Hiring Our Heroes is one of a number of programs dedicated to veteran recruitment, training, and retention at Clearway, which was recently named in Military Times’ 2023 Best for Vets Employers.

In celebration of Veterans Day, Clearway’s VTRN employee inclusion group hosted a roundtable with five current and former Hiring Our Heroes fellows at Clearway.

Charlie Raiford is a Manager in Asset Management and is now a full-time employee. Charlie served four years as a Navy Surface Warfare Officer, primarily serving as the Navigator aboard the USS Stockdale, a guided missile destroyer based in San Diego. He was responsible for overseeing Stockdale’s position and movements during two deployments to the Western Pacific.

Ben Hebert is a Senior Analyst in Asset Management and is now a full-time employee. Ben served 15 years as a Marine Corps Helicopter Crew Chief, door gunner, and tactics instructor. He has been deployed to over 20 countries, including Afghanistan, and (almost) every US state. He also served four years on the Presidential Helicopter Squadron and was the personal crew chief for Presidents Obama & Trump.

Nicholas Bishop is an HR Program and Analytics Manager as an HOH Fellow. As an Army Logistics Officer, Nick was responsible for planning, developing, and directing all logistic operations for his unit. He’s held positions at the platoon and brigade levels, as well as company commander. He was deployed to Afghanistan, and most recently Poland.

Kyle Fortney is a Senior Analyst in Asset Management as an HOH Fellow. Kyle was a Marine Corps Infantry Officer and has led units as large as 216 Marines and Sailors in preparation for deployment to the Indo-Pacific. He was assigned to oversee the Marine Corps Recruit Depot (Boot Camp) in San Diego, where he was responsible for the transformation of over 2,000 recruits into US Marines.

Frankie Murraine is a Talent Acquisitions Partner as an HOH Fellow. Frankie was an Air Force Flight Engineer on a C-37A (Gulfstream V), a high-altitude, long-range business jet responsible for transporting high-ranking military members and Congressional Delegates. He was a functional expert with thorough knowledge & understanding of systems critical to the aircraft’s safe operation while in flight.

What were your biggest concerns transitioning from the military into the civilian workforce? And in that transition, what would you want hiring managers to be aware of when they interview veterans?

BEN: The biggest concern for me was making sure that what I do has a purpose. In the military, we’re so driven by the task that has a purpose, the bigger picture. Looking at all the jobs out there, there are not a lot of jobs with a clear purpose, a way to make the community or the place around you better. And that’s what drew me to renewable energy.

NICK: I completely agree – having a sense of purpose is key. For me, it was also important to make sure I could reintegrate with my family. I want a successful career, but I also want to be more present than I was able to be in the military. So that’s something that’s always at the forefront for me — my time and how can I be present in both a professional manner and also in my family.

FRANKIE: My concern was more of the cultural difference. Would I have been able to adjust to a less structured environment? In the Air Force, I never put my cell phone down. I get home on the weekends and after work and I’m expecting a phone call. Even at the end of the day, I was never done working. Moving into the civilian sectors – when it’s five o’clock, you’re done. So that was quite difficult for me.

CHARLIE: I’ll bring this back to the perspective of hiring managers or the company. Something that does come up is the fact that you know in the military you’re very used to having very clearly defined objectives and tasks because those are normally getting pushed down from the level above you, the level above that. As we’re transitioning into the civilian side, it’s important for hiring managers to recognize that experience, and it’s also important for us as veterans to get used to it a little bit more of the ambiguity. Sometimes, it’s being able to know the broader objective and figure out how to execute it without clear direction.

What are some lessons from your time in the service that you’ll apply in the civilian workforce? And what are the skills that you will rely on as you’re learning a new role and organization?

BEN: This is probably pretty obvious, but for veterans, work ethic is definitely one of our strong suits. Veterans just know how to work hard. I also developed a sense of loyalty and camaraderie, which I’m thrilled to see here at Clearway. It’s wonderful to be in a place where so many people want to help you succeed and bring you into the fold. One last thing is strong communication and collaboration with other people. I think it’s really great that Clearway is set up the way it is, how so many people talk to each other, and the structure almost feels flat when it comes to communication. It’s great to be a part of an organization where you’re not just a number.

CHARLIE: In one word, it’s adaptability. You must be adaptable in the military. Many times, you’re put into a position where you may not always know all of the information or background that you would have liked and you kind of have to figure it out. You have to go out, ask questions, and talk to subject matter experts.

Coming out of the military is almost like having a non-technical MBA. It’s not necessarily in the finance, accounting, or strategy type class work, but it is in a lot of hands-on learning in leadership and development, and strategic thinking.

NICK: Charlie said it well: it’s adaptability and flexibility. When I stepped into the door here at Clearway, it helped me to have a willingness to jump in and help out, regardless of whether or not I knew what was going on.

I also appreciate that no one felt like you were stepping on their toes or that your help was unwanted. At Clearway, there’s a team mindset to achieve whatever goal it was that we were trying to achieve for that day, that week, that month. On the flip side, we’re also leveraging our discipline. Veterans understand that as long as you’re putting in your effort and you’re doing your part, you’re going to succeed.

FRANKIE: Agreed with everything that’s been said. The military has taught us discipline and work ethic, and that’s how we approach every single task. We can stay focused on any assigned duties or tasks that we’re assigned, and we don’t leave that duty until it’s done.

In addition, adaptability and just resilience. We’re trained to adapt to changes and circumstances and just to persevere through all our challenges.

What’s the one piece of advice you could give to every hiring manager looking to hire a transitioning veteran?

CHARLIE: I think it’s important to know that the veteran’s experience is not going to line up exactly with what might be on the job requirement. So, I’d suggest taking that extra effort to understand that veteran’s skillsets and then figure out how they can adapt. And I’d recommend taking advantage of programs like Hiring Our Heroes. You can fill that role after three months of training fellows, which is plenty of time to really learn.

BEN: Agreed: I think it’s that willingness to learn and understand what a veteran candidate can do, even if they’ve never done it before. For most of us in the military, we’re used to learning. I went through a dozen different schools. I’m used to starting from the bottom and learning and working my way up. It’s something that I’m comfortable doing. So, recognize the service members who want to learn and are really eager to pick up a new skill, and that person will likely also have a great sense of enthusiasm and drive.

FRANKIE: My advice would be to make sure fellows know what they can get out of a program like this. This program and its networking opportunities are wonderful. I’ve also really benefited from mentorship opportunities and hope all hiring managers can help create those.

NICK: What I would say is that when you look at a veteran’s resume, whether they’re in logistics or infantry or something else, that’s really just a trade. But what you really need to understand is what they actually do in those roles. For most of us, we are leaders, we are advisors, we are mentors, we are programmers, and we are so much more than that. So talk to your veteran colleagues and get an understanding of what a service member’s day-to-day looks like. That’s what happened here at Clearway, and it was great.

More about Hiring Our Heroes at Clearway.

Hiring Our Heroes is sponsored by the Department of Defense’s SkillBridge program, which allows service members who are leaving the military to gain relevant industry exposure with civilian companies at no cost to the host company.

Clearway designed the Hiring Our Heroes program to also include:

1. Mentorship & Buddy Program: Each hiring manager dedicates professional development time. The VETRN EIG leads provide a feedback mechanism and career guidance. We’ll also assign a peer buddy for “ask me anything” type questions.
2. Launch Onboarding: In conjunction with the Launch program, fellows will be introduced to the renewables industry and Clearway’s various business lines, functions, and teams.
3. Professional Networking: Each fellow will be required to meet with every member of their own function or team, and that of 2-4 adjacent departments determined by the hiring manager.
4. Formal Learning & Training: Specific Learning Courses will be assigned by the hiring manager and required for satisfactory completion of the fellowship, whether on the corporate or technical track.

Clearway’s Hiring Our Heroes program is open to new applicants on a rolling basis. To learn more about the program, please email Kelley Ferantelli.

The post Hiring our Heroes: Bringing veterans into the clean energy industry appeared first on Clearway Energy.

When Clearway spun out as a standalone company in the fall of 2018, we got the rewarding opportunity to write the vision, mission, and values statements that would define who we would aim to be. For those of us involved in crafting them, writing these statements took on great meaning – even amidst the numerous critical requirements that had to be fulfilled for our spin-out to occur.

Even while many of us had been doing the work of the company that became Clearway for years…and had already built up the assets and capabilities that embodied the company on what would be its first day…we felt like we were getting the chance to state the purpose we’d had in our work clearly and completely – for the first time.

So when we got to do that, this is how we described our purpose: We envisioned a world powered by clean energy and would strive to be one of the most impactful companies who make it happen.

Today, as we celebrate our fifth anniversary, we’re humbled by the progress we’ve made as a company – and as an industry – in fulfilling that vision. Yet much of that success is also thanks to others – many of you – who have driven that momentum:

Our customers.

Ranging from household name brands and utilities to small businesses and co-ops, a whole broad spectrum of America’s energy buyers have contracted with Clearway projects to achieve clean energy objectives and receive reliable, low-cost power. Together, our customers offset 9 million metric tonnes of CO2 each year through their agreements with our projects.

Our hosts.

Numbering in thousands, the landowners and communities who host our projects provide perhaps the most invaluable contribution of all to our efforts by being at the center of the energy transition. We are proud to say we lease over one million acres in nearly 100 host counties, generating lease income for families and farms alike. And we’re also proud that we support those counties and their public services through the nearly $60 million in new annual tax revenue our projects provide to local hospitals, schools, and services.

Our project execution partners.

Construction firms, equipment manufacturers, and a large family of specialty businesses have continually adapted with us in dynamic market circumstances and yet have found a way to help us build projects across the country and implement new technology. With these partners, we made over $2.3 billion of capital investments last year through local businesses and are proud to be partnering with our equipment suppliers to increase their U.S. manufacturing presence in the years ahead.

Our financial supporters.

The banks and institutional lenders that value both strong relationships and sound investments in a competitive asset class and who have helped us raise over $5 billion in the last 12 months alone to fuel our growth – nearly four times more than we raised in our first year as Clearway. These supporters see Clearway as a stand-out sponsor and operator of projects in our industry and are rewarding our dedication with more fuel for growth.

And, our own people.

Our team of employees at Clearway, once measured in the hundreds at the time of our emergence, is now pushing towards 1,000 strong. They have taken our operating portfolio from 7.2 GW in 2018 to nearly 10 GW today; they have grown our nationwide pipeline of planned projects to nearly 30 GW; they have introduced new technologies like battery storage into our core business today; and they will drive the further adoption of emerging energy technologies at scale in the years ahead. They bring to their work diverse areas of functional expertise and hard-earned experience across many technologies in more than 37 states.

What they have in common – and is the core engine driving our success – is a shared sense of purpose and a drive to solve hard problems. They use many words to describe what they hold in common but a favorite I’ve heard is a shared mindset that responds to challenges with these words: “We can solve this.” And while there are so many things that make me proud of Clearway’s people and what they’ve built, the fact that this is a hallmark of ours is the thing of which I’m most proud. More than anything else, this mindset is what allowed us to build what we have so far, and it will enable our growth in the years ahead. It is the engine inside the engine we are.

That mindset is also crucial for the broader renewable industry.

While federal legislation has supercharged progress on domestic jobs, local investments, and is delivering affordable power, we now need to make those things tangible in the communities that stand to gain from our growth. Our industry will need to deliver benefits that become irrevocable features of American life in those communities. Our industry will have to pioneer a way to build at higher throughput than it ever has, overcoming more obstacles than it ever has, with more capital and more equipment than it’s ever needed.

Our industry will also need to work with regulators across multiple jurisdictions to solve our country’s problem of an aging grid and arcane permitting rules. Our industry will need to drive engagement from regulators to enable the build-out of modern transmission infrastructure to move power and reasonable timelines to develop. And our industry will need to work with policymakers and financial markets to preserve the policies that underpin investments and to expand the availability of financial products needed to fund all its construction.

We’re committed to helping resolve these challenges as we build our own business, and we welcome everyone with a stake in a clean energy future to do the same.

For many of us, our stake in that future is the next generation. So earlier this year, we invited some of the kids of our colleagues to tell us – in their own words – about who Clearway is, what their parents do, and what they think about the clean energy we make. You’ll see what they had to say at the link below.

For me, these kids are the “why” behind our vision of a world powered by clean energy. We are grateful as they cheer us on. We do what we do to make the world they’ll live in better. And we are proud of all that we did in these first five years as Clearway so that it will be.

Onward,

Craig Cornelius
Chief Executive Officer

The post Celebrating 5 years of Clearway (and a word from our kids) appeared first on Clearway Energy.

Community engagement must be present at every stage of a project: from development in the years leading up to construction, during the build, and through decades of operations.

This month, we interviewed three leaders from Clearway’s team who are creating the internal processes, operating principles, and programs for community engagement. Julia Zuckerman is head of external affairs in the west, Callie Dayton is a manager in the east, and Amelia Houser supports all onsite operations across 26 states.

Why is community engagement so important right now? Why does it come up so much in the context of large-scale energy projects?

Julia – The increasing pace of project development across the country, particularly with the Inflation Reduction Act, means that more people are encountering renewable energy projects in their local communities. As the renewable energy industry matures, everyone will naturally have higher expectations.

Clearway, and the broader renewable industry, have established a track record of reliability and longevity, and now there is a growing expectation for us to be responsible, productive, and active neighbors. Community engagement means working with and not just in site communities, and it is a natural progression as the industry matures.

Callie – Growing up in a small community, when there was talk of a new company or industry coming to town, it was a big deal. After having some bad business deals come to West Virginia that promised so much and offered so little, communities like the place I grew up can be hesitant when companies come knocking.

The IRA and its included equity provisions are going to dramatically increase the number of new energy projects targeting smaller communities, meaning it’s more important than ever that those companies contribute to the local economy and provide good job opportunities.

Can you describe how Clearway’s community engagement typically tracks and evolves with the lifecycle of new projects/sites?

Callie – Utility-scale projects have a pretty set timeline. Typically we think about these projects in three stages: project development, construction, and operation.

The project development and construction phases of the project are often dedicated to information sharing, public awareness campaigns, and addressing potential concerns. Whether it’s through a local advocacy campaign, or hosting a local event with the school district or first responders, we want to be the first ones telling residents about the new project and its potential benefits for the community.

Amelia – As the project progresses into the operations phase, the focus shifts towards deepening relationships with the community. We aim to provide value to the community by investing in local infrastructure and being actively involved in schools, civic activities, and supporting local organizations.

Can you tell us more about the Adopt-A-School program and the community engagement framework it builds upon?

Amelia – The Adopt-A-School program was built on a “Build-Teach-Do” framework for working with local schools.

Build: We actively engage with schools through projects such as painting, landscaping, and brick and mortar improvements. By enhancing the school environment, Clearway fosters a sense of pride and ownership within the community.

