Summary

U.S. senators have introduced a plan that would revamp tax credits for new power plants, stand-alone storage, high-voltage transmission lines, distributed generation and carbon capture transactions. How would these tax credits impact energy storage projects? What would the opt-out option mean for the utilities market? We discuss how the proposed legislation could impact the future of renewable energy projects.

Speakers

Ben Lipari

Director of Project Development and Customer Solutions, Alliant Energy

Ben Lipari is the Director of Project Development & Customer Solutions for Alliant Energy in Iowa and Wisconsin. Ben leads a development team focused on partnerships with renewable developers and suppliers to develop, acquire and construct renewable projects. Alliant is the third largest regulated utility owner, operator of wind sites and continues to advance a balanced portfolio of resources, including announcements that will add over 1.4 GW of solar in Wisconsin and Iowa through 2023. Additionally, under Ben’s leadership, the development team executes leases with landowners and customers, advances permits and regulatory filings, and determines site locations and submittal of interconnect requests with MISO, in combination with related development activities to prepare projects for construction.

Phillip Westerby

Executive Vice President, Technical, EDP Renewables North America LLC

Phillip Westerby serves as Executive Vice President, Technical for EDP Renewables North America LLC (EDPR NA). Phillip leads the Technical Department, where his responsibilities include driving technical energy solutions from conceptual designs, technology selection, contracting and construction execution through transfer to Operations for all utility-scale wind, solar and storage projects as well as new technologies. Phillip also serves as a member of the EDPR NA Executive Team.

Adam Bernardi, moderator

Business Development Manager

Adam leads Burns & McDonnell's strategic business development efforts for renewable energy, specifically solar and storage. Adam has 15 years of experience in the power generation industry. He supports utilities and developers in the upfront development of renewable energy projects, from siting and commercialization strategies all the way through commercial operation.