Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE)

Clean Energy sace helped protect net metering for rooftop solar in Florida. Our board president, e. leon jacobs, and our Florida director and Energy policy attorney, georgecavros, both testified multiple times as fpl-backed bills that would have decimated rooftop solar adoption moved through house & senate committees. In the end, hb 741 passed but was ultimately vetoed by governor desantis because he understood that this bill would "contribute to the financial crunch that our citizens areexperiencing. "in july 2022, we published the fifth annual solar in the southeast report reflecting a severe supply chain disruption which slowed progress nationwide. Positive news in the 2022 report includes president bidens executive order to waive certain import duties for 24-months, which has enabled the solar industry to ramp up again. In september 2022 sace updated our transportation electrification in the southeast report with new data on ev sales and charging deployment across the region, showing that the biggest benefit to the southeast is in manufacturing: more than a third of the nations anticipated ev manufacturing jobs will be in the southeast. The southeast closed out 2021 far ahead of the rest of the country on electric car, truck, and bus manufacturing investment and jobs. With just 18% of the nations population, our region now boasts 43% of announced ev- related investment and 33% of announced jobs. We also published an updated retained fuel spending in the southeast white paper in 2022." Sace was selected to lead implementation in the southeast of the new affordable mobility platform (amp) project, an ev carshare program for affordable housing development residents. Amp will increase electric mobility in underserved communities by providing access to Clean transportation and ev charging; demonstrating a shared use model for ev fleets; and conducting research and knowledge transfer. Amp is led nationally by forth mobility sace will manage implementation in charlotte, in partnership with the city of charlotte and centralina Clean fuels coalition.

Energy efficiency ga power's 2022 irp resulted in a 15% increase in the Energy efficiency targets and funding for a manufactured homes efficiency program. Also importantly, future irps will model Energy efficiency and other demand-side resources head-to-head with supply-side resources. Saces fourth annual Energy efficiency in the southeast report, published in february 2022 (next installment to be published in march 2023), analyzed impacts from the onset of the covid-19 pandemic on utility ee. The data performance and policy trends in our ee report continue to inform saces regulatory work and serve as the primary basis for our public communications and ee media work. The bipartisan infrastructure law (bil) and inflation reduction act (ira) are gamechangers for efficiency in the southeast. New federal investments in Energy efficiency as a result of these bills will undoubtedly impact utility efficiency programs going forward. Sace is evaluating ways to interact with federal, state, and local authorities to maximize these benefits.

Climate in june 2022, we published our fourth annual "tracking decarbonization in the southeast" report, which illustrates that current utility programs do not align with the rates of decarbonization climate science shows is necessary. Over the course of 14 months, as directed under north carolina hb 951, the north carolina utilities commission (ncuc) evaluated options to meet carbon reductions of 70% from 2005 levels by 2030 and net-zero by 2050 for the states major electric utility: duke Energy. The coalition of low-cost Energy and net-zero intervenors or Clean intervenors, which includes sace, joined other intervenors to file a 29-page joint brief and partial proposed order; our testimony supported the benefits of this higher ee target. The commissions first carbon plan order was released late on december 30, 2022; and although the ncuc largely adopted duke's recommendations, ncuc also directed duke to aspire to 1.5% savings and include this higher savings level as a scenario in its next carbon plan/irp. Duke will now file a proposed carbon plan and irp (cpirp) on september 1, 2023, and every two years thereafter. Intervenors will again be able to file alternative plans and other testimony ahead of a hearing in may 2023 to inform the ncucs next carbon plan, to be issued by the end of 2024. Sace is continuing to engage in this process to advocate for best outcomes. Nextera Energy, the parent company of Florida power & light company (fpl),announced in june 2022 a company-wide goalto eliminate carbon emissions from its operations by 2045. Nextera calls the new goal real zero, and claims its the most ambitious carbon emissions reduction goal ever set by an Energy producer and one that would not require carbon offsets. This proposal appears to be a bold and ambitious program to address carbon emissions, and sace is prepared to work with other stakeholders and fpl leadership to lay a cost-effective path to a Clean Energy future.

The Southern Alliance for Clean Energy promotes responsible Energy choices to ensure Clean, safe and healthy communities throughout the southeast.