The State of Energy Storage: What You Need to Know
New Bipartisan Energy Permitting Reform Legislation - US Senators Joe Manchin (I-WV) and John Barrasso (R-WY), Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, have unveiled the Energy...more
We are pleased to share the June 2024 issue of Wilson Sonsini's Sustainability and ESG Advisory Practice Update. Each issue combines news, key legal developments, and resources related to sustainability and environmental,...more
Achieving climate goals will require significant capital investment into the development and scaling of improved battery technologies. The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), enacted in August 2022, allocated billions of dollars...more
The story of artificial intelligence (“AI”) is one of technological promise and societal challenge, and its impact on the U.S. electric power grid is fast becoming a pivotal chapter. The promise is compelling. AI could...more
The country’s electric system is undergoing its most significant transformation in over a century. The information age is skyrocketing demand from customers for more power, and renewable energy is being deployed at a dizzying...more
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is publishing a proposed rule (Proposal or NPRM) that will require broad segments of industry to meet onerous and quick...more
The first commercial-scale offshore wind farm in the United States is officially open, a long-awaited moment that helps pave the way for a succession of large wind farms. Danish wind energy developer Ørsted and the utility...more
As part of the Biden Administration’s efforts to align energy cybersecurity efforts across the country, the U.S. Department of Energy (“DOE”) has funded the release of a set of energy distribution cybersecurity baselines for...more
US DOL Budget Will Remain at its Present Level Through March 22, 2024 - It has now become clear that neither Republicans nor Democrats have the stomach to shut the federal government agencies down, but neither does either...more
In April 2023, we reported on the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit’s decision in California Restaurant Association (CRA) v. City of Berkeley striking down a Berkeley ordinance that prohibited natural gas piping in...more
Congress — Big Agenda & Little Time - With the holidays behind us, Congress returned this week for the second half of the 118th Congress with a long list of items to address and, as the 2024 campaign season ramps up, limited...more
The trajectory of the hydrogen sector in the United States hinges on a critical question: what criteria will be used to define the term “clean hydrogen” for tax purposes? As previously outlined in our Field Guide to Clean...more
It is clear that these have been busy months for federal environmental regulators, especially those working at EPA, the federal departments and the Council on Environmental Quality. Even the Department of Agriculture has...more
The AI executive order moves the U.S. closer to a broader unified approach on federal AI regulation, expanding on the AI Bill of Rights and NIST AI Risk Management Framework and focusing on the responsible development and...more
On October 30, 2023, President Biden issued an Executive Order (“Order”) that drastically increased the U.S. government’s engagement with artificial intelligence (“AI”). The sweeping Order touches on everything from bias in...more
Although reliance on coal has been declining, even in 2021, coal still supplied over 10% of the United States’ energy consumption, according to the EIA. But, in a matter of approximately 15 years, many hope that Verne’s...more
A recent executive order issued by President Biden aims to prohibit or oversee investments in certain sensitive technologies that could threaten the national security of the United States. The executive order, which was...more
As discussed previously in this blog, physical attacks against substations have been on the rise. However, the U.S. power grid is also vulnerable to cyberattacks from U.S. adversaries, which includes hostile foreign...more
In litigation news . . . For the third consecutive month, Tesla finds itself involved in a new patent infringement lawsuit, this latest time as a defendant in an action filed by Graphite Charging Company LLC on August 4,...more
After years of blunted growth and false starts, the US is finally scaling up offshore wind. While most progress had been spurred by state policies incenting projects in the Atlantic Ocean off the East Coast, the federal...more
Nuclear energy is experiencing a resurgence. As the world grapples with how best to address climate change, nuclear has found a seat at the table as a viable, zero-carbon energy source. While the appetite in the U.S. for...more
SEC Publishes Spring 2023 Regulatory Agenda - On June 13, 2023, Chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Gary Gensler announced the release of the SEC’s Spring 2023 Regulatory Agenda (the Regulatory...more
Jobs in the U.S. energy industry rose 3.8% last year, faster than overall employment growth and led by work in clean energy, the Department of Energy said last Wednesday. According to the U.S. Energy and Employment Report,...more
The application cycle for the first round of credits will soon open. Treasury’s additional guidance clarifies what types of facilities may qualify for credits, the submission process and the selection criteria for evaluating...more
The United States recently took another important step in implementing a comprehensive strategy to advance the production, processing, delivery, storage, and use of clean hydrogen. On June 5, 2023, the Biden-Harris...more