Six State Priorities to Get Clean Energy Wins

The policy brief outlines six priorities for U.S. states to leverage the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) and other federal incentives: immediate electric vehicle fleet conversion, permitting and interconnection reform, filling financial gaps via public-private partnerships and aggregate purchasing, improving energy affordability, launching home energy rebates, and attracting cleantech manufacturing. It emphasizes the urgency of acting before federal tax credits expire, specifically noting a September 30, 2025, deadline for EV credits and a July 2026 construction start deadline for certain solar and wind credits.

• States are urged to convert public and private vehicle fleets to electric vehicles (EVs) before federal tax credits expire on September 30, 2025.
• To secure energy tax credits for solar and wind, projects must start construction by July 2026 and be placed in service by December 31, 2027; consequently, states should streamline permitting and interconnection to avoid bottlenecks.
• States can reduce clean energy costs by 10 to 40 percent through the coordinate aggregate purchasing of equipment and installations, which can be further enhanced by combining these programs with reverse auctions and tax credits.
• Financial gaps can be addressed by establishing public-private partnerships, such as green banks or state energy financing institutions (SEFIs), exemplified by Alabama's Powering Growth Act which created the Alabama Energy Infrastructure Bank and the Strategy Energy Procurement Fund on June 1, 2025.
• States should prioritize energy affordability and the launch of home energy rebate programs to lower consumer costs and improve the economics of electrification.

APA

RMI (2025). Six State Priorities to Get Clean Energy Wins. https://rmi.org/resources/six-state-priorities-to-get-clean-energy-wins/

Chicago

RMI. Six State Priorities to Get Clean Energy Wins. 2025. https://rmi.org/resources/six-state-priorities-to-get-clean-energy-wins/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=RMI |title=Six State Priorities to Get Clean Energy Wins |date=4 August 2025 |url=https://rmi.org/resources/six-state-priorities-to-get-clean-energy-wins/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rmi2025six, author = {{RMI}}, title = {{Six State Priorities to Get Clean Energy Wins}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2025}, month = aug, url = {https://rmi.org/resources/six-state-priorities-to-get-clean-energy-wins/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }