One mega wind project’s 17-year odyssey

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Nov 28, 2023 View in browser   By Joel Kirkland and Christian Robles Presented by Chevron John Podesta, a senior adviser to President Joe Biden, delivers remarks at the White House Conservation in Action Summit at the Interior Department on March 21 in Washington. | Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images An uncomfortable reality bedevils the Biden administration: U.S. climate goals are almost certainly out of reach if the electric grid can’t deliver more wind and solar power to American cities. Confronting that challenge for President Joe Biden is John Podesta, a power player in Democratic circles, writes Peter Behr. For much of the past year, he’s pressed members of Biden’s Cabinet, including Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, to clear away federal hurdles to electric transmission projects that would deliver renewable energy across multiple states. The White House pulled Podesta, now 74, out of retirement to attack the backlog of stalled grid projects — many knotted up by a decade or more of delays. One of those projects, SunZia Wind and Transmission, was originally conceived 17 years ago. The project would ship wind power from nearly 1,000 turbines to be built in central New Mexico to an area just south of energy-hungry Phoenix. “Oh, my God,” Podesta recalled blurting out. “We’ve gotten nowhere on that?” It was a jarring flashback to Podesta’s time as then-President Barack Obama’s energy counselor. Shepherding SunZia through the labyrinth of state and local permits had been a priority even back then, Podesta told Pete. SunZia had faced critics from birders to tribes to the U.S. Army. In all of those cases, careful negotiations and compromises were able to drag the project closer to the starting gate. With a final push from Podesta and Haaland, Interior’s Bureau of Land Management gave SunZia the green light in May to start building on federal land. A test for Biden The $9 billion, 550-mile power line is expecting to deliver more than 3,500 megawatts to sprawling metro areas in the Southwest by 2026. The White House says SunZia was an opening move in its efforts to sort out the nation’s electricity infrastructure problems. The administration is speeding deployment of more than $30 billion in support for the grid in the 2021 infrastructure law and the Inflation Reduction Act, Biden’s signature climate law. With so much push and pull around Biden’s climate policy — Republicans criticizing federal spending on clean energy as some on the left demand faster action — SunZia stood as a test of what the administration could deliver. But crucial lessons can be learned from SunZia’s nearly two-decade odyssey, according to people such as Podesta and Hunter Armistead, chief executive of Pattern Energy, SunZia’s San Francisco-based project developer.   It's Tuesday — thank you for tuning in to POLITICO's Power Switch. I'm your host, Joel Kirkland, with help from Christian Robles. Power Switch is brought to you by the journalists behind E&E News and POLITICO Energy. Send your tips, comments, questions to jkirkland@eenews.net.   A message from Chevron: Progress means moving toward a lower carbon future. We’re producing renewable fuels that are lower carbon to work in engines on the road now.   Listen to today’s POLITICO Energy podcast Today in POLITICO Energy’s podcast: Ben Lefebvre breaks down how companies are starting to keep quiet about their climate and sustainability goals in what's being called greenhushing.   GET A BACKSTAGE PASS TO COP28 WITH GLOBAL PLAYBOOK: Get insider access to the conference that sets the tone of the global climate agenda with POLITICO's Global Playbook newsletter. Authored by Suzanne Lynch, Global Playbook delivers exclusive, daily insights and comprehensive coverage that will keep you informed about the most crucial climate summit of the year. Dive deep into the critical discussions and developments at COP28 from Nov. 30 to Dec. 12. SUBSCRIBE NOW.     Power Centers Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.) opposed the CHIPS and Science Act but has extolled funding for a Miami-Dade County resilience effort. | Rebecca Blackwell/AP These Republicans cheer CHIPS Act spending. They didn't vote for it. Ten Republicans who voted against the CHIPS and Science Act are now praising the bill’s support for tech hubs, many of which work on energy and environment issues, writes Emma Dumain. Several Republicans explained that they voted against the bill for reasons ranging from concerns about subsidizing foreign semiconductor manufacturing to the law’s broad scope. Democrats view Republican support for CHIPS and Science Act spending as hypocritical and are targeting swing-district Republicans for voting against the law. Previously, congressional Republicans have heralded spending from the Inflation Reduction Act and bipartisan infrastructure law, despite not voting for the bills. Ørsted executive opens up about offshore wind struggles It hasn’t been a good year for offshore wind developer Ørsted. The company’s U.S. portfolio dropped by $4 billion after canceling two New Jersey projects earlier this month and its stock price has lost more than half its value since the start of the year, writes Benjamin Storrow. In an exclusive interview with POLITICO's E&E News, David Hardy, the CEO of American operations for Ørsted, says his company may have been “too optimistic” about the offshore wind industry. Hardy also discusses his company’s talks with the Biden administration, the impact of high-interest rates on the economics of the offshore wind industry and more. Amid budget crisis, Germany must make green investments, chancellor says German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said his government will still “invest heavily” in the green transition of the nation’s economy but offered no specifics for how his coalition would pay for it amid a budget crisis that has hampered the government’s ability to spend, writes Hans von der Burchard. An estimated €20 billion gap in next year's budget means subsidies meant to accelerate the green transition such as one to help steel plants convert to hydrogen energy are in doubt.   A message from Chevron:   In Other News Kentucky solar: A grant application looks to leverage funds from the Inflation Reduction Act’s $7 billion Solar for All competition to bring solar to Kentucky’s coal country and save residents hundreds on their utility bills. Sick pope: Pope Francis canceled a trip to Dubai for COP28 on doctor's orders, even though he is recovering from the flu and lung inflammation, according to the Vatican. Flood resilience: Heritage Foundation for Pakistan, a group started in 1980 to preserve the country’s architecture, has built thousands of bamboo structures resistant to flooding with no plans of slowing down construction.   A message from Chevron: Our partnerships enable us to make a bigger impact on the lifecycle carbon intensity of the transportation industry. Working with agriculture, transportation, and other allies, we’re aiming to continue scaling lower carbon intensity fuels. We’re also developing strong value chains to help keep producing renewable fuel solutions using a variety of feedstocks such as plant byproducts and cow manure. Taking these steps bring us closer to our target production capacity of 100,000 barrels of renewable fuels per day by 2030. Driving the world forward today, while forging new roads to the future. That’s energy in progress.   Subscriber Zone A showcase of some of our best subscriber content. A driver charges his electric vehicle at a charging station in Monterey Park, California, on Aug. 31, 2022. | Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images A $7.5 Biden administration program to install electric vehicle charging stations has yet to place a single charger, a revelation that could undermine the president's reelection messaging. The administration announced $275 million to transform former coal plants and mines into sites that can produce wind turbines, critical minerals and electric vehicle batteries. A former director of the Bureau of Land Management, Neil Kornze, has left his post as chief of staff for Colorado Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet to work for government relations firm Cassidy & Associates. That's it for today, folks! Thanks for reading.   SUBSCRIBE TO CALIFORNIA CLIMATE: Climate change isn’t just about the weather. It's also about how we do business and create new policies, especially in California. So we have something cool for you: A brand-new California Climate newsletter. It's not just climate or science chat, it's your daily cheat sheet to understanding how the legislative landscape around climate change is shaking up industries across the Golden State. Subscribe now to California Climate to keep up with the changes.       Follow us on Twitter Arianna Skibell @ariannaskibell   Follow us

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