Teach: Through partnerships with educational organizations like Engineering Tomorrow, KidWind, and Blue Planet Foundation, Clearway offers teachers and students access to comprehensive content about renewable energy. We also offer internships at some of our operating sites that provide college students with firsthand experience in the renewable energy industry.

Do: The third pillar encourages active involvement and participation from Clearway’s operating sites. Clearway encourages site teams to actively contribute to local causes. Additionally, Clearway facilitates site tours, allowing students to experience wind and solar farms firsthand. These tours provide a unique and memorable learning experience that brings renewable energy to life. Through the Adopt-A-School program, Clearway also supports workshops, sponsors science fairs, and even caters events at schools.

What is often missing from the conversation about community engagement as a good business practice?

Callie – It’s really important to meet early and often with local communities. In addition, walking the walk when it comes to keeping our footprint as low as possible. Ultimately, addressing environmental and community concerns as early as possible is good business because it gives Clearway credibility as a transparent and responsible organization.

Julia – One key factor is the recognition that our industry’s growth and success depend on public support. As we develop projects in communities, we become the face of renewable energy in those areas. It becomes our responsibility to shape people’s perceptions and experiences.

By ensuring that communities have positive interactions with renewable energy projects, we have the potential to turn individuals into ambassadors and advocates for these investments. Hearing positive stories from others who have benefited from previous projects is far more powerful than hearing from us. This approach not only sets the stage for future projects and growth but also strengthens our company’s position and the industry as a whole. Ultimately, I envision a future where community engagement becomes a driving force behind the growth and success of renewable energy.

What are Clearway’s future plans as they relate to Community Engagement?

Julia – We are now in the process of building out a company-specific community engagement framework and accompanying set of long-term goals. We are continuing to work towards our short-term goal of establishing Adopt-A-School programs and community engagement plans at all utility-scale project sites by 2025.

We want to ensure that all of our employees have the skills that are required for effective community engagement. We appreciate the opportunity to work with so many communities across the country and look forward to finding new ways to integrate ourselves in local development initiatives.

Julia

Julia Zuckerman is the Head of External Affairs for the West Region at Clearway Energy Group. In this role, Julia engages policy makers and regulators across the western states and internally ensures that community engagement practices are consistent across operating sites. Her focus is to highlight the local impact of renewable energy projects, address community concerns, promote community benefits, and ensure that each project develops a strong and lasting relationship with its surrounding community.

Callie

Callie Dayton is the External Affairs Manager for the East Region at Clearway Energy Group. In this role, Callie collaborates with local sites in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and West Virginia. Her focus is to ensure that Clearway acts as a good corporate partner, supporting community benefit funds and local events, and actively participating in initiatives like the Adopt-A-School program. As a West Virginia native, Callie understands the importance of community engagement by energy groups in energy states.

Amelia

Amelia Houser is an executive assistant to John Martinez, Senior Vice President of Operations at Clearway. Amelia has worked at Clearway for five years, previously holding the position of a Site Administrator at Clearway’s Scottsdale Office. In her current role, she supports Clearway’s operations team including plant managers, engineering, procurement, safety, and environmental departments, in an administrative capacity. Working with operations on the ground, Amelia often works on the implementation of community engagement initiatives at operating sites, most notably the Adopt-A-School program.

The post Putting neighbors first: Why the clean energy industry must invest in community engagement appeared first on Clearway Energy.

In late May, on the heels of a record-breaking year of interconnection requests from energy developers, Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) announced it would delay opening its new 2023 application window for proposed energy projects while quickly developing reforms to reduce the number of projects entering the queue. Then on June 21, with no advance notice, MISO announced a freeze on accepting new requests to connect to its grid.

Instead of rushing through queue reforms with little time for input from market participants, MISO should initiate a thorough stakeholder process to work through solutions that get to the heart of the problem. One clear solution: reform the interconnection process by studying the right things in the right context – enabling faster more accurate results while maintaining reliability and competition.

A high volume of interconnection requests signals a healthy competitive market

MISO has had a blockbuster year, notching 171 GW of new interconnection requests in 2022. This is a strong demonstration of commercial interest and a sign of a healthy and competitive market. This high number of interconnection requests, in and of itself, is not a problem.

The problem with the current queue process, which is paralyzed under this large volume, lies in the way MISO evaluates these new project proposals. The way that MISO currently studies projects in the queue takes far too much time and resources and produces study scenarios that will never happen.

Placing arbitrary restrictions on new generation projects will not solve the problem and distracts from meaningful reforms

MISO’s reaction to its large queue has been laser-focused on measures that aim to make it harder to enter and remain in the queue, such as increasing financial deposit requirements. Similar recent reforms in MISO have shown that this is unlikely to reduce volume: market forces will continue to drive robust competition to build clean energy projects. In the absence of transparent information regarding the cost to interconnect, generation developers will be forced to continue to ‘pay to play’ by entering the queue.

