Energy Infrastructure

Large-scale energy demand growth is occurring at a pace and scale that presents significant challenges to the current U.S. energy grid in ways that could undermine American innovation and technological advancement. Solving the energy crisis will require enacting the right policies by lawmakers combined with innovation from the private sector. TechNet’s members remain committed to collaborating with the U.S. government to build secure and resilient energy infrastructure that supports the digital ecosystem, empowers communities, drives job creation, and solidifies America’s competitive advantage in the global economy.

TechNet supports sound energy policies that address this crisis based on global geopolitical engagement, cooperation, and accountability. TechNet further supports advanced energy policies that foster and promote a business climate that enables innovation while mitigating the impact of new regulations on the economic prosperity of our nation and the world. TechNet member companies are committed to addressing the energy crisis and leading by example through innovation and sustainability efforts while driving the public policy discussion toward more reliable and efficient energy infrastructure to power the future.

A whole-of-government approach should be developed to map, optimize, and manage the approval process for large-scale energy infrastructure paired with dedicated energy generation. The private sector has the financial resources to build the required data and energy infrastructure, but governments at all levels must prioritize, coordinate, and streamline the pathway to bringing online the required data and energy infrastructure. Currently, the complex regulatory and approval stack across local, state, and federal governments is a significant barrier to building the necessary infrastructure at the appropriate pace and scale.

TechNet supports technology-neutral, market-based policies that address the energy crisis and that: accelerate the deployment of emerging energy technologies; promote innovation; bring competition to the renewable energy market; and base policy development off of science-based guidelines and benchmarks.

TechNet calls for the following actions:

• Congress should pass comprehensive permitting reform legislation to resolve the inefficiencies of the U.S. permitting process.
• A federal electricity policy that will drive investments in new renewable energy generation, and investments to improve grid reliability, modernization, and resilience. Such investments will support providing businesses with the energy capacity to make needed investments at the scale and speed necessary.
• State and federal governments should prioritize removal of regulatory and process barriers to energy deployment, including by implementing generation and transmission permitting reform.
• The federal government should prioritize preservation of technology-neutral energy tax credits to ensure appropriate long-term incentive structures enable accelerated deployment of new energy resources.
• The federal government should support the export of American energy technologies through a coordinated approach across government, including increased financing, loans to allies, and tax incentives.
• The federal government should prioritize modernizing federally-owned data center infrastructure and build new data centers with next-generation hardware and software to consolidate activities in older, inefficient data centers that would lower costs, cut energy consumption, and promote sustainability.
• We support research that would help industry increase data center energy efficiency and sustainability operations.
• We support efforts by the administration to increase the domestic supply of rare earth minerals through a whole-of-government approach.
• Policymakers should focus on ensuring that all communities are able to also benefit from energy grid modernization and optimization efforts for low-cost, reliable energy.
• Specific policies should promote the adoption of hydrogen and other sources of clean energy for hard-to-decarbonize sectors like heavy-duty transport, steelmaking, and other chemical and industrial processes.
• On the roads, there should be renewed investments made in climate infrastructure and clean transportation, including the national buildout of public charging infrastructure, and incentive programs to encourage their development. In the skies, policymakers should prioritize the establishment of regulatory frameworks that will allow for the adoption and scaling of clean transportation alternatives, such as adoption of a Beyond Visual Line of Sight rule to enable advanced drone operations that represent clean, all-electric alternatives to traditional modes of infrastructure inspection, last-mile delivery, and to support public safety.
• The federal government should continue to work with public utilities and the private sector to source sustainable, reliable energy for its buildings and operations.
• State and federal resources should be invested in energy science, technology research, and development efforts to build a pathway forward through innovation.
• The federal government should provide tax incentives to promote the adoption of new energy technologies.
• Support policies that enable deployment of advanced technologies on the grid at scale, such as new nuclear, hydrogen, geothermal, and utility-scale storage solutions.
• Policies that promote market competition by enabling the faster interconnection of distributed energy resources.
• Adoption by the federal government of advanced energy technologies and clean transportation that can improve the mission of federal agencies.
• Seek global harmonization and adoption of commonsense carbon accounting rules.
• Fair, public, and equal access to energy data to enable industry and empower consumers to deploy and utilize emerging energy solutions effectively and have insight into real-time grid conditions.
• Encourage public-private partnerships to provide skills and job training that support the digital transition.
• Ensure ICT/IT (including networks) is properly defined as a sustainable activity to support sustainable finance investments in this critical sector.
• Encourage government policies that incentivize water stewardship and encourage the use of AI and IoT for monitoring water systems and enhancing infrastructure resilience.
• Encourage policies and financial incentives for business models that extend the lifespan of products.
• Encourage policymakers to pass legislation that would bring the United States into compliance with the Basel Convention governing transboundary shipments of e-waste.
• Develop and align internationally-recognized standards for sustainable public procurement.