Clean Grid Alliance

ADVANCE RENEWABLE ENERGY IN THE MIDWEST BY APPLYING TECHNICAL EXPERTISE & BUILDING SUPPORT TO EXPAND CLEAN ENERGY MARKETS

PUBLIC EDUCATION. TO HELP REACH THE POINT OF BROAD ACCEPTANCE OF RENEWABLES, ONGOING PUBLIC EDUCATION AND OUTREACH IS CRITICAL. CGA STRIVES TO BE THE 'GO-TO' SOURCE OF RELIABLE, FACT-BASED INFORMATION ABOUT RENEWABLES IN THE MIDWEST. SPECIFICALLY: - CGA'S MEDIA ACTIVITY RESULTED IN 158 MEDIA PLACEMENTS IN 2022, A 98.7% INCREASE OVER 2021. MEDIA HITS REACHED AN ESTIMATED AUDIENCE OF MORE THAN 13 MILLION PEOPLE. - CGA LAUNCHED A GRID RELIABILITY CAMPAIGN, INCLUDING 14 DIFFERENT SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS, 5 EDUCATIONAL VIDEOS, 9 FACT SHEETS AND 4 OP-ED PLACEMENTS. THE ASSOCIATED DIGITAL AD CAMPAIGN RESULTED IN MORE THAN 200,000 IMPRESSIONS, WITH OVER 111,000 PEOPLE WATCHING THE ENTIRE VIDEO FOR A COMPLETION RATE OF 54.10%. - THE CGA WEBSITE RECEIVED NEARLY 74,000 PAGE VIEWS IN 2022. - DIRECT WEBSITE ACQUISITIONS WERE UP NEARLY 37% OVER 2021, AND REFERRAL LINKS TO THE WEBSITE WERE UP 17%. - WE CONTINUED USING NONPROFIT MEGAPHONE (NPM) TO ADMINISTER THE NONPROFIT GOOGLE ADWORDS PROGRAM. THE PROGRAM HAS DELIVERED: 225,223 AD IMPRESSIONS OVER 18,000 CLICK-THROUGHS TO OUR WEBSITE CGA'S LINKEDIN SOCIAL MEDIA CHANNEL FOLLOWING GREW 91% IN 2022, GROWING TO OVER 1,000 FOLLOWERS. ORGANIZATIONAL SUSTAINABILITY. CGA CONTINUES TO ATTRACT NEW MEMBERS AND HAVE ROBUST PARTICIPATION FROM BOTH NEW AND EXISTING MEMBERS. CGA STAFF IS CONTINUALLY WORKING WITH BOTH NGO AND FOR-PROFIT MEMBERS TO CREATE EFFECTIVE WAYS TO APPROACH OUR WORK AND ALIGN PRIORITIES IN THE CGA FOOTPRINT. SPECIFICALLY, IN 2022 CGA: - ADDED SEVEN NEW MEMBERS, REACHING AN ALL-TIME HIGH OF 57 MEMBERS. - RECEIVED A "CLEAN" AUDIT FOR OPERATING YEAR 2022.

TRANSMISSION. TRANSMISSION IS VITAL TO CGA'S MISSION OF DEVELOPING RENEWABLES AND REDUCING CARBON EMISSIONS. EXPANDING THE DEPLOYMENT AND INTEGRATION OF COST EFFECTIVE RENEWABLES ON THE GRID INCLUDES PARTICIPATING IN STAKEHOLDER PROCESSES AND ADVOCATING FOR RENEWABLE ENERGY AT THE MIDCONTINENT INDEPENDENT SYSTEM OPERATOR (MISO REGIONAL "GRID" OPERATOR), STIMULATING MARKET CONDITIONS THAT SUPPORT OR ENHANCE THE USE OF RENEWABLE ENERGY ACROSS THE MISO FOOTPRINT, AND ACTIVATING OUR MEMBERS TO STRATEGIZE AND PARTICIPATE IN TRANSMISSION PLANNING, CREATING NEW MARKET RULES, AND ADDRESSING OPERATIONS ISSUES AT MISO. OUR MISO TEAM WORKED ON OVERCOMING COST BARRIERS, STREAMLINING PROCESSES TO BE MORE EFFICIENT AND REDUCE TIME, AND ALLEVIATE CONGESTION. SIGNIFICANT ACHIEVEMENTS FROM THE YEAR INCLUDE: - 98 MISO/REGULATORY COMMENTS FILED; 211 CALLS/MEETINGS ON MISO-RELATED MATTERS; - COORDINATED AND GENERATED SUPPORT WITH MISO, TRANSMISSION OWNERS, STATE COMMISSIONS AND OTHER STAKEHOLDERS ON MISO'S LONG RANGE TRANSMISSION PLAN PORTFOLIO OF 18 NEW TRANSMISSION LINES, WHICH WAS APPROVED ON JULY 25, 2022. THE LINES WILL ENABLE 53 GW OF RENEWABLE ENERGY. - REMOVING STORAGE DISPATCH IN THE SHOULDER INTERCONNECTION STUDIES. THIS WORK, PLUS THE LRTP LINES AND THE STORAGE MARKET MODEL ENABLED 32 GW OF STORAGE IN THE 2022 QUEUE CYCLE. - SUCCESSFULLY STOPPED EFFORTS TO ALLOW STORAGE AS A TRANSMISSION ONLY ASSET TO PARTICIPATE IN THE MARKET, WHICH WOULD HAVE ENABLED UNFAIR COMPETITION BY TRANSMISSION OWNERS. - CONTINUING ADVOCACY IN THE LEGAL CASES RELATED TO THE CARDINAL-HICKORY CREEK TRANSMISSION LINE.

