Federal officials tout Central Florida’s clean-energy future in Orlando visit

White House officials and clean energy leaders gathered Wednesday at the Orlando Science Center touting the importance of the sector in Central Florida, despite concerns from some local residents.

Gina McCarthy, America is All In Managing Co-Chair, former White House national climate advisor and former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency administrator, and other federal officials, spoke about the importance of clean energy for Florida’s economy, residents and disaster preparedness.

The push in clean energy is backed by the over-$700-billion Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law by President Joe Biden in August 2022, which establishes funding, rebates and tax credits for clean energy use by citizens, businesses and local governments.

“Clean energy really is our future,” McCarthy said. “Florida knows that we have to move in this direction. They experience the impacts of our failure to move earlier.”

Chris Castro, chief of staff for the office of state and community energy programs at the U.S. Department of Energy and Orlando’s former director of sustainability and resilience, said Orlando has a unique advantage to make the transition to clean energy more cost-effective due to owning the Orlando Utilities Commission.

“The good news is that because of the Inflation Reduction Act and the tax credits that are now made available, it’s going to be more cost-effective to transition away from coal,” Castro said. “It will take time and that’s a challenge but it’s also an incredible opportunity for us to actually create jobs to do that locally.”

Castro said clean energy in the form of solar panels and batteries can help ease power outages often seen during or after hurricanes.

McCarthy said crop losses and threats to the water supply due to climate change cost the state billions of dollars, money that could be better used to invest in clean energy to stop the effects of climate change.

“If we can make that shift to clean energy we can grow jobs, we’re going to grow a healthier economy, we’re going to make our country more stable and we’re going to actually ensure that the damages we’re seeing today don’t continue to escalate into more damages frequently,” McCarthy said.

Clean energy has had pushback from residents in Osceola County after neighbors held rallies and signed petitions against a France-Based company’s clean energy park project near their neighborhood. CMG Clean Tech has been in negotiations with the county since March about purchasing an over 300-acre property to manufacture clean energy products. Neighbors of the proposed clean energy park cite concerns over the safety of a proposed hydrogen plant and its proximity to homes, which caused the company to move locations within the county.

McCarthy said as the switch to manufacturing clean energy products increases, it’s important for companies to have an open dialogue with residents.

“I think the Inflation Reduction Act was very clear that communities need to have a voice,” McCarthy said. “You have to give people a voice if we’re directing manufacturing and other things to these areas and so we’re seeing that sort of tension play out in a lot of places.”

In order for manufacturing clean energy products near neighborhoods to work, McCarthy said there has to be concerted obligations to limit pollution in the communities and ensure those living nearby are the first to get the jobs.

Castro said the Department of Energy requires companies that receive a grant create a community benefit agreement.

“That requires the entity to work with the community and tell us as the DOE how benefits will flow from economics, job benefits, and health benefits and energy-saving benefits,” Castro said. “There’s ways that the private companies can actually take these grants and these investments and actually support those communities.”

Federal efforts face resistance from Gov. Ron DeSantis who, in June, vetoed $346 million in grants for energy-saving home upgrades under the Inflation Reduction Act.

DeSantis’ veto drew backlash from state Democrats and U.S. Rep. Darren Soto, who also supports CMG Clean Tech’s clean energy project in Osceola County. On Tuesday, Democrats urged the U.S. Department of Energy to let local officials distribute the funds.

Critics say DeSantis vetoed this and other energy-saving bills in an effort to appeal to Iowa voters, who manufacture much of the ethanol used in the U.S. for gasoline and in January will be the first voters to cast ballots for the Republican presidential nominee.

Kristina Costa, deputy assistant to the president for clean energy innovation and implementation, spoke to the crowd of over 100 at the clean energy gathering Wednesday and said, despite DeSantis’ veto of the energy-saving rebate program, the funding could be available at a later date.

Costa said the veto only pushed back the funding that was available earlier and put it back into the overall allocation.

“Now the state has to decide whether they’re going to apply for that funding or reject that funding by next August,” Costa said. “So we hope very much that these rebates will be available to Floridians because it’s really just about saving folks money on their energy bills and helping give families some more breathing room.”