Delivering Value by Sticking to Our Values
As we kick off the new year, the clean energy industry is facing an unusual trio of circumstances. Customer demand for carbon-free power is at an all-time high. The Inflation Reduction Act has laid the groundwork for decades of growth that will transform our nation’s economy and help create a sustainable world for future generations. And yet, supply chain constraints and delays – whether caused by Covid, rising commodity prices, trade issues, or concerns about human rights – loom large and threaten to limit the availability of new renewable energy projects for the next few years.
At Clearway, helping our customers achieve their clean energy goals is a top priority, and we are deeply engaged on multiple fronts to ensure we continue to deliver on our obligations and commitments. When helping our customers strategize about ways to meet their renewable energy goals in a challenged market, we propose advanced projects with reduced risk of delays through our established relationships with top-tier equipment suppliers or through unique opportunities such as the repowering existing facilities. We also have a robust pipeline of early-to-intermediate stage projects with commercial operation dates that will benefit from the domestic supply of equipment, driving down risk and taking advantage of bonus tax credits.
Specifically, we’re positioning ourselves to deliver value by pursuing tax credits for projects that source equipment from domestic manufacturers for projects beyond 2025. Earlier this year Clearway took a leadership role in creating the Solar Buyers Consortium, and we are exploring similar strategies for other technologies.
Developing domestic manufacturing capacity will take time. In the near term, the investments we have made in establishing strong relationships with top-tier equipment suppliers are bearing fruit and enabling us to continue to bring new generations online. In a similar vein, our commitment to traceability and factory inspections – combined with the fact that we’ve renegotiated our supply contracts to avoid exposure under the Uighur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) – have kept us on solid footing amidst regulatory uncertainty. Nevertheless, global markets continue to grow ever more complex, and we actively monitor commodity and logistics risks to help protect our customers from price swings and supply chain upsets.
Our customers can have confidence in our robust, multi-technology pipeline that spans 24 states, and our commitment to developing long-term partnerships based on contract structures that are designed to balance risk with reward and reduce transaction costs.
Sustainability is about focusing on the long term and is a deeply held value at Clearway. We help our customers achieve their ESG targets by delivering clean energy solutions while upholding our own commitments to ESG and DEI while supporting local, environmentally aware, diverse, and small businesses through our Clearway LEADS policy, and contributing to the economic and social vitality of the communities that host our projects.
Ultimately, being a good corporate citizen is our most fundamental value. As we work to help shape the future of our industry through leadership roles in key trade associations, we also strive to be good stewards of the environment, good neighbors, and to cultivate a trustworthy reputation in the communities where we live and work. We believe that these values will ensure the sustainability of our company while advancing the clean energy transition that will transform our world.