What a difference a year can make! The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), and the CHIPS and Science Act all passed in the last 13 months and ushered in an historic wave of investment into the U.S. clean energy sector. Despite the global energy crisis triggered by the Russian invasion into Ukraine and the COVID-19 pandemic, DOE, under the leadership of Secretary Jennifer A, Granholm and the broader Biden-Harris administration, continued to build upon the strong momentum gained in 2021 to deliver unprecedented clean energy progress in 2022. 

Here at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Policy, we provide analysis to determine how energy policies could best deliver security, create jobs, reduce consumer costs, slash emissions, spur clean energy supply chains, and support environmental justice. Below is a summary of some of our most notable areas of progress in 2022:

Energy Tax Credits, Rebates, and More to Help American Families & Businesses

Thanks to historic tax credits and rebates made available through IRA, American consumers and businesses have tremendous new opportunities to save money on energy costs while deploying clean energy technologies and reducing pollution. Soon after it was passed, we released the first government analysis of the GHG emissions reductions expected to result from both IRA and BIL, totaling an approximately 40% reduction in 2030 compared to 2005 levels.  We also worked with the White House to release the new, interactive cleanenergy.gov webpage detailing how much money American households can save on clean energy taxes and rebates for electric vehicles, solar panels, and energy-efficient household appliances and upgrades (in fact, we also released this new web page to help the public understand the home energy efficient credits available to them). Ensuring that more detailed and actionable information is accessible to the public is a commitment we will build upon as we release new fact sheets, reports, and infographics to inform the public on energy tax credits and other IRA provisions. 

Strengthening America’s Energy Supply Chains 

Responding to the urgent need to strengthen our energy supply chains, our office coordinated and released the nation’s first-ever national energy industrial base strategy titled: “America’s Strategy to Secure the Supply Chain for a Robust Clean Energy Transition.” The report provides a comprehensive roadmap and outlines government commitments to revitalize the U.S. economy and domestic manufacturing by securing the country’s most critical energy supply chains. Our report includes more than 60 actions that will be taken by the U.S. government including: funding for a facility to demonstrate the commercial feasibility of a full-scale rare earth element facility for extraction, separation, and refining; committing to embed strong labor standards in federal funding for the energy sector; and creating a new DOE Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains.

Defense Production Act to Accelerate Clean Energy

In June, President Biden provided DOE with new authorities to utilize the Defense Production Act (DPA) to accelerate domestic production of key energy technologies, including solar; transformers and electric grid components; heat pumps; insulation; and electrolyzers, fuel cells, and platinum group metals for clean hydrogen. This DPA tool has the potential to lower energy costs for families, strengthen national security, ramp up domestic jobs, and achieve lasting American energy independence that reduces demand for fossil fuels and bolsters our clean energy economy. When IRA passed in August, it included $500 million in DPA funding. 

Clean Energy Jobs Growing Nationwide 

In the months since the passage of IRA, the private sector announced approximately $28 billion in new clean energy manufacturing investments that will bolster the domestic jobs for the clean energy supply chain. From Texas to Michigan, clean energy jobs continued to boom during the last couple of years. According to our U.S. Energy and Employment Report (USEER), growth in energy sector jobs increased by four percent from 2020 to 2021, outpacing overall U.S. employment. Just this month, we released follow-up county-level data in conjunction with the USEER that shows that energy jobs are increasingly dispersed throughout the nation. For example, there were 1,000+ energy efficiency jobs per county in 382 separate counties in 2021, and 85% of US counties each had solar-related jobs.

U.S. Secretary Granholm recently hosted a roundtable with executive leadership from federal and local government, industry, and labor to officially launch the DOE’s Battery Workforce Initiative, an effort designed to lay the foundation for developing the modern American workforce necessary to sustain the growth of a domestic battery supply chain. At the same event, Secretary Granholm announced a $2.5 billion DOE loan to Ultium Cells LLC, a joint venture between General Motors and LG Energy Solution that will help finance the construction of new lithium-ion battery cell that is expected to create more than 11,000 good-paying jobs, including about 700 jobs at the Ohio Ultium plant where workers recently voted to join the United Auto Workers union.

Collaborating with Federal Partners on Energy Access & Costs 

Our team collaborated with offices and agencies throughout the federal government to address energy access and energy costs, which rose steeply after the stresses of the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Whether it was related to drawing on the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, collaborating with key states on ways to ensure sufficient energy supply for the winter months, helping states and federal agencies address energy permitting, or issuing a report on the queue for clean energy technologies to connect to the electric grid, OP is provides our energy analysis and guidance to our nation’s leaders. 

Getting the Word Out

Our office dedicated a lot of time in 2022 to learning from partners and presenting to groups -large and small. For example, we brought our DOE policy analysis to global climate leaders at COP27 in Egypt where OP’s Office of Energy Jobs Director Betony Jones spoke about DOE’s Battery Workforce Initiative and met with key business and union leaders. Director Jones also presented at the Global Clean Energy Action Forum in Pittsburgh. Several of our office’s leaders presented at a variety of events this year hosted by key stakeholders across various sectors.

I was thrilled to join the team of Vice President Harris at the Sheet Metal Workers Union Local 17 in Boston, MA where the VP shared information about home efficiency products such as heat pumps and the American workers who will manufacture them.

Our Acting Executive Director, Carla Frisch, was happy to have the opportunity to join the Climate One podcast to discuss how IRA will slash emissions and lower energy costs for American families and businesses. Additionally, DOE hosted the first ever Justice Week where our OP team listened and presented to leaders across government and beyond to discuss equity in the energy sector. The clean energy revolution must ensure that those bearing the brunt of energy pollution are the first to benefit from the clean energy transition.

Looking Ahead to 2023

In this pivotal moment for U.S. clean energy policy, we at the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Policy remain grateful for the opportunity to serve Secretary Granholm and the American people as we collaborate with brilliant and hard-working colleagues within and outside of government. We are excited about the growing interest and engagement in our policy analysis and guidance. In 2023, we will hit the ground running with a focus on BIL and IRA implementation. We look forward to “implementation season,” a common phrase we hear from Secretary Granholm these days describing DOE’s vital path forward.