Southern Alliance for Clean Energy

☀️Hot off the press: 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. Yet 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, read 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: ow.ly/9inv50Sz9Lh

Battery waste has been an issue long before #EVs, and transportation electrification is driving battery demand like never before. This expanding demand creates scalable business opportunities to address battery waste through #recycling and #reuse, critical to meeting long-term #EV production demand without remaining utterly dependent on raw materials and making batteries more cost-effective and environmentally sound. According to our friends at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), as of 2023, the United States had enough domestic battery recycling capacity to reclaim 35,500 tons of battery materials. More facilities are in the works, anticipated to reclaim an additional 76,000 tons over the next 2-4 years. Additionally, intermediate processing facilities receiving lithium-ion batteries and battery manufacturing scrap to process into materials that can be reintegrated into the battery supply chain reclaimed another 175,000 tons in 2023. These facilities are also scaling, with plans to handle nearly 198,000 additional tons in the next few years. View the supporting data here: https://lnkd.in/ecWtknjT #electricvehicles #batteries #sustainability #climateaction #cleanenergygeneration

Desire for adventure, check. Charged up #EV, check. Paddleboard, check. Beautiful weather, check. Let's get on the river! Living in a town with a thriving tourism economy, I have the places I go on holiday weekends for solitude and fun. Yesterday, I drove my EV to a put-in to paddle a stretch of the French Broad River, the third oldest river system in the world, flowing through the Southern Appalachian Mountain to the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico. While paddling, I saw a bunch of wildlife, including river otters, a black bear, bald eagles, great blue herons, songbirds galore, turtles, smallmouth bass, and a musky over three feet long. Wildlife sightings bring me a ton of joy, a dash of hope, and a sprinkle of despair; given the negative impacts climate change is having on ecosystems, including the ancient forests of western North Carolina, I am thrilled when I witness wildlife persisting while worried if these animals and the habitats they depend on will be able to adapt quickly enough to survive the warming temperatures and extreme weather we humans are accelerating. That's one reason why adventuring in a tailpipe-free EV feels so good--it's a solution piece in the climate crisis puzzle. In North Carolina, electric utilities are retiring coal plants in favor of fossil (natural) gas and renewables. The result is that driving an EV in NC emits approximately 2,169 pounds of carbon dioxide equivalent annually, whereas a gas car emits 12,594 pounds. That's an 83% decrease in climate pollution, a significant step in the right direction, and because the electric grid keeps getting cleaner, so do #EVs. Everything people do impacts the natural world, including driving EVs. However, shifting to electric cars, trucks, and buses at scale is one of the most immediate and impactful ways to begin dialing back the impact and giving all life on Earth a chance to adapt. #electricvehicles #cleanenergygeneration #climateaction #sustainability

EVs accounted for 7.5% of all new light-duty vehicle sales in the region in Q4 2023, up from 5.8% in Q4 2022. ⚡ The Southeast saw growth in EV manufacturing, EV sales, charging station deployment, AND public funding last year. For more on how the Southeast performed in 2023, check out our two-pager from SACE and Atlas Public Policy's "Transportation Electrification in the Southeast": https://lnkd.in/gF8qCTzQ

Exciting change is already happening in our communities! Join us 🗓️ this Friday, July 12 at 12 PM ET to learn about opportunities for action, hear updates from SACE's #CleanEnergyGeneration team, and meet others from across the Southeast who are working to create a healthy future where our families, communities, and planet will thrive. RSVP: bit.ly/CEG0412

We're talking EVs! From discussing the importance of range for summer adventures to celebrating the growing used EV market to applauding the influx of electric school buses in the Southeast, our Electric Transportation Director Stan Cross is sharing the 3️⃣ things you need to know about EVs right now.

Move over, Michigan: Georgia now leads in building next-generation cars (no disrespect to everyone cranking out #EVs in Michigan 😉). We are at a pivotal moment in America's automotive history as we shift from gas engines to electric motors and #EV manufacturing from the Rust Belt to the Sun Belt. Since the first Ford Model T rolled off the assembly line in 1908, Detroit has been synonymous with the American automotive industry. But in the age of the electric vehicle, amid a renaissance in domestic manufacturing, Georgia is quietly but confidently emerging as the undisputed national leader in the electrifying auto sector. And we are not just talking #electriccars; #electricbuses, #batteries, #evchargers, and #supplychain manufacturing are all on the rise in the Peach State. Georgia has secured $23 billion in private-sector EV industry investments anticipated to create over 26,000 jobs, the most of any state in the nation. In contrast to the anti-EV rhetoric from Republicans on campaign trails, the EV #economicdevelopment boon is being championed by Georgia's Republican Governor, Brian Kemp. As the governor said during his visit to West Point's Kia factory after driving the first Georgia-built EV off the production line, "We are working to become the e-mobility capital of the nation." #electricvehicles #emobility #transportation #cleanenergygeneration #cleanenergyjobs #innovation #climateaction

Exciting change is already happening in our communities! 🙌 Attend our next Member Call to learn more about how YOU can join the Clean Energy Generation. Mark your calendars 🗓️ for Friday, July 12 at 12 PM ET to learn about opportunities for action, hear updates from SACE's Clean Energy Generation team, and meet others from across the Southeast who are working to create a healthy future where our families, communities, and planet will thrive. RSVP: bit.ly/CEG0412 #CleanEnergyGeneration

Black Americans are 75% more likely than other Americans to live near hazardous waste. In a world so heavy and grim, our Electric Transportation Equity Manager recently asked herself, what is the point of keeping hope if the world is doomed? The answer comes from a surprising place: by reflecting on the lessons and values of Juneteenth and the history of energy exploitation in America. #ElectricBlackFutures

"Just the power plants that Duke proposes to build...would cost customers well over a billion dollars, essentially imposing a localized 'reliability tax' on customers." It's time for Duke Energy Corporation to go back to the drawing board ✏️ In Part 3 of our blog series on Duke Energy's proposed Carbon Plan, our Decarbonization Director breaks down why Southeastern customers pay for more power plants than other regions.