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Invenergy Announces $30M Center of Excellence Focused on Training and Manufacturing

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Invenergy Expands US Footprint With New Washington, D.C. Office

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Made in Ohio, Installed in Ohio: Illuminate USA’s First Solar Panels Go To Work in Hardin County

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Workforce development is critical to the clean energy future

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Invenergy and Patria Investments Acquire 600 MW Brazil Wind Portfolio from ContourGlobal and Eletrobras

Partnership to include Reactivate Community Solar projects and in-ballpark signage

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Chicago Cubs And Invenergy Announce New Multiyear Partnership

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Expert perspectives on the critical clean energy issues of today and tomorrow.

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News and Insights - Power Lines

“In smaller communities, folks are wary of corporate folks coming in and promising X, Y and Z and then not delivering on those expectations,” Paul Gillham, Invenergy’s vice president of renewable operations and maintenance (O&M) – U.S., says. “That’s the experience my family is kind of familiar with.”

Growing up in a small town, Gillham had a firsthand look at how companies looking to do business in communities like his would overpromise and underdeliver to residents, and he learned an early lesson in how not to conduct business. 

Gillham’s first exposure to clean energy was in 2001 when he came home from college in search of a summer job and joined a renewable energy company as a wind technician. Shortly after Gillham entered the industry, his grandfather also contracted with an energy company as a landowner to build a wind farm on his property. However, after leasing the land, the company didn’t complete the project and returned the land to Gillham’s family. 

Although he didn’t know it yet, Gillham would have an opportunity to help finish the project his family had started with the previous company while working for Invenergy. After gaining experience as a wind technician at the company that first hired him, Gillham joined Invenergy as an O&M manager in 2005, where he helped shepherd Invenergy’s Spring Canyon Energy Center to commercial operations in early 2006. In a full-circle moment for Gillham, Spring Canyon now delivers clean energy to homes, businesses and communities on the same land his family had first leased five years earlier.

Paul Gillham helped get Invenergy's Spring Canyon Energy Center and its expansion (Wind, 122 MW, pictured above) to commercial operations in 2006 as an O&M manager at the site. The wind farm operates on land owned by Gillham's family.

Since that time, Gillham has worked his way up to lead Invenergy’s O&M teams, where he’s dedicated to cultivating O&M teams that develop meaningful relationships in the communities where they work, live and operate.

Wind and solar energy centers deliver hundreds of gigawatts of clean, reliable and affordable energy to homes, communities and businesses in the United States annually. The dependable operation of these and other clean energy facilities relies on a team of O&M professionals that are trained to keep these energy centers running smoothly, whether it’s day one or years later.

Operations and maintenance primarily focuses on the preventative and corrective maintenance tasks that keep clean energy sites operating smoothly. O&M includes safety and regulatory compliance, operational monitoring, power plant management, personnel training, and planning and budgeting. At Invenergy Services, O&M collaborates with other functions, including environmental health and safety, asset management, and operations engineering to optimize equipment reliability and longevity.

Although O&M teams across the clean energy industry may share similar areas of expertise, Invenergy Services’ O&M teams have something that sets them apart: our owner’s mindset. Operating with an owner’s mindset means Invenergy Services teams maintain every site as if it were our own, regardless of whether we own it. Gillham knows how Invenergy Services’ owner’s mindset can make a difference for the performance of an energy center and, more importantly, the communities where they’re located. This also means prioritizing hiring locally so the individuals operating our energy centers live in the communities they’re serving.

“We don't want to have a strained relationship with the folks that we're going to run into whether we're repairing a turbine on a landowner’s property or talking with community members in town,” Gillham says. “We want to be able to run into those folks and have a pleasant conversation.”

The four pillars of O&M at Invenergy Services

Invenergy Services’ O&M philosophy comprises four pillars: safety, quality, focus on production, and cost control. Safety is the most important of these principles because it enables Gillham and his team to execute on the other three pillars, he says.

“Our people are our most valuable resource and are the key to our success,” Gillham says. “If we don’t get safety right, nothing else matters.” 

Invenergy Services’ O&M teams begin each day with a safety meeting that reminds team members of safety practices, discusses any lessons learned, and emphasizes that no work is worth doing if it can’t be done safely.

