CCEBA sat down to chat with Steve Levitas, a solar industry veteran and nationally respected authority on energy policy. Steve recently stepped down from his position as Senior Vice President of Regulatory and Government Affairs for our company member Pine Gate Renewables. Steve has worked extensively on the development and passage of landmark clean energy legislation in North Carolina, including House Bills 589 and 951. He also was party to the initial proceeding before the North Carolina Utilities Commission in 2022 leading to the adoption of a plan to reduce Duke Energy’s carbon emissions by 70%.
Prior to joining PIne Gate, Steve served as Senior Vice President for Regulatory Affairs and Strategy for Cypress Creek Renewables and Vice President for Business Affairs and General Counsel for FLS Energy. He previously spent over twenty years in private law practice, concentrating on renewable energy project development and environmental regulatory matters.
From 1993 through 1996, Steve served as Deputy Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Environment, Health, and Natural Resources. He additionally spent time as the Director and Senior Attorney of the North Carolina office of the Environmental Defense Fund, which he opened in 1988.
Steve currently serves on the Board of Directors of New Energy Economics and is a past board member of the Solar Energy Industries Association, the Carolinas Clean Energy Business Association, and numerous other non-profit organizations. He also recently received the North Carolina Sustainable Energy Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award. Steve is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Harvard Law School.
Q: How long have you been in the solar industry and how has it changed over time? How have economics shifted? The technology?
I first got involved in the renewable energy sector in 2010, representing project developers as outside counsel. Since 2016, I have held various executive positions with several solar companies, most recently with Pine Gate Renewables. During that time, market access for independent solar developers has increased significantly and the Inflation Reduction Act has provided a number of valuable incentives to the industry. At the same time, interconnection delays and costs, increased tariffs, supply chain issues, regulatory obstacles, robust competition, and exhaustion of the most attractive sites have all made project economics more challenging. These obstacles have resulted in a transition to much larger average project size. The most important technological development has been the emergence of viable battery storage systems.
Q: What have the Carolinas done right to adopt renewables? What needs to be improved?
Obviously the passage of major clean energy legislation in 2017 and 2021 (North Carolina) and in 2019 (South Carolina)—particularly including the introduction of competitive procurement programs—has done a lot to create increased demand for renewable energy. The utilities in the Carolinas were ahead of the curve in transitioning from sequential to a cluster interconnection study and did a good job of working with stakeholders to accomplish this transition in a positive way. Duke has also gotten an excellent start on proactive transmission planning with its initial tranche of “Red Zone” upgrades.
At the same time, much remains to be done to enhance clean energy efforts in the Carolinas. There are a variety of ways in which competitive procurement programs could be improved. Interconnection and transmission challenges also need to be resolved; interconnection in-service times have gotten longer and longer, threatening project viability due to increased carrying costs. Our utilities and regulators need to accelerate the interconnection study and construction timelines through approaches such as “connect and manage,” and provide greater optionality for performance security (such as allowing surety bonds that can be replaced with cash closer to construction). Institutionalizing transmission planning, integrated with generation resource planning, is equally important. Neither North Carolina nor South Carolina have yet adopted a program that really meets major customers’ demand for clean energy resources.
Q: What states or regions have lessons for the Carolinas? What are those lessons?
Colorado remains the leading role model for thoughtful and successful competitive procurement program design. Texas’s CREZ program is one of the better examples of successful proactive transmission planning, as is MISO’s Transmission Expansion Plan.
Q: What do you think the future looks like for solar and storage?
I think the future is extremely bright for solar and storage. Solar is a proven, low-risk technology and the least cost source of energy generation. Battery technology continues to improve and become more affordable. There is huge customer demand for clean energy and most major utilities are committed to moving away from dirty and expensive coal-fired generation. These facts have resulted in widely accepted projections that the U.S. electric system will see huge solar and storage additions for decades to come.
Q: What’s your proudest accomplishment during your time in the renewables field?
I’m most proud of the way I’ve been able to support and mentor a large cadre of younger colleagues in the solar industry. I’m also proud of the role I’ve played in helping establish CCEBA as such a strong and effective voice for the industry.
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