STATE POLICY. THROUGH STATE POLICY WORK, OUR STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE IS TO STIMULATE MARKET CONDITIONS THAT CREATE A DEMAND FOR RENEWABLES AND SUPPORT OR ENHANCE THE USE OF EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES THROUGH POLICY INITIATIVES AT STATE LEGISLATURES. THIS YEAR, CGA'S POLICY TEAM FOCUSED ON TAXES (REAL AND PERSONAL), SITING STANDARDS, PERMITTING REFORM, VEGETATION MANAGEMENT PRACTICES (PARTICULARLY FOR SOLAR FACILITIES), STATE TRANSMISSION POLICIES, RELIABILITY/RESILIENCY OF THE ELECTRIC GRID AND A NUMBER OF POLICIES THAT WOULD DRIVE DEMAND FOR UTILITY-SCALE RENEWABLE RESOURCES THROUGH UTILITY INTEGRATED RESOURCE PLANS. BELOW ARE SOME KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS: - SUCCEEDED IN GETTING THE MIDWEST'S FIRST STATEWIDE SITING BILL PASSED IN INDIANA. THE BILL ESTABLISHES VOLUNTARY SITING GUIDELINES FOR WIND AND SOLAR PROJECTS. - SUCCESSFULLY AMENDED THE SALES AND USE TAX EXEMPTION FOR SOLAR ASSETS AND ADDED IT TO A BILL SIGNED BY GOV. PARSON. - INCLUDED AN AMENDMENT INTO MISSOURI HB 2005 THAT ALLOWED GRAIN BELT EXPRESS TO MOVE FORWARD. THE LEGISLATION ALSO ESTABLISHES PARAMETERS FOR FUTURE MERCHANT TRANSMISSION LINES SEEKING TO USE EMINENT DOMAIN. THE BILL WAS SIGNED INTO LAW. - FOLLOWING INTERVENTION FROM CGA AND SOLAR ADVOCATES, A POTENTIALLY HARMFUL SOLAR PRODUCT STEWARDSHIP BILL IN MINNESOTA WAS REMOVED FROM A LARGER ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES POLICY BILL. - SOUTH DAKOTA GOVERNOR NOEM SIGNED SB36 WHICH REQUIRES FINANCIAL SECURITY FOR DECOMMISSIONING OF SOLAR FACILITIES. - SUBMITTED A LETTER OPPOSING IOWA SF-2127 THAT STOPPED IT FROM MOVING FORWARD. THE BILL APPLIES TO AGRICULTURAL LAND USE FOR SOLAR. - WILL COUNTY, ILLINOIS ADOPTED CGA'S RECOMMENDATION THAT BATTERY STORAGE COMPLY WITH SITING STANDARDS APPLICABLE TO THE GENERATION WITH WHICH IT IS CO-LOCATED. - STOOD UP POWERING WISCONSIN TO ENSURE LONG-TERM SUCCESS IN THE STATE. - CGA'S ADVOCACY IN THE ILLINOIS ENERGY STORAGE REPORT RESULTED IN THE ADDITION OF 600 MW OF NEW BATTERY STORAGE BY 2026.