Staring down tariffs and rollbacks, US renewables rang in a record year

https://www.utilitydive.com/news/staring-down-tariffs-and-rollbacks-us-renewables-rang-in-a-record-year/545085/

2018 was a difficult year to find good news when it comes to climate change. The dire predictions announced by climate scientists in report after report played out in real time as we witnessed unprecedented wildfires and storms devastating communities.

As scientists issued a clarion warning that avoiding catastrophic climate impacts requires slashing carbon pollution within the next decade, President Trump remained determined to move in the opposite direction. His ongoing efforts include rolling back policies that would reduce carbon emissions, imposing tariffs on solar panels, and threatening to cut subsidies for clean energy. Globally, in a reversal of recent slowing trends, carbon emissions hit an all-time high.

Yet behind the scenes, a seismic shift is quietly taking place, a shift that might hold the key to our future. Clean energy is not only weathering these storms, it is thriving.

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Last year, U.S. companies signed contracts for more than 6,400 megawatts of renewable energy, an all-time record and more than double the amount companies purchased the year before. Once dominated by silicon valley tech companies (including Facebook, whose 22 deals in 2018 accounted for more clean power than all corporate buyers combined in 2016), last year's list of corporate renewable energy buyers represented a growing diversity of industries and geographies. New buyers in 2018 included:

Lowe's, the North Carolina-based home improvement superstore chain

Kohler, the Wisconsin-based plumbing fixture manufacturer

Brown Forman, the nearly 150-year-old Kentucky-based maker of Jack Daniels Whiskey

J. M. Smucker, the Ohio-based jam company

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