The American Council On Renewable Energy--Working to Bring Renewable Energy Into the Mainstream

In late November the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE) convened renewable energy experts from across the nation on Capitol Hill for its day-long conference:  Phase II of Renewable Energy in America National Policy Forum. Policy Forum.

ACORE focuses on accelerating the adoption of renewable energy technologies into the mainstream of American society and provides a common platform for the wide range of interests in the renewable energy community including renewable energy industries, associations, utilities, end users, professional service firms, financial institutions and government agencies. The Council serves as a forum through which these parties work together on common interests.

The Phase II forum centered on the state of renewable energy and its policy environment. Participants agreed that, with much private investment for renewable energy still waiting on the sidelines, the United States is losing a critical economic opportunity to Europe and China as it delays action on carbon regulation and new energy legislation like a national renewable energy standard or establishing a Clean Energy Deployment Administration (CEDA).

U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), chairman of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, and Carol Browner, Advisor to the President for Energy and Climate Change, opened the day with keynote presentations and were accompanied by a vaunted host of experts throughout the day in the historic Canon Caucus Room.

Senator Bingaman gave a comprehensive dissertation on the needed federal energy and climate policy.

According to Browner, the U.S. will not enter into a binding international climate agreement at the COP-15 meeting in Copenhagen in December but will in time.

“We will then spend the course of the next six to twelve months finalizing a binding international agreement,” Browner said. “We are finally starting to rebuild the clean energy industry in the United States.”

According to Steen Rissgaard, CEO of Danish biofuels company Novozymes, the U.S. was ahead but now finds itself behind.

“If renewable energy were the World Series, the United States would have been ahead by a score of 10-1,” Rissgaard said. “However, the U.S. has lost that momentum to other parts of the world, and they’ll have to take action now to return to their position as a world leader.”

According to Hermann Scheer, a member of the German Bundestag and a pioneering leader of renewable energy policy in Europe, the time to act is now.

“We must act now,” Scheer said. “We must do what we can do, now.”

The conference enjoyed a stirring moment when Congressmen Edward Markey (D-MA) of the U.S. and Scheer of Germany appeared together to a standing ovation.

Representatives from the financial community discussed moving the industry beyond stimulus with programs like the recently proposed CEDA or a “Green Bank”. The Green Bank would work as a true public/private partnership in a similar fashion to the Oversees Private Investment Corporation that absorbs non-commercial risks, and could accelerate private investment. Participants also said that $30-$50 billion of capital will be needed to scale up to 20% renewables by 2020 and that this scale of funds will require Wall Street and the government finding ways of working together.

According to Jeff Holzschuh, vice chairman of Morgan Stanley’s investment banking division, there has been a healthy maturation of venture capital backed innovation companies, but the challenge now is scaling them with more traditional asset finance.

“The government can greatly accelerate this transition by enacting a long term strategy with proper risk sharing and financial support,” Holzschuh said.

According to ACORE, there was a clear sense of impatience among the finance speakers. Kevin Parker, head of asset management at Deutsche Bank, said, “in Europe they get it and are competing to exceed best practices, while in the U.S. the banks are looking to do as little as possible to get by. These are two different worlds. America needs to wake up and get moving, or it will be left more behind.”

Members of the renewable energy industry offered first-hand accounts of the risk complexities and intensive capital requirements needed to launch and establish successful renewable energy companies and projects; and they agreed that the national benefits are just too high for officials to ignore.

According to John Graham, president of BP Wind Energy, the Obama Administration has advanced several polices that have been helpful for developing and creating a range of alternative energies and jobs in the short term.

“But a more stable, long term policy framework is needed in order to achieve a 25% renewable energy supply by 2025,” Graham added.

Some experts say that there are opportunities to impact the economy in the shorter term. “We believe that dealing with climate change and renewable energy represents nothing less than the next Industrial Revolution,” said Leo Gerard, president, of the United Steelworkers Union. “With the passage of a national renewable energy standard and climate legislation, we can put the American worker at the front of the line.”

According to Michael Eckhart, president of ACORE, renewable energy investment continues to be driven by federal policy.

“The Phase II conference is a call to the President and Congress that American companies and investors are ready to respond once the rules of the road are established,” Eckhart said. “Governments in Germany, China and other countries are directly supporting the development of successful renewable energy industries, and our country must respond to this challenge.”

The Phase II of Renewable Energy in America National Policy Forum was first held in 2002. The goal of the conference is to bring together high-level officials, executives, and thought leaders to discuss the energy policy issues concerning renewable energy development, government funding, private investment, pending legislation and America’s renewable energy position internationally.