In addition to prioritizing safety, Invenergy Services’ other O&M pillars deliver benefits to customers through innovation, flexibility and cost savings.

As part of Invenergy Services’ focus on quality, O&M teams prioritize preventative maintenance to help extend the longevity of a site’s equipment and the overall lifespan of a project. By focusing on preventative maintenance, Invenergy Services’ O&M offering also provides greater flexibility and cost savings for customers compared to a traditional full-service agreement with original equipment manufacturers. Sites working under full-service agreements tend to focus on corrective maintenance, only repairing components once something has broken, which can lead to gaps in availability, reduction of a site’s output, and costly repairs. 

Thirdly, to help identify and execute preventative maintenance needs and to maintain our focus on production, Invenergy Services uses a robust suite of data analytics to help sites maintain high availability and output.

“To say data analytics plays a big role in our operational effectiveness is an understatement,” Gillham says. “Being able to understand equipment trends and identify potential early deterioration through data allows us to be proactive in our decision-making, and it often reduces eventual repair costs as well as equipment downtime.”

The combination of safety, quality control, and a focus on production results in cost savings for customers. Proactive, efficient and safe O&M practices ultimately lead to the delivery of clean, reliable and affordable energy to the homes and communities that need it most.

“Integrity is at the core of what Invenergy does,” Gillham says. “We do what we say we’re going to do, and we understand that we’re going to be a part of the communities where we’re developing projects. We want to make people feel like valuable members of our projects, for them to know that they’re important to us.”

How Paul Gillham’s personal experiences with clean energy help him lead Invenergy Services’ approach to operations and maintenance

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A life and career touched by clean energy

The U.S. electric grid needs to be transformed. Our current transmission infrastructure is out of date and unable to keep up with increasing energy demand, which is rising for the first time in nearly two decades.

Clean energy and high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission lines are the solution. Increasing grid capacity with more HVDC transmission and adding gigawatts of energy from wind, solar and other renewable energy sources will create a more reliable, flexible and resilient grid. This transformation is critical for the grid to withstand disruptions from extreme weather events, which are occuring more frequently and with greater intensity than ever before, and to deliver clean, reliable and affordable power to the homes, businesses and communities that need it most.

Learn more about how revitalizing the electric grid can accelerate cleaner, more reliable, affordable energy in the video below.

"A New Surge in Power Use Is Threatening U.S. Climate Goals," March 14, 2024, The New York Times

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Let's talk about energy

Last week, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved changes to the way major regions of the U.S. electric grid plan transmission lines. These new rules are an important first step toward a more modern, reliable grid, greater access to affordable and sustainable energy for consumers, and economic development for communities all over the country.

Strong leadership by FERC Chairman Willie Phillips and others at FERC was instrumental in the ultimate approval of the rule changes.

FERC's new rules in Order 1920 will accelerate and streamline the expansion of the U.S. power grid and facilitate more opportunities to connect new energy generation projects like those in Invenergy’s growing wind, solar, storage and gas peaker portfolio to the grid. 

Among other measures, the rules help accomplish this by requiring grid operators to plan for transmission needs 20 years into the future, engage in long-term planning at regular intervals, and to be responsive to the nation’s expected load growth and energy goals set by states, utilities, and large corporate energy users. The rules also require grid operators to consider the potential impacts of extreme weather conditions on the grid. These changes will begin the process of adding greater transparency and fairness to the transmission planning process.

Additionally, the rule could support future competitive, greenfield rate-based transmission opportunities for the industry. FERC rightly declined to implement a federal right of first refusal in this order for competitive transmission projects, ensuring consumers continue to benefit from competition in transmission development, which supports greater cost efficiency and effective project delivery.

FERC’s reforms will deliver needed changes to support transmission expansion within regional footprints of major parts of the U.S. grid. But they don’t address expanding transmission between regions. Interregional transmission is a critically needed solution for ensuring energy access and availability as manufacturing and AI drive spikes in electric demand and increasingly frequent and severe extreme weather events threaten reliability.

Congress, regulators and grid operators should work together to address these significant grid policy gaps and build on the momentum of FERC’s recent ruling. FERC itself must also continue the unfinished work on its transmission agenda and address barriers to interregional and merchant transmission.

As planning processes evolve to meet these new standards, Regional Transmission Organizations (RTO) and Independent System Operators (ISO) should also work to maximize existing transmission and ensure their updated regional planning processes properly account for and leverage independently developed merchant lines in their regions, particularly those designated as national priority lines. Optimizing existing connections between regions (making the best use of the infrastructure we already have) will reduce costs for consumers and make the system more efficient. And leveraging lines funded and built by private industry means ratepayers only pay for transmission in the places it is needed most.

 transmission line has been approved by four Midwestern states, is a covered project on the Federal Infrastructure Permitting Dashboard, addresses needs identified in the Department of Energy’s National Transmission Needs Study, and is sited in a preliminarily designated National Interest Electric Transmission Corridor. The project will provide much needed, geographically diverse energy and capacity in a portion of the Midwest grid that is woefully short. Yet, the Midwestern grid operator MISO has proceeded with two consecutive rounds of transmission planning to address the same issue on its system – planning that fails to appropriately factor in this nationally significant project. The result is over $2 billion dollars in duplicative transmission investment for MISO ratepayers, costs that the private sector is already bearing.

Failure by RTOs to act on these policy gaps are resulting in higher costs for ratepayers and a less efficient system, as well as foregone economic development opportunities for communities of all types.

Congress also has a role to play by passing legislation to give FERC authority and direction to implement some of the most important changes needed. For example, legislation could require that FERC implement minimum transfer capability and interregional planning requirements. Previous legislation like the BIG WIRES Act have served as a road map for these kinds of legislative directives, which would have a real impact on industry’s ability to get these lines built, lower costs, and improve reliability. Congress could also pass legislation that requires FERC to implement optimization standards for lines between regions to ensure lines that exist or will exist in the near future are used in the most efficient manner.

Still, if Congress fails to act, FERC has the authority to further reform regional planning by requiring privately funded lines be accounted for, and by imposing minimum transfer requirements, interregional planning requirements, or optimization standards on its own, and the agency should consider doing so in future orders.

Finally, it’s imperative that Congress approve the three remaining FERC nominees so that the agency isn’t left without a quorum or effective authority following the departure of Commissioner Allison Clements on June 30. The full bench of commissioners is critical to maintaining a resilient and reliable grid and robust energy supply. Successful confirmation votes on the FERC nominees present another opportunity for Senate Majority Leader Schumer to build on past significant energy infrastructure successes such as passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, a bipartisan bill that can make energy more affordable and reliable for all Americans. 

FERC’s recent rulemaking is a promising step toward achieving a reliable and resilient energy future. It would be a mistake for policymakers to slow down progress now while there’s an opportunity to transform the U.S. energy sector for the better and open doors for major economic investments all across America.

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New FERC rules a first step toward a more modern grid

The fastest-growing profession in the United States isn’t what you might expect. You won’t find IT specialist, software developer, or doctor occupying the top spot. The number one job: wind turbine service technician.

From 2022 to 2032, the demand for wind technician jobs is expected to surge by nearly 45%, more than nurse practitioners, data scientists, statisticians, and other fast-growing careers.

But here’s the issue: between 2022 and 2023, the share of job postings requiring at least one “green skill,” or the expertise necessary to perform the job responsibilities required in sustainable professions, was nearly double the share of “green talent” entering the workforce.

 So, it’s clear that the increased demand to fill clean energy jobs isn’t years away; it’s here, and we need to increase hiring to meet it.

Around the world, clean energy jobs will power the economies of the future. In 2023, the clean energy industry generated 10% of overall global GDP growth, the equivalent of an adding an economy the size of the Czech Republic to global economic output.

 Legislation like the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is further catalyzing growth in the United States. Experts expect the IRA to create 9 million jobs over the next decade.

 However, for the clean energy industry to take advantage of the IRA’s promise, there must be a greater focus on workforce development. 

Unlocking the potential of the clean energy industry 

Invenergy understands the need to address the gap between new clean energy jobs and the qualified workers needed to fill them. In 2024, we announced a three-part 

 To build the energy workforce of the future, Invenergy has committed to: 

Invenergy’s workforce development goal will complement our existing efforts with the company’s Impact and diversity, equity and inclusion partners. Invenergy Impact partners include organizations like KidWind, Chicago Scholars Foundation and GRID Alternatives, which all help to create the energy workforce of the future. 

Preparing the next generation of clean energy talent 

As part of our Invenergy Impact, we aim to teach, inspire, train and attract the next generation of clean energy talent to ensure the next generation of workers represents a variety of backgrounds, skills and ideas. Every year, Invenergy puts that aspiration into action through work with our Impact partners.

In 2023, Invenergy continued its work with KidWind, an organization that works to facilitate the exploration of a world powered by clean energy for K-12 students and teachers. Invenergy hosted three in-person and virtual workshops for teachers and provided materials for them to bring back to their classrooms. We also sponsored two educators to attend KidWind’s Recharge Academy, which focused on the future of our power grid and 

. More recently, Invenergy sponsored a national KidWind Challenge at the 2024 American Clean Power conference in Minneapolis.

Invenergy also supports the Chicago Scholars Foundation, which provides first-generation college students and students from under-resourced communities with access to mentorship and coaching. For the second year, Invenergy sponsored scholarships for two Chicago Scholars Foundation participants headed to college to pursue careers in renewable energy.

And in partnership with GRID Alternatives, which is focused on building a diverse, equitable, and inclusive solar industry, Invenergy sponsored one of the organization’s five-week, all-women’s rooftop solar Installation Basics Training cohort with 11 trainees in Sacramento, California.

A comprehensive approach to clean energy jobs training will be essential to the future of industry, and Invenergy is proud to help lead those efforts. Through a combination of public and private training programs, we can meet the demand for clean energy talent while, at the same time, reaching out to under-represented communities to create a broader and more diverse workforce. Together, we can make an impact to build a more sustainable world.

Learn more about our Invenergy Impact in our 

 “Fastest growing occupations,” April 17, 2024, Bureau of Labor Statistics 

“Global Green Skills Report 2023,” Feb. 29, 2024, LinkedIn 

 “Clean energy is boosting economic growth,” April 18, 2024, International Energy Agency 

 “Jobs from climate action: The Inflation Reduction Act's impact on job creation,” Feb. 29, 2024, Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts Amherst 

Hot and bothersome or exhilarating and wild: winds blow through the mind as strongly as they blow through the landscape. 

What if those same winds, harnessed as energy, contributed to a lasting sense of resilience and well-being? "Red River Valley Harvest" follows four renewable energy pioneers on their journey to bring power and peace of mind to their communities.

Sailboats are meticulously designed to harness the energy of the wind. This intricate dance between wind and sailboat is what makes wind sailing a captivating and challenging endeavor. Unlock the secrets behind how sailboats capture and utilize the power of the wind. Understanding sailboat wind dynamics is the key to becoming a skilled wind sailor. Sailing faster than the wind may seem counterintuitive, but it's a reality for experienced sailors. Explore the physics that make this feat possible. Sailing faster than the wind may seem counterintuitive, but it's a reality for experienced sailors. Explore the physics that make this feat possible. Sailing faster than the wind may seem counterintuitive, but it's a reality for experienced sailors. Explore the physics that make this feat possible.

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Winds of Change

Offshore wind development in the United States is at an inflection point. While there are already established markets for offshore wind projects in Europe and Asia, development of U.S. projects is still in its early stages.

Like any emerging industry, it has taken time for the business, policy and regulatory conditions to align for offshore wind. Now, 

, Invenergy’s senior vice president of offshore wind development, sees opportunity for the U.S. offshore wind market to flourish.

Runyan first honed his clean energy experience developing onshore wind projects in North America, where he was involved in many project development activities including siting and permitting, project design and engineering, environmental studies, regulatory processes, transmission and interconnection, public affairs and more. 

After more than 15 years in the power industry, including eight years in the North American wind industry, Runyan moved overseas for five years to focus on offshore wind development in Japan, where he helped develop one of the country’s largest offshore wind facilities. Following his time in Japan, he also led development of offshore wind projects from The Netherlands.