Capping the volume of projects that can enter a queue cycle does not solve the reality that many developers are entering more projects into the queue than they intend to build simply to obtain interconnection cost information, and thus MISO will still be spending time thoroughly studying projects that will not advance. Capping the size of queue cycles also creates a new problem, which is how to decide which projects are selected for a given cycle. Selecting project applications because they arrive seconds before the next one is highly arbitrary and does little to help advance the best projects. There is no good answer to this project selection question, and discussion on this topic is distracting from more meaningful reforms.

One Proposed Approach: Study projects for the proper level of service

So how do we get to a durable solution? MISO should start by creating space in its stakeholder process to reimagine how its interconnection studies work.

A quick primer on levels of interconnection service

Energy-only interconnection service, often termed Energy Resource Interconnection Service (ERIS), is the minimum level of service that all generators must have in order to connect to the grid. It allows a generator to provide energy to the grid when there is space (“capacity”) available on the transmission lines for that power to flow. A generator with this energy-only service is not guaranteed to be able to use the transmission system at all times and could be forced to reduce its output at times when the transmission system is constrained to maintain system reliability. When planners study proposed projects for energy-only interconnection service, they should be identifying what transmission system upgrades are needed to provide that level of interconnection service only.

Capacity interconnection service, often termed Network Resource Interconnection Service (NRIS), or “full deliverability,” is a higher, incremental level of service that builds on ERIS and ensures that a generator will be able to transmit its power reliably to customers, particularly at times of peak electricity demand. When grid operators study proposed projects for this full deliverability, they are identifying what transmission system upgrades are needed to ensure generators can be deliverable to the load (customers) through the transmission system at those peak times.

MISO currently studies all projects entering the queue as if they’re seeking deliverability (NRIS), which is why the studies take too long and produce unrealistic results. There are more projects entering the queue than needed to serve the peak load in the MISO region, so MISO is studying scenarios that will never happen.

This is not a good use of time and precious resources. But by focusing on an ‘as-available’ ERIS study framework first, MISO can achieve faster and more accurate study results for the large volume of projects entering the queue.

All projects need ERIS, but not all will need NRIS. That’s because some customers (like corporate buyers) are most interested in buying Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs), while their capacity needs are met elsewhere. So, after receiving ERIS study results and interconnection costs, generation developers can start to identify customers that need fully deliverable projects. Once those commercial arrangements are made, a much smaller pool of projects will then seek full deliverability (through additional NRIS studies). Meanwhile, for ERIS-only projects, developers can finish the interconnection process.

In parallel, MISO’s transmission planning process is proactively building transmission needed to support full deliverability for the subset of new projects that need it. To access that higher level of NRIS interconnection service, project owners must demonstrate they meet more stringent criteria (e.g., a commercial arrangement with a utility). Projects meeting the criteria would be allocated that higher level of interconnection service on a first-ready, first-served basis.

This straw-man proposal is not a scheme for generators to avoid paying for the larger system upgrades needed for full deliverability. We, as generators, should be willing to contribute to the cost of these more optimally planned upgrades in concert with a more streamlined, efficient, and reliable interconnection study process. Ultimately, this type of framework will result in a more efficient, lower cost grid for all customers.

The post The Fix for Overloaded Interconnection Queues? More Durable and Holistic Study Reform is Essential appeared first on Clearway Energy.

Can you explain what ESG is and how it’s evolved as a business practice?

ESG refers to a group of metrics used to measure how sustainability practices create value for businesses and stakeholders, especially investors. ESG as a practice emerged a few years ago when investors were looking for a more tangible way to measure the financial value that can be gained through sustainability practices. ESG shows us that when companies are intentional about treating the environment, employees, and our communities with respect and grace, it has positive business outcomes.

ESG practices have been under attack recently and there are efforts across the country to bar companies from considering ESG factors in investing. What’s the deal?

We’re seeing attacks on ESG practices happening in real time. Just recently a group of attorneys general from 17 states filed a motion with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to dispute BlackRock’s ability to use shareholder voting power to influence how utilities operate by reducing reliance on fossil fuels and cutting harmful emissions. BlackRock is the world’s largest asset manager and the fact that they’re measuring climate change as a risk shows the importance of ESG to bottom-line decisions.

What ESG’s detractors don’t acknowledge is that failing to measure environmental, social, and governance metrics is simply short-sighted business planning – preventing investors and others from getting information about how companies are managing risk and compliance. For example, by accounting for greenhouse gas emissions and conducting climate analyses, companies can better manage risk and reduce costs associated with unexpected weather events caused by climate change. The American Meteorological Society recently collaborated with Fortune 500 companies to conduct a comprehensive assessment of climate change risks and opportunities in an attempt to more effectively communicate climate risks to the private sector. From a business perspective, this is like planning for any other risk. Major energy operations around the world account for risks like terrorist attacks or severe weather events like hurricanes, so why would we treat climate risks any differently?

In the energy sector, we’ve already seen the financial impact of severe weather events on operations. Here at Clearway, we are in the process of working these events into our forecasting to mitigate financial losses and disruptions to our operations. By factoring in the impact of a changing climate, we can better prepare for unprecedented weather events and reduce the financial burden of damages caused by them. So, ESG reporting provides tangible and fact-based information that investors and others can use to make informed decisions.

