Good morning and happy Friday,

​

Wow, 2023 was quite the ride, wasn’t it?! The IRA incentives continued to drive massive investment in clean energy, reaching $99 billion across 144 projects and creating nearly 82,000 jobs by year’s end.

​

Against this backdrop, we brought you dozens of articles on hot topics including the challenges of permitting reform, dark money funding anti-renewable campaigns and pushing for anti-renewable ordinances, and the growing pains of the U.S. offshore wind industry – as well as stories of communities across the country that are revitalizing their economies and reinventing themselves as clean energy champions.

​

And let’s not forget the battle for the speakership, Tucker Carlson’s ouster, and Senator Manchin announcing his retirement! With the presidential election looming and scientists predicting this year could surpass last year to become the hottest one on record, 2024 could be even wilder.

​

Fasten your seatbelts and read on for more.

In Ohio, a newly formed group seeking to stop a solar project is taking the concept of “organized opposition” to a new level. It recently hosted a (mis)information session featuring presentations from individuals known to be pro-natural gas and anti-renewables. Here’s what was served up:

• Founded by Jared Yost, Knox Smart Development hosted a “town hall” meeting focused on the 120 MW Frasier Solar project. When asked who had provided funding for the event, Knox demurred, saying “There are people with concerns who are helping us, and they’ve all asked to remain anonymous.”
• The event’s 500 attendees heard from speakers linked to fossil fuel and climate denial groups, among them Heartland Institute contributor and denouncer of climate science Steve Goreham, author of several books including Green Breakdown: The Coming Renewable Energy Failure. 
• Despite having registered for the event, a VP with the project’s developer, Open Road Renewables, was denied entry. The company has since released a document that it says “debunks the worst assertions” made at the event.

Spiked punch. Fortunately, not everyone is drinking the Kool-Aid. The Frasier Solar project has many supporters in Knox County who are challenging “fear-mongering about solar projects taking farmland out of use – ‘We’re not going to starve to death’” – and are also worried about property rights. Others cite the loss of income and employment opportunities if the project is canceled. The project will be reviewed by the Ohio Siting Board this year.

Indiana has a lot of clean energy projects in the pipeline – some 12 GW of wind, solar, and storage, 9 GW of which could come online by 2028 – and advocates are hoping that new tools will help “manage strife over where future projects go” so the state can continue to lower carbon emissions. Here’s what’s happening in the Hoosier state:

• While polls show that residents of Indiana are supportive of renewable energy in general, they can feel differently about projects they see as impacting their communities – and they don’t hold universally favorable views of renewable energy companies or their county commissioners.
• To help address these nuances and complexities, The Nature Conservancy is leveraging its Site Renewables Rite map and Power of Place report, which seek to create win-win scenarios for renewables and wildlife in the central U.S.
• In addition, Purdue University’s Extension is working with the Indiana Office of Energy Development and TNC to apply for a federal Renewable Energy Siting through Technical Engagement and Planning (R-STEP) grant to help with renewable energy siting.

​

Piecemeal = no deal. In Indiana, project siting decisions are left to local units of government, a “piecemeal approach” that many observers believe is “here to stay.” As a result, some counties have passed ordinances that “nobody’s going to build under,” making it tough to compete in a market where businesses factor the availability of clean energy into their operational decisions.

• VA is Not For Misinformation Lovers: Solar misinformation hinders Virginia’s energy transition
• Build Back Local: Waaree Energies to build its first US solar panel factory
• A Year in Policy: How 2023 changed the way states do climate policy
• What’s the Way Forward?: The clean energy backlog barely budged this year
• Wind in the Bluegrass: Kentucky's largest utility testing wind's energy potential 
• RPS Stress: Pennsylvania debates proposal to raise renewable energy goal

​

• Two solar farms denied in Bureau County Illinois after hearing residents’ concerns
• Massachusetts petitions tofreeze stand-alone battery storage
• Rotterdam, New York will extend their moratorium on solar facilities
• Judge orders removal of wind farm opposed by Osage Nation in Oklahoma
• Benton Arkansas County Planning Board denies battery energy storage facility in 6-1 vote

​

As we ease into 2024 with high hopes for another great year for clean energy, we wanted to reflect on the significant strides made in 2023. The IEA projects that when all is said and done, more than 440 GW of renewables will have been added globally last year, more than the total installed capacity of Germany and Spain combined.

​

Solar shone brightly in 2023, particularly in China which added between 180-230 GW (by comparison, Europe – where panel prices are now at record lows – added 58 GW). In the US, more than 60 new solar manufacturing facilities were announced, thanks to the IRA.

​

Amidst a record year for global installations, the wind sector faced some gusts of resistance, grappling with high inflation, rising interest rates, and material costs that led to delays and contract renegotiations. However, electricity from a commercial-scale offshore wind farm was delivered in the U.S. for the first time.

​

And of course, 2023 was another banner year for batteries, with $43.4 billion spent in the U.S. alone on battery manufacturing as well as recycling, thanks again to the IRA.

​

Overall, 2023 was a fantastic year for clean energy, with each sector – solar, wind, and storage – experiencing its own set of milestones and hurdles. The world embraced cleaner sources of power at an unprecedented pace, setting the stage for continued growth in 2024 and beyond.