Now back Stateside, Runyan is responsible for leading the responsible development, engineering and construction of Invenergy’s 

Runyan discusses the state of offshore wind development in the United States, Invenergy’s approach to responsible offshore wind development, and the important role offshore wind can play in the broader clean energy transition.

How would you characterize the state of offshore wind development in the U.S. today? 

 The past couple of years have not been without challenges for offshore wind in the U.S. It’s a relatively new industry in America, so developers, states, and utilities have gone through learning curves to better manage supply chains and inflation headwinds. This includes structuring power purchase agreements (PPA) to accommodate the longer development timelines offshore wind projects require. I would say those headwinds are starting to soften. Invenergy struck its PPA for Leading Light Wind at a good time. We were able to factor in some lessons learned from earlier development efforts, and we are confident in our ability to responsibly deliver this project for the state of New Jersey, and I expect the same for Even Keel Wind and our work in California.

Does the U.S. face unique challenges compared to other offshore wind markets? 

 Europe is definitely further along in its offshore wind journey. They entered this market about 10 years ago, and they have built up a supply chain that can support the industry. Right now, U.S. companies are building out the infrastructure, like offshore installation vessels, to support the industry here. And knowledge in the industry is growing globally, so we can learn from that. I’ve built projects in Japan that also had to go through this supply chain and development learning curve.

What opportunities do you see for U.S. offshore wind?

 Offshore wind has the potential to be a leading energy generation source in the U.S. Offshore wind resources are abundant, and these projects will deliver energy to populations on the East and West Coasts, where it can be more difficult to build other energy generations sources because of denser population centers and more complicated permitting processes. Being able to build far off the coasts but still deliver gigawatts of power to urban areas with increasing energy demands is a great opportunity. 

How would you describe Invenergy’s approach to offshore wind development? 

 We want to build relationships with the communities where we’re developing projects. We’re going to be in those communities for decades. We make sure to hire locally and that the communities we’re involved in will benefit from these projects. Our projects will create thousands of jobs and generate billions in economic benefits throughout their development, construction and operations. 

Invenergy is unique because we are currently the only American-led company developing a multi-project portfolio across U.S. coasts with our Leading Light Wind and Even Keel Wind projects. Our decades of experience developing onshore wind projects has given us the knowledge to permit projects efficiently, work with labor and contractors, build according to U.S. policies and regulations, and we are translating this expertise to our offshore projects.

Offshore wind turbines can have either fixed or floating foundations. Could you discuss the difference between fixed and floating turbines and when each is used? 

 The main difference between a fixed offshore wind turbine and a floating offshore wind turbine is that a fixed turbine’s foundation is secured to the ocean floor, and a floating turbine’s foundation is suspended beneath the surface of the water on a floating platform and anchored to the ocean floor with mooring lines.  

Fixed offshore wind turbines are used in water depths up to about 50 or 60 meters. If you start getting deeper than that, you start looking at floating turbines because it’s more cost efficient to use them in deep waters. Although floating turbine technology is relatively new to the offshore wind industry globally, there are commercially proven projects located in Europe. As the technology and design of these turbines continue to advance, the energy cost per megawatt hour will continue to drop. These turbines provide an excellent opportunity to build projects further offshore where there are some very strong winds.

How does Invenergy develop offshore wind farms in an environmentally responsible way? 

 No matter the technology, Invenergy always takes an environmentally responsible approach to developing our clean energy projects. We plan for environmental considerations from the beginning of development, fund leading-edge environmental research for the industry, and work with government agencies to conduct environmental studies using industry best practices. This continues throughout the construction and operations of our projects.  

For example, as part of the development of our Leading Light Wind offshore project, we recently launched a glider, which is an underwater vehicle, off the coast of New Jersey to study the waters in and around our lease area. During its monthlong mission, the glider shared real-time data about the marine life living in that area. Using that data, we can plan the development, construction and operations of the project to ensure our projects responsibly coexist in a marine environment.

What role do you see offshore wind playing in the broader clean energy future? 