What would you say about why ESG is actually good business?

In addition to providing information about risk management and compliance, ESG reporting presents a unique opportunity for businesses to drive innovation and create value. For example, some innovative energy startups are pioneering new and efficient ways to recycle or repurpose old wind turbines, solar panels, and batteries. Equipment recycling is a huge priority for the renewable energy sector because it’s part of our cradle-to-cradle mandate, and new businesses are emerging all over the country that are dedicated to helping us figure it out. ESG drives innovation, creates value, and helps companies to gain a competitive advantage in the market.

How does Clearway prioritize ESG within its other corporate goals?

For Clearway, ESG is essential as it aligns with the company’s values and goals. I’m proud to work for a company committed to providing reliable and sustainable energy while maintaining its focus on transparency and accountability. By integrating ESG practices into the company’s operations, we’re helping show long-term value for stakeholders while minimizing our impact on the environment.

And when it comes to prioritizing ESG, we take a holistic approach. It not only helps us mitigate risks, but also attracts and retains talent and creates long-term value for our shareholders. By addressing environmental, social, and governance issues, we’re able to build a more resilient business that is better equipped to withstand challenges and capitalize on opportunities. Additionally, as a renewable energy company that is committed to sustainability, ESG is simply part of who we are and what we stand for. It’s not something that we see as an afterthought or a box to check, but rather a core part of our business strategy.

What’s something that’s not getting enough attention in the ESG space?

While climate change and emissions are often at the forefront of ESG discussions, we are very focused on biodiversity and regenerative development. This means we’re aligning our development activities with the regenerative capacity of the surrounding environment with practices like waste reduction and ecosystem restoration to promote biodiversity.

Clearway, however, has been extremely proactive on these issues. We are excited to roll out our forthcoming roadmap to promote regenerative development and biodiversity across our fleet. We also recently launched a regenerative development program that involves partnering with Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and experts to minimize and mitigate environmental impact during the project development phase and promote biodiversity in existing sites. It includes a toolbox to understand which approach works best for each site since different sites have different environments that require unique solutions.

What’s next for ESG at Clearway?

We’re currently working on a five-year ESG roadmap that outlines our priorities in six key areas: climate change and climate resilience, regenerative development, circular economy or waste life management, human rights, corporate citizenship or social responsibility, and supplier sustainability. Each of our ESG priorities is directly tied to business outcomes:

• Reliability and Resiliency of Electric Supply: Our focus on climate strategy and resilience and adaptation helps ensure that our operations can continue providing power in the face of extreme weather events and help us avoid costly disruptions.
• Environmental Impact: Our work on regenerative development and circular economy helps us minimize our local impact while creating societal and environmental returns.
• Strong Supply Chains: Our commitment to human rights, corporate citizenship, and supplier sustainability helps us build stronger relationships with our employees, suppliers, local communities, and other stakeholders while promoting fair and ethical business practices.

To learn more about our ESG goals, progress, and priorities, I encourage everyone to check out our 2022 ESG report.

The post “A Core Business Strategy”: Why ESG is Essential to the Bottom Line appeared first on Clearway Energy.

The reason is simple: our transmission infrastructure was built in the early and mid-twentieth century to deliver energy from centralized generators to concentrated load pockets – cities, towns, and industrial centers. It was designed simply to provide for reliable operation of the central generation.

At the time, that central generation power came from nuclear and fossil fuels, so early transmission planning didn’t necessarily account for where there are abundant wind and solar resources. Early integration of renewable energy allowed developers to site these resources along the existing transmission system and make use of underutilized transmission capacity at minimal cost. Those optimal siting opportunities are no longer plentiful and, in most markets, entirely unavailable.

Yet federal and state carbon reduction goals are clear: we need significantly more renewable energy to help decarbonize our electric grid and address climate change. The challenge is that renewable energy – specifically places with the most abundant solar and wind resources – are primarily far from where old centralized generators are located and often far from load centers.

What are the big opportunities at the federal, regional, and state-level to address those barriers?

At a high level, transmission planning needs to be completely reimagined.

FERC’s transmission planning NOPR (notice of proposed rulemaking) is one such opportunity already underway. The interconnection study process is generally ill-equipped to enable generators to shoulder the cost of major transmission upgrades given the capital-intensive nature of these upgrades, the dependency on other interconnection customers, and the risk of getting the transmission built by the time the generator needs to interconnect to the grid.

Having a more integrated transmission and generation planning process will have two major benefits:

1. It will lower ratepayer impact by ensuring the right sets of transmission upgrades are selected and built to serve both the generators and customers receiving the energy. All too often, the upgrades that individual interconnection customers trigger are simply to address the individual or clustered interconnection requests and don’t consider future needs of generation and load expansion
2. More proactive transmission planning and construction will provide more timing certainty and allow energy developers to deploy energy quicker and more efficiently

The FERC’s Transmission Planning and Generation Interconnection NOPR and upcoming rulemaking should improve the overall process. However, it will require states, regional, and inter-regional transmission planners to appropriately identify the full and expanded range of economic, reliability, and societal benefits of transmission and generation expansion. That’s a lot of hands in the kitchen and a lot of ingredients to consider.

Once planning has been improved, there will need to be changes to the way and speed these transmission projects are permitted. Regional and inter-regional transmission projects often cross multiple permitting state and federal agencies, which can impede project approval in the planning process and ultimately prohibit construction. It’s clear that an expedited permitting process is essential to ensuring necessary transmission upgrades are placed in service.

Any good news on this front? Are there models today that others can replicate?

There are positive signs in regions like MISO and CAISO where there have been recent improvements in the planning process. Those regions are looking farther into the future and developing various resource portfolios to evaluate what transmission upgrades are required. Significant capacity-enabling upgrades are being approved and permitted to facilitate new renewable energy deployment. This is an example where clear state and federal policy can start to restructure the national transmission system to learn from the past and build the grid of the future.

What about Federal legislation? Are there legislative proposals to help address the need for additional transmission?

There are bills pending in both the House and Senate that seek to resolve issues with energy project permitting challenges. One part of this discussion is to address several aspects of transmission build-out, including how the costs of the transmission lines are allocated (how they are paid for), and jurisdictional oversight to ensure that regional projects covering multiple states can move forward. Portions of the permitting bills have bipartisan support in both the House and Senate. It is likely that some compromise version emerges over the next several months. The transmission sections are among the most controversial and may or may not be included in the final bill.

The post The Next Big Thing: Why new transmission is vital for a resilient energy future appeared first on Clearway Energy.

At Clearway, helping our customers achieve their clean energy goals is a top priority, and we are deeply engaged on multiple fronts to ensure we continue to deliver on our obligations and commitments. When helping our customers strategize about ways to meet their renewable energy goals in a challenged market, we propose advanced projects with reduced risk of delays through our established relationships with top-tier equipment suppliers or through unique opportunities such as the repowering existing facilities. We also have a robust pipeline of early-to-intermediate stage projects with commercial operation dates that will benefit from the domestic supply of equipment, driving down risk and taking advantage of bonus tax credits.

Specifically, we’re positioning ourselves to deliver value by pursuing tax credits for projects that source equipment from domestic manufacturers for projects beyond 2025. Earlier this year Clearway took a leadership role in creating the Solar Buyers Consortium, and we are exploring similar strategies for other technologies.

Developing domestic manufacturing capacity will take time. In the near term, the investments we have made in establishing strong relationships with top-tier equipment suppliers are bearing fruit and enabling us to continue to bring new generations online. In a similar vein, our commitment to traceability and factory inspections – combined with the fact that we’ve renegotiated our supply contracts to avoid exposure under the Uighur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) – have kept us on solid footing amidst regulatory uncertainty. Nevertheless, global markets continue to grow ever more complex, and we actively monitor commodity and logistics risks to help protect our customers from price swings and supply chain upsets.

Our customers can have confidence in our robust, multi-technology pipeline that spans 24 states, and our commitment to developing long-term partnerships based on contract structures that are designed to balance risk with reward and reduce transaction costs.

Sustainability is about focusing on the long term and is a deeply held value at Clearway. We help our customers achieve their ESG targets by delivering clean energy solutions while upholding our own commitments to ESG and DEI while supporting local, environmentally aware, diverse, and small businesses through our Clearway LEADS policy, and contributing to the economic and social vitality of the communities that host our projects.

Ultimately, being a good corporate citizen is our most fundamental value. As we work to help shape the future of our industry through leadership roles in key trade associations, we also strive to be good stewards of the environment, good neighbors, and to cultivate a trustworthy reputation in the communities where we live and work. We believe that these values will ensure the sustainability of our company while advancing the clean energy transition that will transform our world.

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While exciting, the bill’s potential won’t be realized if renewable energy developers can’t get their hands on the equipment necessary to build wind, solar, and energy storage installations. A case in point is the solar industry, which has been dramatically impacted by trade issues, tariff restrictions, and supply chain difficulties related to solar panels since early 2021, constraints that have created industry-wide disruption and caused the delay or cancellation of many gigawatts (GW) of US solar projects. Many factors contributed to this difficult situation, but one thing is clear: our lack of domestic manufacturing capacity proved highly problematic.

To address this challenge and lay the groundwork for a more sustainable clean energy future, in June, we announced that we joined forces with four other companies to form a solar buying consortium (the US Solar Buyers Consortium, or USBC) that will purchase more than 6 GW of crystalline silicon solar modules annually to encourage the rapid scaling of domestic solar manufacturing in the US.

By making long-term commitments to purchase domestically produced modules, the USBC is delivering a key driver necessary to stimulate investment in domestic manufacturing infrastructure. We anticipate that others in the industry will follow our lead and make similar commitments, supporting the development of a strong domestic solar supply chain that will create lasting resiliency and alleviate constraints faced by the industry today.

