An energy and cleantech outlook for the year from Blueprint Power’s CEO

By Robyn Beavers, Chief Executive Officer, Blueprint Power

Welcome to another year of opportunity for our industry. 2023 was a crucial year for energy and law at both the state and federal levels, and I expect 2024 to bring even more focus on practical implementation of laws, such as New York City’s Local Law 97 on emissions reduction and the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). 

These laws may create more volatility in pricing of different renewables due to macroeconomic forces like inflation, setting up (what I like to call) a big bowl of spaghetti around the cost of energy. We need to be prepared to manage financial insecurity for projects that were created off the strong springboard that 2023 provided. I am optimistic for the creativity people will bring to support clean energy projects in a time of financial uncertainty, including how IRA funding may be used to help see through projects that were kicked off last year and how integrated energy solutions could help manage volatility.

Virtual power plants gaining momentum 

I am also keeping a pulse on the progress of virtual power plants (VPPs) moving into mainstream residential, commercial and industrial asset classes. Those who make sure there is fair value sharing across virtual power plants in the mainstream will probably have the greatest success. I’m hopeful that more residential contributors will be compensated for participating in virtual power plants this year, as customer demand for clean energy is not slowing down. The customer is more energy knowledgeable than ever. 

Areas of improvement 

Though 2023 was a year of progress, there is still area for improvement. The future of our workforce - and having enough electricians, clean energy technicians, building engineers, cleantech-trained permit assessors, and other critical roles - remains at the front of my mind. The International Energy Agency’s World Energy Employment Report shows an increase in the number of clean energy jobs, but not nearly enough to support what the energy transition will require.  

This needs to change. With the reshaping of our energy economy and the implementation of tech and generative AI into our daily lives, we must find an appeal for this specific workforce to join us. Wind farms are now offering $80,000/year to experienced technicians. That’s absolutely progress. 

Areas of opportunity

We could see increased velocity in climate tech in 2024 compared to a slower 2023. A lot of talent is still flowing in. Traditionally, climate tech investing has been driven either by energy experts not necessarily experienced at building companies or by tech experts who don’t have climate expertise. It seems like both sides are learning and bringing all these skills together. I expect we’ll see them emerging with products versus the pre-product stage. Having new faces at conferences is promising for change and progress in our industry, as it is crucial to have a fresh perspective and motivation to join us. 

With these fresh faces and new talent, I also hope to see our industry grow with innovative technologies and high-quality data. The industry has been notoriously analogue, and we need to digitize key data (e.g. tariff rates online versus stuck in PDF documents on fileserves) and make sure data is interoperable across the value chain. Data helps us drive energy - gigabytes to gigawatts - and be more active participants in managing energy usage and resiliency to advance the energy transition. The value of technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence, could potentially be transformative with more, accessible, high-quality data.

With this richer data, new and diverse perspectives, and more integrated power opportunities than ever before, we can work together to manage risk and volatility this year, all while translating the efforts of 2023 into further productivity for 2024. 

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