Horizon19 Positions Clean Economy for a New Phase of Scale-Up in the 2020s
Ten years from now, we might just look back at 2019-2020 as the transition into a new phase of clean energy scale-up, systems transformations, and emerging sector accelerations in offshore wind, clean transportation, and distributed, smart, community-scale energy systems. The 2020s represent an opportunity to prove the pathway to achieve our climate goals while enjoying the economic benefits of the dynamic clean energy industry. Doing so will require a lot of hard work, public-private collaborations, innovative solutions, and tens of billions of dollars of regional investment.
Climate goals translating into solutions and partnerships in 2019 taught us that these successes don’t happen in a vacuum; they require an ecosystem of innovation. From innovative clean economy solutions to innovative business models and public-private partnerships, from forward looking policies that establish a level playing field for new clean technology market entrants to universities and business incubators preparing the next generation of world class companies, from venture capital investors providing seed funding to commercial lenders offering lower cost of capital for project finance, from small homegrown companies serving local markets to international energy companies forging strategic partnerships, it is clear that there are many vital parts of the Northeast clean energy ecosystem that can drive our region towards clean economy success.
In 2019, New York and the southern New England states completed historic procurements for offshore wind, with an expected capacity of 2,000 MWs in operation by 2023. We also saw advances in energy storage with the passage of behind-the-meter energy storage incentives and the continuing development of new approaches like the Massachusetts Clean Peak Standard. And we witnessed the early framing of a new effort to address greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector with the Transportation and Climate Initiative (TCI).
It is this spirit of collaboration for realizing climate goals, solutions providers, financiers, customers, municipalities, and hundreds of other clean energy stakeholders will convene next week at Horizon19, the solutions platform for the clean economy. We hope you will join us in Boston along with many other leaders from companies, NGOs, government agencies, and cutting-edge startups from around the world. We welcome you to become a part of our ecosystem of innovation as we charge towards a new decade of climate solutions scale-up and clean economy systems transformation.
