CONFERENCE TOUTS CCA’S ONE YEAR SUCCESSES

New Lithium-Silicon Battery Co wins Giuliani Clean Energy Entrepreneur Award

(Seattle, WA) January 5, 2024– With only three days to go before the start of the 2024 legislative session in Olympia, the sold-out sixth annual Future of Carbon Policy Forum gathered leading businesses, regulators, tribes, environmental justice advocates and others to Amazon’s Seattle headquarters where they learned how Washington’s Climate Commitment Act (CCA) has leveraged over a billion dollars in Federal funding awards since its enactment only a year ago, resulting in significant private investment in clean energy projects statewide.

“The CCA has been in effect for one year and it is doing exactly what it was intended to do,” said Clean & Prosperous Institute’s Executive Director Michael Mann. “It is capping carbon emissions while investing in clean energy, clean transportation and climate-resilience projects in communities across Washington state. These investments have already leveraged over a billion dollars in Federal grant awards.”

Joined by members of the Washington State Legislature as well as Governor Jay Inslee, the Institute awarded the 3rd annual Patricia and David Giuliani Clean Energy Entrepreneur Award to Group14 which plans to put a $100 million U.S. Department of Energy grant toward construction of its second commercial Battery Active Materials factory (BAM-2), in Moses Lake, WA, which is expected to be the world’s largest factory for advanced silicon battery technology.

Group14 CTO and Co-Founder Rick Constantino said, “We are honored to be receiving this important award recognizing our groundbreaking work to bring advanced silicon battery materials to the world.”

“We founded this company to enable the electrification of everything – from tiny medical, consumer and commercial devices to all kinds of transportation,” continued Constantino. “Our scalable modular manufacturing process eliminates the barriers that have slowed the world’s transition to an all-electric future.”

The group also heard from Fortescue Energy’s North American CEO, Andrew Vesey, on its plan to build a green hydrogen production plant in Centralia, as the anchor of the PNW Hydrogen Hub. There was also strong representation from several of Washington’s tribes including Tribally-owned Yakama Power which is leveraging $20 million in CCA funding to finance the Yakama Solar Canal project and the Colville Tribe’s forest sequestration project, the largest in Washington state.

In Olympia, legislators from across the state will soon convene to allocate additional investments from the Climate Commitment Act. A distinguished panel of lawmakers from both chambers previewed the decisions that are expected. State Senator Rebecca Saldaña spoke about the continued need to address the ongoing housing and mental health crisis in order to tackle climate change. “It takes us all – politicians, business leaders, community leaders, and community members most impacted – to find solutions that are healthy and healing for all,” said Saldaña. State Senator Joe Nguyen and State Representative Joe Fitzgibbon spoke about the importance of investing in our state’s transportation infrastructure to both decarbonize and modernize existing transportation systems.

Additional information and photos from the Forum and the Annual David and Patricia Giuliani Clean Energy Entrepreneur Award can be found here. This year’s nominees were First Mode, Modern Hydrogen, and Group14. Media: Please contact Lee Keller for interviews at 206.799.3805 or lee@thekellergroup.com.

More About Clean & Prosperous Institute

At Clean & Prosperous Institute (formerly the Low Carbon Prosperity Institute), we embrace the entrepreneurial spirit to responsibly tackle climate change and carbon reduction at the state level. We leverage resources, prioritize truth-telling, and strive for improved government and private-sector collaboration. Our core focus is system design, delivering technically accurate, long-term greenhouse gas reduction strategies that guide policy decisions. We thoroughly explore opportunities and complex risk factors associated with crafting climate policy from the state level upward. We strongly believe in the power of business leadership, bipartisan problem-solving, and data-driven public policy.

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