In addition, we estimate that the USBC’s $6 billion investment will help spur thousands of well-paying US manufacturing jobs. Some reports predict that the IRA could create nearly 10 million new clean energy jobs in the US, with approximately one million of those coming from advanced manufacturing. Within the solar industry, it’s estimated that the IRA has the potential to create over 250,000 new permanent solar jobs in the US by 2035 – for reference, there were 103,000 total jobs in the solar industry in 2010, and by 2035, the total number is expected to exceed 500,000.

For these reasons, we believe that the USBC represents an important step toward America’s clean energy independence. First and foremost, it will help ensure that Clearway can continue to provide affordable renewable energy to our customers. It will also give us greater control over our supply chain and allow us to have confidence that the materials and equipment we use are produced in an ethical, humanitarian manner that is consistent with our values and upholds our commitments to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) principles.

America’s domestic manufacturing will be supported by provisions in the IRA that incentivize the use of domestically sourced materials and equipment. At present, only about 3% of solar panels installed in the US were produced domestically. With the new incentives, it’s not inconceivable that the US could produce 30-40 GW of solar panels per year by 2030.

Of course, supply chains can’t be created overnight, and no magic wand exists to alter the geographic locations in which raw materials are found. As such, purchasing modules made in the US will necessarily require using materials and components from upstream sources outside the US. While unavoidable, this underscores the importance and value of our work to establish secure, legitimate long-term sourcing contracts.

While the consortium is focused on solar manufacturing, wind and energy storage are also critical in reinventing the US energy sector and decarbonizing our economy. We are working proactively to secure our supply chains for both technologies, efforts that include evaluating opportunities to enhance and expand domestic manufacturing capacity in these sectors.

The IRA heralds the beginning of a new era for the US energy and manufacturing sectors, but it is only the beginning. Fulfilling the potential envisioned by the IRA will require a tremendous amount of work, and at Clearway we are committed to doing our part to help lead the clean energy industry toward a more sustainable future.

The post Driving Investment and Job Creation with Domestic Advanced Manufacturing appeared first on Clearway Energy.

As outlined in our 2020 ESG Report, our DEI program is focused on three core areas: People, Products and Purchasing. These core areas are evolving via a four-pronged framework that ensures concurrent progress in our metrics, processes, educational initiatives, and the programmatic elements that we’re putting into place to support long-term success in each of the three areas.

Our leadership’s commitment to supporting this holistic approach is one of the ways in which Clearway differentiates itself as a company. There are too many organizations that emphasize education and programs without building the metrics and processes that undergird long-term success. DEI initiatives must be tracked, measured, and deeply embedded in our organizational processes to ensure that they deliver real, long-term results.

With support from employees across all levels of the company, Clearway has made significant strides in its DEI work over the last 18 months. We grew our network of Employee Inclusion Groups to seven, and they meet regularly to discuss matters of interest to their members. These groups are having meaningful impacts throughout the Clearway enterprise, not only by advocating for programs and policies that will support their constituents and colleagues alike, but also by piloting and providing input on various initiatives before we take them organization-wide.

For example, in 2021 our Women’s Inclusion Group piloted a mentorship program that used a survey to pair participants based on where they were in their career and how they wished to develop professionally. The five-month pilot was extraordinarily successful and received a 98% satisfaction rating. Perhaps more importantly, it also offered insights as to where we might shore up resources to expand this program more broadly across Clearway, including providing more support for mentors. A six-month mentorship program will be launched company-wide in 2022 and will seek to match people across functions, to develop, network and grow across the organization and break down silos.

We also introduced our “Onboarding Buddy” program, which is comprised of volunteers from our EIGs and administered our Allies Inclusion Group. The program helps bring new employees into the organization in an inclusive way and gets them plugged in to a supportive community – which is particularly important in today’s virtual environment when we’re not passing one another in the hallways. A key benefit of this program pertains to retention – research has shown that people make decisions about whether they see themselves having a long-term future with an organization within the first 60-90 days of employment, so helping new team members feel like they belong in the critical early days is very important to us.

Another major initiative launched in 2021 is the establishment of our Sustainable Supply Chain policy, including our supplier diversity policy and standards. Data collected from our suppliers allowed us to determine that a significant percentage of our vendors are small and/or diverse-owned businesses. However, a defining characteristic of the equipment-intensive renewable energy industry is that a high percentage (~80%) of our expenditures by dollar amount are made to a very small number of suppliers.

Ways in which we’re using this information to create a more sustainable supply chain include:

• Encouraging our vendors to hire from small, local, diverse-owned organizations in the communities where we do business
• Providing our vendors tools to make it easier for them to get third-party certified as diverse-owned organizations if they have not already done so
• Providing advantageous payment terms to our smaller suppliers to help them manage cash flow

In 2022, we will continue our efforts to make Clearway more resilient and responsive to the needs of its key stakeholders, including investing in talent development and training for managers to foster more inclusive behaviors and effective leadership. We’re excited about the progress we’ve made on DEI issues thus far and look forward to advancing our achievements related to this vital aspect of sustainability.

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