LET THE SUN IN: CLEAN ENERGY IS THE CHEAPEST WAY TO MEET RISING DEMAND

The report compares two pathways for meeting U.S. electricity demand growth through 2030: one relying on fossil fuels and another on clean energy. It finds that a clean energy scenario reduces the incremental cost of meeting demand by $5.1 billion annually in 2030 and offers greater protection against fuel price volatility. To realize these savings, the authors recommend setting ambitious clean energy targets, updating electricity system planning with market-based assumptions, reducing permitting and interconnection barriers, implementing fuel cost sharing to manage risk, improving grid utilization through technologies like surplus interconnection and high-performance conductors, and harnessing demand-side resources such as virtual power plants and distributed energy technologies.

• Meeting electricity demand growth primarily with fossil fuels is significantly more expensive than a clean energy approach, adding $29.7 billion annually to customer bills by 2030, whereas a clean energy pathway reduces incremental costs by $5.1 billion annually in 2030, representing a 17 percent savings.
• Clean energy deployment provides a hedge against volatile fuel prices; in the event of a price spike similar to 2022, a fossil fuel-heavy scenario would increase electricity costs by $40.5 billion per year, while clean energy would reduce this cost by 21 percent, saving $13.5 billion.
• Interconnection and permitting remain major barriers to clean energy deployment, with 24 percent of U.S. counties having some form of restriction on solar or wind projects at the end of 2025.
• U.S. grid utilization is currently low, with average generator fleet utilization around 50 percent and transmission system utilization in the Western U.S. ranging between 18 and 52 percent even during peak demand.
• Advanced transmission technologies can rapidly increase grid capacity; reconductoring with high-performance conductors can be completed in 18-36 months, and dynamic line ratings can be implemented in two-three months.
• Distributed energy technologies (DERs) have a potential capacity of 80-160 gigawatts (GW) during peak times by 2030, but their deployment is hindered by high 'soft costs' related to permitting and customer acquisition.

APA

Pierpont, B., Solomon, M., & Fripp, M. (2026). LET THE SUN IN: CLEAN ENERGY IS THE CHEAPEST WAY TO MEET RISING DEMAND. Energy Innovation. https://energyinnovation.org/wp-content/uploads/Clean-Energy-Is-The-Cheapest-Way-To-Meet-Rising-Demand-Policy-Companion-Report.pdf

Chicago

Pierpont, Brendan, Michelle Solomon, and Matthias Fripp. LET THE SUN IN: CLEAN ENERGY IS THE CHEAPEST WAY TO MEET RISING DEMAND. Energy Innovation, 2026. https://energyinnovation.org/wp-content/uploads/Clean-Energy-Is-The-Cheapest-Way-To-Meet-Rising-Demand-Policy-Companion-Report.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Pierpont |first1=Brendan |last2=Solomon |first2=Michelle |last3=Fripp |first3=Matthias |title=LET THE SUN IN: CLEAN ENERGY IS THE CHEAPEST WAY TO MEET RISING DEMAND |publisher=Energy Innovation |date=June 2026 |url=https://energyinnovation.org/wp-content/uploads/Clean-Energy-Is-The-Cheapest-Way-To-Meet-Rising-Demand-Policy-Companion-Report.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{pierpont2026let, author = {Pierpont, Brendan and Solomon, Michelle and Fripp, Matthias}, title = {{LET THE SUN IN: CLEAN ENERGY IS THE CHEAPEST WAY TO MEET RISING DEMAND}}, institution = {Energy Innovation}, year = {2026}, month = jun, url = {https://energyinnovation.org/wp-content/uploads/Clean-Energy-Is-The-Cheapest-Way-To-Meet-Rising-Demand-Policy-Companion-Report.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }