"Some of the biggest U.S. clean-energy companies are joining forces with the nation’s top wind-power trade group to create a new lobbying organization ahead of a presidential election that could tip federal policy in favor of renewables.
The new group, called the American Clean Power Association, will include industry titans such as NextEra Energy Inc., Avangrid Inc. and Berkshire Hathaway Energy. The American Wind Energy Association, founded in 1974, plans to merge with the new organization with the goal of propelling “renewables to be the dominant power source in America,” it said in a letter to its members Thursday.
The November election will be pivotal for the energy industry. While President Donald Trump has vowed to protect oil and gas jobs, Democratic nominee Joe Biden aims to accelerate the country’s transition to clean energy with a $2 trillion plan that seeks to eliminate carbon emissions from the power sector by 2035 -- a prospect that would require an unprecedented building boom of solar panels, wind turbines and batteries. At the same time, the renewables industry is facing a large capital shortfall amid the coronavirus pandemic."
Brian Eckhouse reports for Bloomberg Green September 3, 2020.