Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm recently traveled to Tampa to speak about clean energy innovation and implementation across various industries.
Tampa is the location of the Hillsborough Dam, which is expected to generate large amounts of electricity to help the region reach 100% clean energy by 2035.
"There are about 90,000 dams across the country only three percent of them actually generate electricity," Granholm said in a recent FOX13 report. "Fifty percent of them could, but only three percent of them do. The Biden administration is very much focused on this issue of cost and bringing down prices and one way of doing that is to make sure we have as much renewable clean energy on the grid as we possibly can."
The power generated by the dam and other renewable sources has various benefits in addition to being better for the environment, including the fact that it's easy to access and affordable—when implemented correctly.
“Clean power, renewable power — which hydroelectric power is — is the cheapest form of power,” Granholm said in a recent WTSP report. “And we want to reduce costs for everyday citizens, particularly at this moment when the price of fuel…is so high.”
Tampa and the surrounding region are areas of focus for the Department of Energy due to the urban setting and openness to clean and renewable energy.
“An amazing amount of coalitions are being built here at USF to ensure that we have clean cities and that we’re thinking about how transportation intersects with those cities – infrastructure, training, making sure people are comfortable with electric vehicles, making sure the research is done to ensure the right placement for example, of charging stations – all of that intellectual work and the students who are working on that, it’s a very exciting time to be here at this university in a state that has so much potential,” Granholm said in a recent University of South Florida release.
Granholm was welcomed to Tampa by U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, who tweeted, "Welcome to the Sunshine State @SecGranholm! @JaneCastor and I are happy to have you in #Tampa to tour the Hillsborough River Reservoir Dam which has the potential to boost clean, efficient energy and lower costs for residents."
