Regulation, Solar, Wind  -  June 28, 2016

Report: US, Canada, Mexico will pledge to be 50% powered by clean energy by 2025

U.S. President Barack Obama, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto are reportedly planning to announce a new, regional clean power goal this week.

Multiple news outlets reported that the leaders, which are scheduled to meet at summit in Ottawa on June 29, will pledge to have their countries derive 50% of their power from renewable energy sources by 2025. Citing the White House, Reuters reported June 27 that the path toward that goal would include hydropower, wind, solar and nuclear generation, carbon capture and storage, and energy efficiency initiatives. 

"We believe this is an aggressive goal, but for all three countries, one that we believe is achievable, continent-wide," Reuters quoted Brian Deese, a senior adviser to Obama, as saying. 

The 50% goal, Reuters said, applies to the three countries collectively; the U.S., for instance, would not necessarily need to shift its own generation mix to 50%. Currently, the countries collectively derive about 37% of their power from clean sources: the U.S. is at about one-third clean power and Mexico is less than 20%, while Canada generates 81% of its electricity from clean power, Reuters reported. 

The news comes just days after the owner of California's largest nuclear power plant announced it would close the two reactors there before 2020; that announcement was only the most recent in a wave of U.S. nuclear generation closures and retirement announcements. Certain energy industry observers and nuclear generation proponents have long argued that the U.S. may have a difficult time meeting clean energy objectives without the use of nuclear power.