Clean Energy EXPO 2025: Next-Generation Generation

The 28th Congressional Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency EXPO and Policy Forum was held on Thursday, July 24, 2025. The event was hosted by the Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI), with the House and Senate Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (REEE) Caucuses serving as honorary co-hosts. It featured eight panels, including Next-Generation Generation.

Connor Dolan, Vice President of External Affairs, Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Energy Association (FCHEA)

Karl Hausker, Senior Fellow, Polsky Energy Center, World Resources Institute (WRI)

Highlights

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Permitting reform through National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) modernization should focus on reducing duplication of analysis and review processes and on litigation reform.
The advancement of clean energy generation projects to a commercial stage in the United States requires an enabling policy landscape.
Early government buy-in is essential to successful commercialization and implementation of new technologies.

Connor Dolan, Vice President of External Affairs, Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Energy Association (FCHEA)

Today, 95% of U.S. hydrogen production comes from natural gas. Cleaner forms of hydrogen can be produced from water using solar, geothermal, and nuclear energy.
Hydrogen can be used to reduce carbon emissions in industrial manufacturing, from replacing fossil fuels as a heat source for the production of building materials to generating clean ammonia and fertilizer. Hydrogen also has a role in energy generation and storage.
More than 15,000 hydrogen fuel cell-powered cars are on U.S. roads and 70,000 hydrogen-powered forklifts are in operation in U.S. warehouses today.
The advancement of clean energy generation projects to a commercial stage in the United States requires an enabling policy landscape.

Lisa Epifani, Head of Policy, ClearPath

Modernizing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) (P.L. 91-190) is key to permitting reform. NEPA modernization should focus on reducing duplication of analysis and review processes—for example, for projects that are subject to both NEPA and Clean Water Act requirements. Currently, a NEPA review takes three to five years.
Permitting processes can also be expedited through litigation reform, namely by limiting the scope of NEPA challenges that can be brought against federal agencies.
The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory created PermitAI, a one-stop-shop digital platform that significantly accelerates information-gathering processes required by NEPA.
Early government buy-in is essential to successful commercialization and implementation of new technologies. Solar panel technology, for example, began in the United States, but China has since taken the lead in that market.

Karl Hausker, Senior Fellow, Polsky Energy Center, World Resources Institute (WRI)

The U.S. power grid requires new energy sources, especially to meet new demand from artificial intelligence and data centers.
While solar and wind are the cheapest sources of electricity when considered in isolation, decision-makers should consider renewable energy sources as a team that can produce the lowest system costs.
Advanced geothermal is a clean and reliable energy source, and encompasses enhanced geothermal, closed-loop geothermal, and superhot geothermal (the latter of which is currently in the research stage). Notably, the hydraulic fracturing involved in enhanced geothermal is significantly different from that used for oil and gas production.

Compiled by Jasmine Wynn and edited for clarity and length. This is not a transcript.