We’re transitioning to a more renewables-powered world. In the U.S., onshore wind, solar, and now offshore wind energy are going to become an even larger part of the domestic energy mix. Offshore wind will contribute to more reliable energy, lower pollution, improve public health and, over time, lower costs in our electric bills. 

What is your vision for Invenergy’s offshore wind portfolio over the next 10 to 15 years?

 We will get our Leading Light Wind and Even Keel Wind projects to their commercial operations dates and continue to pursue new development opportunities both in the U.S. and internationally. As we grow our portfolio and the industry matures, I am excited to continue to bring the economic and environmental benefits of offshore wind to the communities we will serve. 

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U.S. offshore wind development welcomes gusts of opportunity

This Earth Month, Invenergy is proud to spotlight the work of our Environmental Compliance and Strategy (ECS) Team — industry-leading subject matter experts who work across departments to ensure we are responsibly building our projects. The ECS team’s work is foundational to the land-based wind, solar, transmission and offshore wind development we do at Invenergy, and as our portfolio has expanded, so has the team.

Learn more about how the ECS team’s wide breadth of knowledge and commitment to innovation are integral to developing environmentally responsible projects that and building a sustainable world.

Members of the ECS team who support land-based generation projects ensure wind and solar projects comply with applicable environmental laws and regulations, which requires their involvement in the evaluation, siting, building, and operating phases of wind and solar projects across the United States. They are experts in environmental policies established by federal, state, and local regulatory agencies, like the US Fish and Wildlife Services, which inform what approach Invenergy’s land-based wind and solar projects need to follow to responsibly co-exist with local wildlife and natural resources.

A component of the land-based generation teams’ contributions to environmental stewardship is industry-leading research on how wildlife interacts with wind and solar projects across the United States. In recent years the team has conducted and monitored research in California, Wyoming, Illinois, Michigan, and New York related to avian, bat, and pollinator studies. These studies will not only improve our ability to minimize environmental impacts but inform and shape future environmental policies. 

Our land-based team’s core mission is to avoid sensitive environmental areas and minimize project impact, ensuring a necessary balance between the clean energy infrastructure we need to build and the environment we’re trying to protect.

Invenergy is one of the first clean energy developers to build out its own dedicated vegetation management team. This group includes soil scientists who create comprehensive vegetation and soil management plans that are customized for each site. Invenergy’s vegetation management team has conducted soil sampling across all our existing solar sites to inform strategies for regionally appropriate seed mix composition, soil amendment inputs, and topsoil salvage techniques.

Through 2023, the team advised on vegetation management at least 18 solar projects in construction. Establishing suitable vegetation at solar sites may support the local ecosystem by improving soil health, providing wildlife habitats, sequestering carbon, minimizing surface erosion, improving water quality, and the proliferation of noxious and invasive weeds. 

Our transmission projects are key to ensuring we have a reliable grid that can move clean energy to where it’s needed most. From the ECS team’s perspective, these types of projects are different from our work supporting renewable energy generation projects because of their longer development timelines and larger footprints that often span several counties and states. 

The members of the ECS team focused on transmission ensure that projects are thoughtfully sited within the landscape while also building long-term relationships with a variety of stakeholders, including regulatory and resource agencies like the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The transmission team prioritizes building relationships with the Tribal Nations who have a strong connection to the land where our projects are built.

Invenergy is thrilled to bring our expertise to the offshore wind (OSW) space on both U.S. coasts. The team prioritizes working with Tribal Nations to ensure culturally sensitive project development. It also works closely with stakeholders including fisheries and science partnerships to ensure these transformative projects are developed with conservation and marine life at the forefront of our work. 

The offshore team utilizes industry best practices, innovation, and leverages Invenergy’s onshore expertise to ensure our offshore wind projects are developed with minimal impacts to marine ecosystems. Our team helps employ protected species observers on all vessels used for the project and brings innovative tools to track and monitor wildlife in the area. Other examples of the team’s leading-edge approach include testing for fish species by detecting environmental DNA in water samples as well as the recent launch of an underwater glider to explore the waters within and surrounding an offshore wind lease area. These are just a few recent examples of how the work of our ECS OSW team contributes to our industry-leading track record of setting the standard for responsible development.

