Successfully Shaping the Clean Energy Transition

The briefing outlines the transformational shifts in the US energy landscape as of 2018, highlighting the move toward 100 percent clean energy goals by states and utilities. It identifies six critical areas requiring urgent attention: the revision of grid and resource planning to accommodate new technologies, the reform of utility business models, the integration of beneficial electrification for heating and cooling, the proper valuation of distributed energy resources (DERs), the assurance of equity for low- and moderate-income customers, and the financial management of uneconomic fossil fuel assets, particularly coal.

• The US energy landscape is seeing a surge in 100 percent clean energy commitments from both government and corporate entities, with several states including New York, New Jersey, and Washington advancing such proposals, and Xcel Energy becoming the first multistate investor-owned utility to commit to "100 percent carbon-free electricity".
• The transition to a clean energy economy requires reforming utility business models to address flat energy demand and the rise of customer-sited technologies like battery storage and rooftop solar, with some regions like Hawaii implementing a "new regulatory compact between the energy industry and customers".
• Beneficial electrification of building heating and cooling is becoming more cost-competitive and could make "obsolete much of the gas distribution system", though this necessitates integrating electricity and gas resource planning.
• Coal generation is rapidly declining in the US, with 16 gigawatts of plants retired in 2018 and total capacity falling by one-third since 2010. To manage the exit of these "uneconomic assets", some state legislatures, such as New Mexico's, are considering securitization to pool assets and sell them as private securities to fund plant retirement and clean energy investment.
• There is a critical need to ensure energy equity, as approximately one-quarter of US households qualify for federal energy assistance and often face "elevated energy burdens and detrimental health and environmental impacts from power generation".

APA

RMI (2019). Successfully Shaping the Clean Energy Transition. https://rmi.org/resources/successfully-shaping-the-clean-energy-transition/

Chicago

RMI. Successfully Shaping the Clean Energy Transition. 2019. https://rmi.org/resources/successfully-shaping-the-clean-energy-transition/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=RMI |title=Successfully Shaping the Clean Energy Transition |date=25 February 2019 |url=https://rmi.org/resources/successfully-shaping-the-clean-energy-transition/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rmi2019successfully, author = {{RMI}}, title = {{Successfully Shaping the Clean Energy Transition}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2019}, month = feb, url = {https://rmi.org/resources/successfully-shaping-the-clean-energy-transition/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }