State-Led Planning, Development, and Procurement

The report identifies a 'planning gap' in deregulated U.S. power markets where short-term wholesale price signals and Clean Electricity Standards (CES) fail to incentivize long-lead time, capital-intensive technologies like nuclear, geothermal, and long-duration energy storage. To address this, the authors propose a 'hybrid market' approach called state-led planning, which consists of three core components: system needs assessments, technology development roadmaps, and state-led procurement. This framework allows states to provide the long-term revenue certainty required by investors while maintaining the operational efficiencies of competitive wholesale markets. The report highlights Illinois's Clean and Reliable Grid Affordability Act as a primary example of this approach in practice and discusses the role of FERC Order 1920 in improving regional transmission planning.

• Wholesale electricity markets in the U.S. are structurally limited by short-term price signals, with energy futures typically liquid only two to four years forward and capacity markets providing signals as short as one month to three years. This mismatch creates a lack of 'bankability' for long-lived infrastructure assets that require credible revenue signals over decades.
• While Clean Electricity Standards (CES) have successfully driven solar and wind deployment, they are insufficient for full decarbonization because they reward the lowest-cost qualifying energy in near-term compliance periods. Consequently, they do not provide the necessary signals for 'clean firm generation' or long-duration energy storage, nor do they address non-cost development barriers.
• State-led planning is proposed as a 'hybrid market' structure that integrates three key elements: periodic scenario-based system needs assessments, technology development roadmaps to resolve non-revenue barriers (such as siting and permitting), and state-mandated or direct procurement to provide revenue certainty for long-lead assets.
• FERC Order 1920 improves regional transmission planning by requiring providers to consider state laws and policy goals, but it is not a complete solution. States still need their own planning capacity to ensure that the benefits of clean energy are correctly calculated and that necessary infrastructure is actually prioritized and built.

APA

Spokas, K., Ricks, W., & Ginsberg, I. (2026). State-Led Planning, Development, and Procurement. Clean Air Task Force. https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/15140516/State-Led-Planning-Report.pdf

Chicago

Spokas, Kasparas, Wilson Ricks, and Ilana Ginsberg. State-Led Planning, Development, and Procurement. Clean Air Task Force, 2026. https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/15140516/State-Led-Planning-Report.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Spokas |first1=Kasparas |last2=Ricks |first2=Wilson |last3=Ginsberg |first3=Ilana |title=State-Led Planning, Development, and Procurement |publisher=Clean Air Task Force |date=September 2026 |url=https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/15140516/State-Led-Planning-Report.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{spokas2026stateled, author = {Spokas, Kasparas and Ricks, Wilson and Ginsberg, Ilana}, title = {{State-Led Planning, Development, and Procurement}}, institution = {Clean Air Task Force}, year = {2026}, month = sep, url = {https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/15140516/State-Led-Planning-Report.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }