Bill Gates, Ameren’s Baxter discuss climate challenge and path to net zero
According to entrepreneur and philanthropist Bill Gates, the time for kicking the can down the road on transitioning the energy industry to net-zero emissions is over.
Gates, founder of Breakthrough Energy, a company that’s advancing clean energy solutions across technology, markets and policy, underscored that the energy industry is facing a monumental shift during a keynote speech on Monday for Edison Electric Institute’s EEI 2023 conference in Austin. Gates and Warner Baxter, Executive Chairman of Ameren Corp. and EEI Chair, discussed the pressing needs facing the energy industry as it shifts to a clean energy economy.
Gates said the U.S. must be a leader in reducing greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050.
“The idea that now we have this goal, that by 2050, we will basically replace, all those cement plants, steel plants, and coal plants … there’s no equivalent thing, even if you take the work that was done during World War II to shift manufacturing, this is as dramatic as that over a multi-decade period,” he said. “And the number of pieces that have to be implemented to make this work – designing a whole new grid – it is incredibly complex.”
Tom Kuhn, president and CEO of EEI, said in opening remarks that the electric utility industry is committed to leading the clean energy transformation in its sector.
“EEI’s member companies and the people in this room are dedicated to delivering resilient, clean energy across our economy without compromising customer affordability and reliability,” Kuhn said.
Gates said he believed that ongoing technological innovations in the energy industry will lead to a greener grid that results in lower emissions – all without costs being very expensive for customers.
“Innovation means that we can have that green grid where the electricity is not more expensive than today’s electricity,” Gates said.
Gates also noted the industry is facing the prospect of building a green energy grid that is two and a half times the current grid’s size, as well as addressing energy workforce and transmission issues, and must do it all in a very short time frame.
“If it was 30 years away, you could say, ‘Well, my successor is going to have fun with that one, in the meantime, I’ll just not rock the boat here,’” Gates said. “We’re no longer able to say ‘OK, in the near term, it’s business as usual.’ We’re down in the time period where the rate of renewable builds, the rate of transmission and permitting, we can see it’s completely inadequate for this role.”
Baxter said addressing the labor force issue would be key for the United States to reach net-zero emissions goals.
“We, as an industry, are very committed to going as fast as we can with this clean energy transition, but to make sure we do it affordably and reliably,” Baxter said. “And that is the challenge, right? There’s so many things we have to think about. It isn’t just the infrastructure that has to be built, isn’t just making sure you have the policy there, whether it’s permitting, or siting and all these other things. But it’s ultimately … making sure that we have the labor force.”
That requires getting in front of the top colleges in the country to get students enthusiastic about the energy industry and the technologies that will transform it.
And transitioning to clean energy will require a shift in thinking when it comes to transmission, Gates said. When energy is generated through renewable sources like wind and solar, there will be times during hot spells and cold spells where areas of the country will not be able to generate enough electricity to meet demand. During those times, energy sharing will be necessary.
“The whole notion that, OK, this is my fiefdom, I take care of it, you know, I’m just here. And there’s not much electricity that flows out and there’s not much that flows in – that just doesn’t work in a high-renewables, green-grid situation,” Gates said. “The idea that this has been overwhelmingly a state level ‘Here’s the load, here’s the energy generation that’s fairly near that load,’ that paradigm does not work to get to zero emissions.”
Gates said to maintain reliability, it may be necessary to move to country-wide, high voltage DC transmissions that can travel up to 500 miles or more.
Baxter said the transition to the clean energy economy will require engagement on all levels, from consumers to the federal government.
“Something that I know is really important for our industry is making sure we have effective inter-regional planning,” Baxter said. “There’s no doubt as we think about the transmission space, we think a lot about the stakeholders that we have to engage with, because it’s very difficult to say we’re just going to do this, and everyone will just march to it.”
“We have to establish an all-government approach: federal, state and local … And inter-regional planning is certainly one of the things,” Baxter added.
