In the past few months, Utah’s Governor’s Office of Energy Development (OED) has solidified key international partnerships with Canada, Mexico, India and Japan that will further energy collaboration across policy, development, education and innovation for years to come.
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CANADA: In July, OED, in partnership with School and Institutional Trust Lands Association and the Utah Legislature, met with Canadian government stakeholders and energy executives to talk about exporting minerals and other products out of Canada. Encana and other energy companies have financial stake in Utah, and up to ten percent of crude refined in Utah is from Canada.
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MEXICO: In August, the Mexican State of Baja California signed a Memorandum of Understanding on energy, uniting with the Western States and Tribal Nations (WSTN). Utah is a leading founder of WSTN in trying to work with Baja California on getting natural gas to markets abroad, which will inevitably economically help the whole western region. Following the Governor’s trade mission to Mexico in 2018, OED signed an MOU with Baja California which laid the foundation for greater regional collaboration in the West.
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INDIA: Also in August, OED and the Energy Department of Rajasthan India created the Utah-Rajasthan Energy Cooperation Agreement in order to collaborate on energy research, policy, business, and modernization. India has ambitious energy goals, wanting to implement 175 GW of renewable energy within the next three years through coal flexing and strategic planning. In the last four years, Utah’s renewable output has grown by 150 percent. The arid regions share similar shifting markets as well as similar topographical challenges. Both areas want to learn from each other in order to continue wise planning for diverse energy resources that serve a resilient grid.
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JAPAN: In September, OED organized key meetings in Tokyo and Takasago Japan as part of the Governor’s Trade Mission to Asia, including site visits with senior executives at Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems (MHPS) and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. Following key meetings and introductions facilitated by OED across the past two years, in May, Gov. Herbert joined executives from MHPS and Utah-based Magnum Development at the Governor’s Energy Summit to announce the companies’ plans to build the largest renewable energy storage project in the world in Delta, UT.
“With an unparalleled energy ecosystem of wise policy, diverse resources, innovative technologies and world-class research institutions, OED is committed to forging partnerships across stakeholders locally, nationally and globally,” said Dr. Laura Nelson, Executive Director of the Utah Governor’s OED in her Q3 Newsletter. “To identify and lead on solutions that can provide a sustainable energy future for all.”