Clean Repowering Can Avoid Disastrous Delays with 250 GW of Clean Energy

This briefing by RMI proposes "clean repowering" as a strategy to bypass interconnection delays for clean energy projects in the United States. By utilizing existing power plant interconnection points, the time from application to operation can be reduced from an average of five years to less than one year, potentially deploying 250 GW of new clean energy assets.

• The United States faces significant delays in connecting clean energy projects to the grid, with over 2 terawatts (TW) of projects currently stalled in the interconnection process, which can take up to five years. This backlog exceeds the 1.25 TW of electricity generation currently online.
• The "clean repowering" strategy involves connecting new clean energy resources to the grid using an existing power plant's interconnection point. This approach can reduce the timeline from application to commercial operation from an average of five years to less than one year by reducing the number of required studies to one or two.
• RMI analysis suggests that clean repowering could rapidly deploy 250 GW of new clean energy assets, which would reduce regulated utilities' costs by $46 billion over a 30-year planning horizon, saving utility customers $12.7 billion annually. This strategy could also reduce US carbon emissions by 25 percent compared to business-as-usual scenarios through 2035.
• The Energy Infrastructure Reinvestment (EIR) program from the US Department of Energy provides low-interest financing and $250 billion in loan authority to support these projects, but the program is set to expire in 2026.
• Xcel Energy Minnesota is implementing clean repowering at the Sherco power plant site, which will feature the 710 MW Sherco Solar project and a 10 MW battery storage facility. The project aims to retain the existing workforce and create nearly 400 union construction jobs and 18 operations and maintenance jobs, generating an estimated $350 million in local economic benefits.

APA

RMI (2024). Clean Repowering Can Avoid Disastrous Delays with 250 GW of Clean Energy. https://rmi.org/resources/clean-repowering-can-avoid-disastrous-delays-with-250-gw-of-clean-energy/

Chicago

RMI. Clean Repowering Can Avoid Disastrous Delays with 250 GW of Clean Energy. 2024. https://rmi.org/resources/clean-repowering-can-avoid-disastrous-delays-with-250-gw-of-clean-energy/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=RMI |title=Clean Repowering Can Avoid Disastrous Delays with 250 GW of Clean Energy |date=7 June 2024 |url=https://rmi.org/resources/clean-repowering-can-avoid-disastrous-delays-with-250-gw-of-clean-energy/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rmi2024clean, author = {{RMI}}, title = {{Clean Repowering Can Avoid Disastrous Delays with 250 GW of Clean Energy}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2024}, month = jun, url = {https://rmi.org/resources/clean-repowering-can-avoid-disastrous-delays-with-250-gw-of-clean-energy/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }