[vc_row animation=””][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]The following is a piece by Adam Pope, Senior Director of Bravo Group’s Pittsburgh office. It originally appeared as a Bravo Group blog on January 28, 2016. You can follow Adam on Twitter at @AdamPope11 and Bravo at @bravogroup.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row animation=””][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]To get a daily digest of articles like this, click here to sign up for The Stream which features top headlines and insights in upstream, midstream and downstream.
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[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row animation=””][vc_column width=”1/2″]“The reality is that, no single source of energy alone will solve our problems or is the source of all of our woes. Moreover, no group holds all of the answers or the solution to the challenges we face. What history has taught us is that America prospers most when we work together for the common good.” -Jack Gerard, API CEO
[/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image css_animation=”” image=”8482″ border_color=”” img_link_large=”” link=”https://wellsaidcabot.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Pope.jpg” img_link_target=”_self” img_size=”full”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row animation=””][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]I think the above quote accurately describes our true energy reality. One that is not about false choices and either/or situations. Rather, one that is about an energy future that is dictated by a changing market, a global shift in energy super producers and increased regulatory and policy changes. A future that will see renewables gain a greater presence in our power generation portfolio as they continue to become more cost-competitive. And one that will always rely on fossil fuel production for power generation and petrochemical feedstocks.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row animation=””][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]With the new year, we see a landscape that looks very similar to the one we did entering 2015. Depressed natural gas and oil prices, a continuing decrease in drilling rig count and companies slashing budgets and forced to lay off workers.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row animation=””][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]Yet something is drastically different. This month will mark the first time in decades that the United States will export oil and liquefied natural gas and assert itself as one of the biggest energy producers in the global market.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row animation=””][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]This makes the president’s recent State of the Union address even more puzzling, albeit not shocking given who was delivering it. The president didn’t spend a significant amount of his address on the state of the nation’s industry, focusing rather on his vision for the future. What he did discuss in regard to energy, I feel, wasn’t productive and also not entirely accurate.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row animation=””][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]The more our elected officials use terms like “dirty energy,” as the president did on Jan.12, the more credence is given to the anti-fossil fuel activists’ campaign to keep these resources in the ground and attack all sources of infrastructure that transport them to consumer markets. His notion that big oil makes its own rules is clearly disproven by the fact that the Keystone XL pipeline was not given the necessary approval by the U.S. State Department and why the Constitution Pipeline in the Northeast remains held hostage by New York State.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row animation=””][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]This infrastructure must be built, and in a timely manner, if we are going to continue the economic growth we have experienced since the Great Recession. According to a recent IHS study, the amount of energy infrastructure that needs to be built by 2025 could spur $1.15 trillion in private capital investment, support more than 1.1 million jobs and contribute approximately $120 billion towards the U.S. GDP.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row animation=””][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]The president touted the investments his administration made through the stimulus program and the results those investments have had on increasing renewable energy’s economic footprint. I think it’s more accurate to attribute the gains renewable energy has made to the The Energy Policy Act of 2005 and the Energy Improvement and Extension Act of 2008. Those pieces of legislation were far more instrumental than the stimulus funding was in providing a clear pathway for renewables into the power generation mix. However, wind and solar energy combined still only account for approximately 5 percent of U.S. power generation.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row animation=””][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]Only the last several years of my career have been focused on the oil and gas industry. I spent my time before that working on all other forms of energy, including nuclear, coal, hydro and particularly, renewables. During my time in the late U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter’s office, we worked on both of those pieces of legislation and were very much involved in attracting renewable energy companies to Pennsylvania. We worked very closely with the administration of former Gov. Ed Rendell on securing the location of Gamesa’s facility in Cambria County. Gamesa is a Spanish company and global leader in the wind industry. We also worked very closely with FLABEG, a German-based leader in glass processing. FLABEG had a facility outside of Pittsburgh that was manufacturing solar panels and was seeking government funding. Unfortunately, both the Gamesa plant in Cambria and the FLABEG facility have closed in the last couple of years due to changing market conditions.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row animation=””][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]There is no doubt that we face challenging times ahead as it relates to our energy future. Having worked with all forms of energy, I fully know that no one single source is a panacea for all of the country’s energy demands. I do know that the increase in domestic oil and gas production and the U.S. becoming an energy superpower in the global market is significant in ensuring our energy stability and security.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row animation=””][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]It is imperative that renewables continue to become more cost competitive through increased technological innovation if we are going to meet the increased imposed mandates being passed or agreed upon both globally and domestically.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row animation=””][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]The decisions and actions taken in 2016 will be very telling in shaping our energy reality.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]