Southern Alliance for Clean Energy

⚡ONE WEEK LEFT⚡ Applications are still open for US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)'s Clean Heavy-Duty Vehicles Grant Program. $932 million in funding is available to help states, municipalities, tribes, school districts, and eligible nonprofits replace existing trucks and buses with zero-emission options. Learn more and apply by July 25, 2024: ow.ly/aW3i50Sq01w

☀️ We recently released the seventh edition of our "Solar in the Southeast" report, which illuminates the critical role of utilities in the growing Southeastern solar market, highlighting solar data and trends throughout the region. The Southeast can claim about 22 GW of solar as of 2023, a number that’s expected to nearly double to almost 44 GW by 2027. For reference, 1 GW is enough to power 173,000 US homes. With utilities across the region forecasting significant demand for the first time in over a decade, opportunities to add more solar to the grid abound. 🔗 To learn more, find the full report and watch the recording of our webinar Q&A session: bit.ly/SACESolarReport24LP

Asheville, NC's latest fleet charging station, makes me smile! The company I co-founded, Brightfield Transportation Solutions, designed and installed this solar-integrated, grid-connected charging station way back in 2011. At the time, it was a showpiece public Level-2 station with six ports in the heart of downtown. The project was initially funded through a grant from the US DOE, and the City of Asheville, as a project partner, leased Brightfield the land for $1/year for ten years, creating a model public-private partnership that was replicated across the state. As the lease term ended, the solar canopy, underground, and electrical assets were donated to the City, which installed new Level 2 chargers and turned the station into an innovative fleet charging hub. The photos of the station's ribbon cutting are a blast from the past. The chilly winter event included then-U.S. Congressman Heath Shuler, the City's mayor, NC's Secretary of Commerce, and the only EVs available--a Nissan Leaf, Chevy Volt, and Tesla Roadster, as well as a few early e-bikes. I had more pepper than salt then, too. I love how this story showcases the journey from then to now; so much has changed, yet so much remains constant. The #EV industry remains a place of entrepreneurial, technology, and public/private partnership innovation. It takes and will continue to take a whole lot of collaboration, risk-taking, creativity, failures, breakthroughs, and tenacity to navigate the transformation from gas to electric #transportation. Nobody said it would be easy, but dang if it isn't rewarding. #electricvehicles #evs #evcharging #infrastructure #climateaction #cleanenergygeneration

In case you need a good report to combat misattribution. It's NOT solar, wind and batteries that are driving electricity costs up... "The real drivers of climbing electricity rates are spikes in fossil gas prices, rising costs to maintain and rebuild aging and stressed grid infrastructure, and a utility business model that incentivizes big capital investments that customers have to pay off over decades." https://lnkd.in/eTgxF23X

WEBINAR HAPPENING TODAY! ☀️ We recently released the seventh edition of our "Solar in the Southeast" report, which illuminates the critical role of utilities in the growing Southeastern solar market, highlighting solar data and trends throughout the region. Find out which states and utilities are leading and lagging in installed and forecasted solar in the Southeast. Did you know solar projects can be categorized as either utility-scale or distributed? Distributed solar is smaller and is typically installed on the rooftops of residential or commercial customers, while utility-scale solar is larger and is installed in ground-mounted arrays owned by a utility or a developer. 🔗 To learn more, find the full report and RSVP for TODAY'S webinar Q&A session. Can't make the webinar? Register anyway and you'll receive the recording: https://lnkd.in/gEdWSyjk

WEBINAR HAPPENING TOMORROW! ☀️ We recently released the seventh edition of our "Solar in the Southeast" report, which illuminates the critical role of utilities in the growing Southeastern solar market, highlighting solar data and trends throughout the region. The Southeast can claim about 22 GW of solar as of 2023, a number that’s expected to nearly double to almost 44 GW by 2027. For reference, 1 GW is enough to power 173,000 US homes. With utilities across the region forecasting significant demand for the first time in over a decade, opportunities to add more solar to the grid abound. 🔗 To learn more, find the full report and RSVP for our July 16 webinar Q&A session. Can't make the webinar? Register anyway and you'll receive the recording: https://lnkd.in/gEdWSyjk

☀️We recently released the seventh edition of our "Solar in the Southeast" report, which illuminates the critical role of utilities in the growing Southeastern solar market, highlighting solar data and trends throughout the region. SunRisers are the utilities in our region exhibiting the highest solar ambition (calculated by looking at the forecasted increase in watts per customer solar ratio between 2023 and 2027). SunBlockers are the ones exhibiting the lowest. How does your utility stack up? 🔗 To learn more, find the full report and RSVP for our July 16 webinar Q&A session. Can't make the webinar? Register anyway and you'll receive the recording: https://lnkd.in/gEdWSyjk

From ABCs to EVs 🚌 School districts across North Carolina and the Southeast are making the switch to electric school buses with help from federal funds, giving their kids a clean ride to school. School district not on the list? Reach out to your local school board and superintendent to make them aware of the $5 billion available to school districts through the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Clean School Bus Program: epa.gov/cleanschoolbus #CleanRide4Kids

Savannah, Georgia’s city council is expected to approve a $5.75 million contract with an energy company to install 1.26 MW of solar facilities to power 14 municipal facilities and more than double the city’s solar capacity. (Savannah Morning News) #solar https://lnkd.in/eQ7YDRXC

☀️ICYMI: the seventh edition of our "Solar in the Southeast" report illuminates the critical role of utilities in the growing Southeastern solar market, highlighting solar data and trends throughout the region. The Southeast can claim about 22 GW of solar as of 2023, a number that’s expected to nearly double to almost 44 GW by 2027. For reference, 1 GW is enough to power 173,000 US homes. With utilities across the region forecasting significant demand for the first time in over a decade, opportunities to add more solar to the grid abound. 🔗 To learn more, find the full report and RSVP for our July 16 webinar Q&A session. Can't make the webinar? Register anyway and you'll receive the recording: https://lnkd.in/gEdWSyjk