Coastal Louisiana is at risk from the climate changes caused by global warming. Among the challenges our area will face are stronger storms and rising sea levels. To preserve our culture and economy, the Alliance for Affordable Energy is working to develop policy solutions that will decrease global warming pollution. We also know that Louisiana has the opportunity to transition from an “energy state” to a clean energy leader and transform our energy sector.
Clean energy is also the lowest-cost power around. Solar and wind energy are the cheapest energy in history, and energy storage is an increasingly vital tool. Renewable energy is also a stabilizing factor when the costs of fossil fuels become volatile on a local or global scale. By demanding clean energy, we can prevent the worst impacts of global warming, get electricity costs under control, and secure our future.
Clean energy is the lowest cost power around. The Alliance works diligently with regulators, utilities, and solar companies to ensure your right to rooftop solar. Utilities nationwide are fighting against fair credit for the electricity that solar customers put on the grid. We want to see your investment in clean solar energy reduce your bills.
The Alliance was successful in helping craft rules that allow communities in New Orleans to invest in and share community-owned renewables projects. The rules include carve-outs to ensure low-income customers have access to this solar resource, with virtual net energy metering to ensure a reduction in their energy bills.
Unfortunately, at the state level, we have seen major changes in policies that gutted residential solar across Louisiana. The Alliance was adamantly opposed to these changes to net metering as they undermine the investments of residential solar customers and decimate LA’s residential solar economy.
The clean energy sector is the fastest-growing job market in the country and includes so many jobs that require the same skills the fossil energy industry has relied on in our region. Electricians, pipe-fitters, construction workers, shipbuilders, and others will see new opportunities open up as we transition to clean energy. Just to transition our homes to more efficiently use electricity, Louisiana will need thousands of skilled technicians to design, install, and maintain HVAC systems.
We see a just clean energy transition as one that doesn’t leave communities behind and creates good jobs for those who have been harmed by the old fossil economy.
If you care about climate justice, then understanding why our electricity grid needs to transform is vital, particularly here in the Gulf South, where climate change so severely threatens our communities.
The bulk power system – the large transmission poles and wires that carry electricity long distances – provides almost 100% of our power and is in need of updates and modernization. Today’s grid can be transformed to bring on renewable energy locally and regionally rather than preventing access to it – which is what happens now.
The Alliance and many other organizations work with regulatory bodies to encourage equitable transmission planning. An equitable, well-planned, modern transmission system will lower consumer costs, increase resilience, and allow us to retire polluting fossil fuel plants.
Thomas Edison is the father of our current energy production systems: monopoly energy companies with large centralized power plants owning lines that connect to every home and business in their jurisdiction. At the turn of the last century, energy was produced by burning coal, and it was a very dirty process. These plants had to be located away from population centers. In the 21st century, we have better choices. The Alliance is working to “decentralize” electricity production and put the power in the hands of people.
Distributed generation refers to a variety of technologies that generate electricity at or near where it will be used, such as solar panels. The Alliance is working tirelessly to protect Louisiana citizens’ rights to invest in energy independence, lower their bills, and decrease their carbon footprint.
The Alliance is working to ensure that Louisiana families benefit from clean sources of energy. No one wants to live next to a dirty power plant, or be subjected to volatile energy prices. A renewable portfolio standard (RPS) is a regulatory tool that requires utilities to meet increasing shares of their power supply using qualified clean energy resources. An RPS has proven to be the best way to bolster local investment in clean energy production and give citizens better energy choices.
In 2018, The Alliance joined forces with 30 local organizations to ask the City Council in New Orleans to open an RPS docket. In 2019 the docket was opened and the work began. On May 20, 2021, the full New Orleans City Council unanimously voted to adopt R-21-182, establishing a Renewable and Clean Portfolio Standard (RCPS) for the city of New Orleans.
At the state level, The Alliance has supported the development and procurement of solar by Entergy, Cleco, SWEPCO, and co-op utilities, while also urging the LPSC to consider a Renewable Portfolio Standard. In 2022, The Alliance participated in the state’s Climate Initiatives Task Force, and encouraged an RPS. In the end, an RPS was recommended as Action 1.1 in the state’s final Climate Action Plan. We will continue to advocate for a requirement to transition away from expensive and dirty fossil fuels.
All investor-owned utilities in Louisiana are required to conduct a public planning process called Integrated Resource Planning. An Integrated Resource Plan, also known as an IRP, is a roadmap and planning tool utilities use to assess and address future energy needs. Put simply, the IRP process takes into account estimates of customers’ future electricity needs over the next 20 years and the least cost resources available to serve those needs. Do they want to retire costly, and dirty coal generation in favor of renewables? Another important piece to check here is how your utility is considering energy efficiency. The goal of an IRP is to select the “best” combination of resources available to meet forecasted demand. The question is, best for whom?
The Alliance intervenes in IRP dockets to fight against all new GHG-polluting resources in our state and advocate for the most affordable resources like clean energy and energy efficiency.
The Louisiana Climate Initiative Task Force (LA-CITF) was a two-year initiative, established by Governor John Bel Edwards, to reduce greenhouse emissions from the state of Louisiana to net zero by 2050.
In order to achieve net zero emissions, the Task Force has set emission reduction goals: