At White House, Hansen Attends Summit on Modernizing the Power Grid
WASHINGTON, DC - Senator Chris Hansen, D-Denver, traveled to the White House today to attend a summit and participate in a state lawmaker panel discussion on modernizing America’s power grid.
Hansen discussed his legislation to help Colorado leverage hundreds of millions of federal dollars from the Inflation Reduction Act to expand the state’s use of distributed community solar generation, and his bill to modernize and prepare the electric grid for the future.
“Climate change is impacting our lives every day, and I am laser-focused on preventing the worst consequences of climate change and ensuring an equitable clean-energy transition for our state,” said Hansen. “We need a strong electricity system to make sure we can reduce emissions, lower consumer costs, and improve reliability. I was proud to discuss my legislation to do that today at the White House, and I look forward to continuing my work to update and modernize our grid while supporting the transition to clean energy and saving folks money on their energy bills.”
At the Summit, the White House announced further federal action to deliver a clean and reliable electric grid. The Federal-State Modern Grid Deployment Initiative aims to bring together states, federal entities, and power sector stakeholders to help drive grid adaptation quickly and cost-effectively meet the challenges and opportunities that the power sector faces in the twenty-first century.
This year, Hansen also passed legislation to require state agencies, at the request of a local or tribal government, to provide technical support concerning renewable energy projects like wind and solar and coordinate with local experts to create a set of best-practice local codes for new development.
In 2023 Hansen led the charge to improve greenhouse gas reductions by establishing a goal for Colorado to reach 100 percent net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050, an ambitious, yet achievable, goal that aligns with the global scientific consensus.