Accelerating U.S. Clean Energy Deployment Through Investment-Grade Policy

The report identifies non-financial barriers—specifically project development and market uncertainty risks—as the primary constraints on U.S. clean energy deployment. It recommends a portfolio of policies to reduce these risks, including reforming interconnection queues, pre-zoning land for renewables, streamlining permitting processes, and establishing longer-term cost-recovery schedules for power sales.

• Economic costs are no longer the primary barrier to clean energy expansion, as solar, onshore and offshore wind, and battery power now cost the same or less than fossil fuels. Instead, deployment is constrained by non-financial risks categorized as technology/performance risk, project development risk, and market uncertainty risk.
• Grid access is the most significant barrier for U.S. projects, with over 2,000 GW of generation and storage projects currently waiting in interconnection queues. Average wait times for these queues now exceed five years.
• To reduce siting risks and uncertainty, the report recommends a 'green vs. red' pre-zoning system for land. In this model, 'red' lands are strictly protected from development, while 'green' zones are designated as suitable for renewables provided pre-specified standards are met, avoiding ambiguous 'yellow' designations.
• The U.S. residential solar permitting process is significantly more expensive and time-consuming than in other countries. In 2010, U.S. permitting required nearly 23 hours of work and cost $0.24 per watt, compared to 5 hours and $0.03 per watt in Germany.
• Market design and price volatility create significant risk for developers. The report suggests that Public Utilities Commissions (PUCs) should implement cost-recovery schedules of at least 10-15 years to provide the long-term price certainty needed to lower the cost of capital.

APA

HARVEY, H., O’BOYLE, M., GOPAL, A., & NEWMAN, E. (2023). Accelerating U.S. Clean Energy Deployment Through Investment-Grade Policy. Energy Innovation. https://energyinnovation.org/wp-content/uploads/Investment-Grade-Policy.pdf

Chicago

HARVEY, HAL, MIKE O’BOYLE, ANAND GOPAL, and ELLI NEWMAN. Accelerating U.S. Clean Energy Deployment Through Investment-Grade Policy. Energy Innovation, 2023. https://energyinnovation.org/wp-content/uploads/Investment-Grade-Policy.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=HARVEY |first1=HAL |last2=O’BOYLE |first2=MIKE |last3=GOPAL |first3=ANAND |last4=NEWMAN |first4=ELLI |title=Accelerating U.S. Clean Energy Deployment Through Investment-Grade Policy |publisher=Energy Innovation |date=September 2023 |url=https://energyinnovation.org/wp-content/uploads/Investment-Grade-Policy.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{harvey2023accelerating, author = {HARVEY, HAL and O’BOYLE, MIKE and GOPAL, ANAND and NEWMAN, ELLI}, title = {{Accelerating U.S. Clean Energy Deployment Through Investment-Grade Policy}}, institution = {Energy Innovation}, year = {2023}, month = sep, url = {https://energyinnovation.org/wp-content/uploads/Investment-Grade-Policy.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }