The Center for the New Energy Economy, part of the Colorado State University Energy Institute, celebrated its eighth anniversary this month.

Founded in 2011, the Center for the New Energy Economy is led by Colorado’s 41st Governor, Bill Ritter, Jr. and is assisted by a team of energy and environmental policy experts. The center works directly with governors, legislators, regulators, utilities and stakeholders to provide technical and strategic assistance. The center’s expertise helps decisionmakers create policies that facilitate America’s transition to a clean energy economy.

“Moving to a new and clean energy economy is now more important than ever,” Ritter says. “As costs for renewable energy and storage come down, and innovative solutions for grid modernization and transportation increase, our center continues to work with government and industry leaders to advance the equitable transition to a clean energy economy.”

In celebration of its eighth year, here are eight highlights of the center’s achievements:

• Founded in February 2011 as a department of Colorado State University, CNEE has spent the last eight years helping policymakers and stakeholders across the nation advance the transition to a clean energy economy.
• The Center for the New Energy Economy has hosted energy symposia for seven years, first as the Natural Gas Symposium and more recently as the 21^st Century Energy Transition symposium. The goal of the symposium is to bring stakeholders and energy leaders together to discuss broad impacts and solutions in energy. This year’s 21st Century Energy Transition Symposium, now hosted by the Colorado Energy Research Collaboratory, will be held April 1-2 in Denver.
• The Advanced Energy Legislation Tracker has tracked legislation introduced in the 50 states and the District of Columbia for six years. The database continues to expand, is updated daily, and information related to over 20,000 bills (to date) is publicly available for free.
• It has been five years since the center released the Powering Forward Plan for the Obama administration. The report offered more than 200 recommendations for that administration to move the clean energy economy forward.
• The center’s State Policy Opportunity Tracker (SPOT) for Clean Energy has allowed users to search across five key energy policy areas to see how their state is doing on various energy policy issues compared to other states.
• The Repowering the Western Economy project has worked with western states to develop energy and air quality policies for three years. Work includes convening utilities, meeting with local stakeholders, and conducting emissions and relevant policy research.
• The center has hosted two annual Clean Energy Legislative Academies. These events bring together state legislators from around the nation to learn about, discuss, and collaborate in a non-partisan way on the development of clean energy policy solutions.
• The Center for the New Energy Economy is focused on impactful clean energy policy change, needed now more than ever. “We are very proud of what we have accomplished thus far and are excited for the coming years,” Ritter says.

Suzanne Tegen is assistant director of the Center for the New Energy Economy.