CEAC-2021-04-April

News
Electrician Zach Newton works on wiring solar panels at the 38-acre BNRG/Dirigo solar farm, Thursday, Jan. 14, 2021, in Oxford, Maine. President Joe
Biden wants to change the way the U.S. uses energy by expanding renewables, but faces several challenges. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
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The Biden administration is in a position to accelerate trends
toward renewable energy and away from fossil fuel power,
said Dave Reidmiller, a Maine-based scientist who assisted
Biden’s transition team in the Office of Science and Technology
Policy.
“Utilities and others kind of see the writing on the wall
of where this is going,” Reidmiller said. “I suspect it’s no
surprise that the Biden administration has fairly ambitious
de-carbonization goals for American society.”
The U.S. has just two working offshore wind farms — off
Block Island in Rhode Island and off Virginia — but more
than two dozen others are in various stages of development.
The wind power industry and clean energy advocates say the
new administration can make the country an offshore wind
power leader.
One way Biden could boost the offshore wind industry
would be accelerating permit procedures. Jeff Berman, manager
of emissions and clean energy analytics at S&P Global
Platts, said that would help encourage growth “of a resource
that there isn’t very much of in this country.”
But one of the clean energy industry’s first priorities is to regrow
and even expand jobs, said Matthew Davis, legislative
director of the League of Conservation Voters.
Estimates of employment in the U.S. clean energy sector
range from about 700,000 to 3 million jobs. Biden pledged to
create 10 million jobs.
“Biden says we need millions more solar roofs, tens of thousands
more wind turbines, getting offshore wind industry
off the ground,” Davis said. “It’s doable but aggressive, and
we’re going to be pushing right along the administration
and our allies in Congress to make this happen.”
Industry representatives also believe Biden’s focus on climate
change and new environmental regulations will make wind
and solar more competitive by reducing their cost relative to
fossil fuels.
East Providence, Rhode Island-based ISM Solar, is planning
six to eight new community solar projects in Maine over the
next few years, totaling about 30 megawatts — enough to
power more than 10,000 homes.
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