Transition Finance Weekly - 6/20/2025
Remembering Rep. Melissa Hortman, B(e)YONCE for Data Centers, Texas Microgrids
SPOTLIGHT: Honoring the Life and Leadership of Minnesota Representative Melissa Hortman
We begin this week’s edition by honoring the memory and service of Minnesota House Representative and Speaker Emeritus Melissa Hortman — a true leader — who was assassinated alongside her husband Mark last weekend.
Rep. Hortman was the driving force behind climate action in Minnesota, shepherding through legislation that established Minnesota’s clean electricity standard, subsidies for clean tech and electric vehicles, environmental justice initiatives, and so much more. Minnesota’s reputation for climate progress is due in no small part to her leadership.
Violence has no place in our politics. We stand with so many across the country in being deeply saddened and shocked at this brazen, hateful act. And we remain hopeful that America will transcend this dark political chapter and progress into the cleaner, better future that Rep. Hortman was building.
From Minnesota clean energy advocates Fresh Energy: “It would be impossible to overstate the impact that Melissa had on clean energy and climate policy in Minnesota. . . . As a leader, Melissa set the standard for an inclusive approach to policymaking in Minnesota and served as a role model for many making their career in public service.”
1. Oregon Notches a Bipartisan Climate Win
Both houses have passed a bill providing more emissions transparency for pensions.
On Monday, the Oregon legislature passed HB 2081A, giving Oregon’s Treasury the green light to analyze and manage climate risks impacting Oregon’s Public Employees Retirement Fund. This bill passed with bipartisan support and the support of major labor unions representing the fund's beneficiaries. Next stop is the governor, who is expected to sign it into law.
The Oregon State Treasury manages over $101 billion in assets on behalf of retirees, the 17th largest retirement fund (OPERF) in the U.S. This bill affirms OST’s fiduciary responsibility and encourages them to capitalize on profitable investments in clean energy and support the transition to a cleaner energy future.
It’s worth celebrating Oregon’s legislature for joining California, Illinois, New York State, and New York City in taking a big step forward to manage climate risk and embrace the opportunities of the energy transition, even as other states try to ban risk-aware investing (we see you, Wyoming).
Oregon State Treasurer Elizabeth Steiner: “Global markets are making the transition to cleaner sources of energy that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, provide cleaner air and water, and protect our communities. The Climate Resilience Investment Act protects employee retirement funds by enabling Treasury’s investments to take full advantage of the opportunities the clean energy transition creates.”
2. B(e)YONCE for Data Centers!
How an emerging energy model could reshape the data center debate.
This week, Meta signed a deal with geothermal energy company XGS Energy to build a 150 MW geothermal power plant in New Mexico that could be online by 2030 to power their data center operations in the state. This is a win for the state’s energy grid and a boost to geothermal energy, a vastly underutilized clean energy source.
The partnership is also a win for the growing “Bring Your Own New Clean Energy” (BYONCE) model, where big energy users develop new local clean energy capacity, either by building it themselves or working directly with utility providers. Either way, BYONCE spells relief for families facing their monthly bills, the grid, and the climate.
Meta’s not off the hook though. Some of its data centers run on 100% clean energy via virtual power purchase agreements, but others still run on gas. But the BYONCE model is a step forward in shifting the costs and externalities of the data center boom away from consumers and communities — and folks are clearly having fun with it!
3. Better, Bigger Batteries
Battery storage makes the grid more reliable, and its impact is accelerating.
NERC’s new State of Reliability report confirms what grid operators already know: improved battery storage is making the U.S. grid more reliable.
Batteries help smooth renewable energy supply by storing midday solar power and releasing it during evening peak demand. When conventional generation breaks down, battery power can cover demand. In Texas, battery storage cut ERCOT’s summer blackout risk from 12% last year to just 0.3%.
But some battery storage companies are canceling projects, responding to the anti-renewable chill emanating from GOP state and national politicians. This could mean reduced reliability the next time a storm hits a place like Texas.
Joseph Osha of Guggenheim Securities: “It’s like a canary in a coal mine. These [smaller developers] are probably the guys that are most sensitive to uncertainty.”
4. Texas Greenlights $1.8 Billion for Microgrids
Surprisingly, they’re giving renewables a fair chance.
Despite an overall hostile legislative session, Texas lawmakers authorized a tech-neutral $1.8 billion fund to deploy microgrids for backup power at critical facilities like hospitals, nursing homes, and water treatment plants. Renewables can compete directly with fossil fuels for a piece of the action.
With fresh memories of summer brownouts and 2021’s deadly winter storm that brought widespread power outages after gas plants failed, Texans want energy they can count on. Microgrids that harness renewables and storage can and do deliver, as even the U.S. military knows.
Doug Lewin, Texas-based energy expert: “I think one of the most important things that happened this session is this really broad-based business coalition communicating to anyone who would listen that these policies trying to restrict development of renewables aren’t helpful.”
5. Big Terrible Budget Puts Millions of Jobs At Risk
Senate reconciliation proposal keeps draconian cuts to clean energy.
The budget bill is now making its way through the Senate, tweaked slightly to soften some impacts on renewable energy companies, but it still spells disaster for clean energy and American jobs.
New BlueGreen Alliance analysis confirms what climate and labor advocates have warned: the House proposal would eliminate more than 2 million jobs, gutting the very clean energy and manufacturing sectors that have boomed thanks to the IRA.
Hardest-hit states include California (329,000 jobs lost), Georgia (258,000), and Michigan (226,000), along with smaller GOP-aligned states that have seen surging manufacturing investment for battery plants, renewable energy, and EV factories.
The bill, of course, also slashes America’s social safety net, meaning that as workers lose their jobs, they may not have access to Medicaid and SNAP to keep their families afloat.
From the Blue Green Alliance: “As the Senate drafts their bill, Senators would be wise to consider the chilling effect that removing market certainty could have by undermining manufacturing businesses in their states, and ask themselves how many constituent jobs lost is a billionaire tax break worth.”