HOW FERC AND RTO/ISO OPERATORS CAN ENSURE PLUMMETING SOLAR, WIND, AND BATTERY COSTS ACCELERATE OUR CLEAN ENERGY FUTURE

This policy brief outlines a pathway for the United States to achieve 90 percent zero carbon electricity by 2035, leveraging falling costs of solar, wind, and battery technologies. It argues that this transition can occur without increasing customer electricity bills and provides a series of regulatory and market recommendations for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and regional transmission organization/independent system operators (RTOs/ISOs) to facilitate this shift.

• The United States can achieve 90 percent zero carbon electricity by 2035 without increasing current customer electricity bills, based on the reductions in costs for wind, solar, and battery technologies. This transition would require no new fossil fuel power plants and the retirement of all existing coal plants by 2035.
• A transition to 90 percent zero carbon electricity over 15 years could result in $1.7 trillion in investment, a net annual increase of 530,000 energy sector jobs, a 27 percent reduction in economy-wide emissions, and the avoidance of up to 85,000 premature deaths from fossil fuel emissions by 2050.
• Without policy interventions, zero carbon electricity sources are projected to make up only 53 percent of the nation's electricity by 2035.
• To accelerate the clean energy transition, FERC and RTOs/ISOs should reform transmission and interconnection, including simplifying interconnection rules, reducing queue times, and requiring regional Planning Authorities to develop compatible models.
• Market reforms are recommended to enhance price signals, including reducing reliance on capacity markets, removing scarcity price caps, and creating new products to expose the value of flexibility and ancillary services.

APA

AGGARWAL, S., & O’BOYLE, M. (2020). HOW FERC AND RTO/ISO OPERATORS CAN ENSURE PLUMMETING SOLAR, WIND, AND BATTERY COSTS ACCELERATE OUR CLEAN ENERGY FUTURE. Energy Innovation. https://energyinnovation.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/90-Clean-By-2035-Policy-For-FERC-RTOs-ISOs_June-2020.pdf

Chicago

AGGARWAL, SONIA, and MIKE O’BOYLE. HOW FERC AND RTO/ISO OPERATORS CAN ENSURE PLUMMETING SOLAR, WIND, AND BATTERY COSTS ACCELERATE OUR CLEAN ENERGY FUTURE. Energy Innovation, 2020. https://energyinnovation.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/90-Clean-By-2035-Policy-For-FERC-RTOs-ISOs_June-2020.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=AGGARWAL |first1=SONIA |last2=O’BOYLE |first2=MIKE |title=HOW FERC AND RTO/ISO OPERATORS CAN ENSURE PLUMMETING SOLAR, WIND, AND BATTERY COSTS ACCELERATE OUR CLEAN ENERGY FUTURE |publisher=Energy Innovation |date=June 2020 |url=https://energyinnovation.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/90-Clean-By-2035-Policy-For-FERC-RTOs-ISOs_June-2020.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{aggarwal2020how, author = {AGGARWAL, SONIA and O’BOYLE, MIKE}, title = {{HOW FERC AND RTO/ISO OPERATORS CAN ENSURE PLUMMETING SOLAR, WIND, AND BATTERY COSTS ACCELERATE OUR CLEAN ENERGY FUTURE}}, institution = {Energy Innovation}, year = {2020}, month = jun, url = {https://energyinnovation.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/90-Clean-By-2035-Policy-For-FERC-RTOs-ISOs_June-2020.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }