panels.

Read on for more.

The IRA is driving massive investments in clean energy, including in battery energy storage. Although China still has the most manufacturing capacity for lithium-ion batteries, many companies and countries are rushing to catch up. Here are some points to spark conversation:

• Axios reports that on the same day, major players Daimler Truck and BlackRock announced significant investments in the battery space, and Oman’s sovereign wealth fund invested an “undisclosed sum” in Our Next Energy, a U.S.-based start-up that makes EV batteries.
• Fully charged interest in battery energy storage is good news for places like Texas, where just this week grid operator ERCOT narrowly avoided having to go into emergency mode because batteries provided power to meet critical demand.
• Texas has more than 3,500 MW of battery storage, which represents about 2% of ERCOT’s resource mix...but at that critical moment on September 13, they provided almost 3% of system power.

Charged up. Few would argue that battery energy storage is key to making the transition to a net-zero electricity system that relies on intermittent renewables like wind and solar. Batteries also have a critical role to play in providing grid services, and because they make it possible to place small amounts of supply close to load, they can even provide short term solutions to transmission constraints. We know where we’re placing our bets. 

The energy transition can present a sticky wicket for wildlife conservation: the climate crisis presents a threat to all living things, yet siting renewable energy – and the transmission lines needed to get clean power to load centers – can be challenging. A Grist article sponsored by The Wilderness Society (TWS) presents a success story that illustrates why community engagement is key:

• The 125-mile, 500kV Ten West Link transmission line will run from Arizona to California and improve transmission system efficiency and reliability while helping both states make more effective use of renewable energy.
• That’s all well and good, but the line’s original route bisected the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge, which is home to more than 700 species and also a beloved nature retreat for many humans.
• A series of public meetings led to a collaborative effort that involved TWS, locals, and federal agencies, who worked together to find an alternative route – one that parallels the I-10 freeway and avoids environmentally and culturally sensitive areas.

Spending money to save money. Although the final route for Ten West Link is longer than what was originally planned, it will ultimately cost less than it might have if the initial route was held up by opposition and expensive legal challenges. Taking the long road in terms of public engagement is also “worth it in the long run,” because it allows parties to work more effectively toward shared goals.

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• Tribal Friction: Why Native American tribes are struggling to tap billions in clean energy incentives
• Whale Watching: Rules to protect whales issued to offshore wind firm prepping for N.J. construction
• Hot & Windy: Tax incentives have fueled a surge in solar panels but failed to boost wind 

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• Chestnuthill Township, PE Votes No to Solar Ordinance
• Southtowns, NY residents mobilize against proposed wind farm
• Sedgwick County, KS establishes moratorium on solar energy zoning applications
• Lawrence, KS school board approves solar energy pilot project

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Remember the Tea Party? The state of U.S. politics today is such that even hardcore liberals might shed a nostalgic tear for the movement launched in 2009. Well, Freedom Works – an organization that helped found the Tea Party – says it is undergoing a major shift and turning “from tea party to tolerance.”

A recent donor presentation from the group suggests a more moderate tack on key issues, such as the need for “climate realism” and “de-escalating the cultural wars.” Its president Adam Brandon has used words like “forging bipartisan consensus” and talked about Freedom Works becoming “a beacon of sanity in turbulent times.”

He may wish to start with the group’s website, which still offers plenty of red meat, appears to promote conspiracy theories, and doesn’t exactly take a measured approach when discussing the climate crisis. Oh well, perhaps we need to be patient. It isn’t easy being green.