This Earth Month, and every month, we are grateful for our colleagues on the Environmental Compliance and Strategy team for the work they do to support the responsible development of our clean energy projects. 

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Celebrating Earth Month with the Environmental Compliance and Strategy Team

Energy storage systems bring greater reliability, flexibility and resilience to the electric grid. And as more renewable energy sources like wind and solar continue to penetrate the market, energy storage is an excellent complement to these power sources because of its ability to save excess energy and deploy it when and where more power is needed. 

Like any other energy center, energy storage sites require responsible stewardship to operate effectively. 

, renewable project engineer at Invenergy, took some time recently to discuss how Invenergy handles energy storage safety for the 

 in its current portfolio, the company’s dedication to training first responders, and how he and his team continually strive to be leaders in energy storage safety.

What is Invenergy’s approach to energy storage safety?

 There’s definitely a culture of safety at Invenergy. We start off our construction meetings by highlighting recent “safety moments,” or times where our people were able to avoid or minimize potential issues by following proper safety protocols. This reinforces our safety culture and makes sure we are pausing to think about safety topics on a daily basis. 

For our energy storage sites, we commission safety studies for each of our projects. Using the findings from those reports, we work with experts and local first responders to develop emergency response plans, so we’re prepared for a wide range of situations. 

Who makes up a typical team at one of Invenergy’s energy storage sites?

 We have different folks involved throughout the engineering, construction, and operations of an energy storage site. Everyone working on site is required to understand how the emergency response plans we put in place work and the sequence of what needs to happen in case of an emergency. 

Our engineers and project management teams do a lot of work commissioning fire protection studies with qualified consultants to ensure our sites are safe. These reports look at what’s going to be put in the ground, what the safety code requires, and how we’ll meet or exceed those requirements. 

, which is responsible for developing emergency response plans for personnel at our sites. Those cover what risks you might encounter at different sites, how to react in different situations, who to call, and so on. This team and engineering will work with consultants to develop training and an emergency response plan specifically for first responders. 

Lastly, on the operations side, we designate the first points of contact for Invenergy personnel and first responders if an emergency occurs on site. There is always an employee assigned to the project who can help make technical decisions with first responders and interpret project-specific alarms and data.

Are there any projects you’ve worked on that you feel showcase Invenergy’s commitment to energy storage safety? 

We have a portfolio of energy storage projects we call “Arizona Sun.” To achieve commercial operations with those projects, we adhered to Arizona Public Services’ energy storage safety standards, which are some of the most stringent and well-defined standards in the industry. And while we developed Arizona Sun, we also commissioned studies that are still referenced in the industry safety development groups today as we continue to develop better studies and methodologies for researching batteries. So, I think those are some of the biggest examples of how we are a leader in safety in the industry.

A life and career touched by clean energy

A life and career touched by clean energy

132 results

Let's talk about energy

New FERC rules a first step toward a more modern grid

Workforce development is critical to the clean energy future

Winds of Change

U.S. offshore wind development welcomes gusts of opportunity

Celebrating Earth Month with the Environmental Compliance and Strategy Team

What you should know about energy storage safety

Sidebar Test Four

Sidebar Test Three

Sidebar Test Two

Sidebar Test One

A Look at Invenergy in Japan: Ten Years of Operations and an Expanding Leadership Team

Test Power Lines Post

The Unintended Consequences of Basel III's Latest Reforms

Meet the Invenergy field services operations team

Invenergy Celebrates Veterans and Military Families Month

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Powers Careers and Business Success

A life and career touched by clean energy

Let's talk about energy

New FERC rules a first step toward a more modern grid

Workforce development is critical to the clean energy future

Winds of Change

U.S. offshore wind development welcomes gusts of opportunity

Celebrating Earth Month with the Environmental Compliance and Strategy Team

What you should know about energy storage safety

Sidebar Test Four

Sidebar Test Three

Sidebar Test Two

Sidebar Test One

A Look at Invenergy in Japan: Ten Years of Operations and an Expanding Leadership Team

Test Power Lines Post

The Unintended Consequences of Basel III's Latest Reforms

Meet the Invenergy field services operations team

Invenergy Celebrates Veterans and Military Families Month

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Powers Careers and Business Success