Successfully Shaping the Clean Energy Transition

This briefing by RMI outlines the progress made in the US electricity landscape during 2018 and identifies the structural barriers and regulatory questions that must be addressed in 2019 to accelerate the clean energy transition. It focuses on the need to reform utility business models, modernize grid planning, integrate beneficial electrification, and ensure an equitable transition for low-income customers and communities affected by the retirement of uneconomic fossil fuel assets.

• The year 2018 saw significant shifts in the US energy landscape, including states like New York, New Jersey, and Washington proposing 100 percent clean energy goals, and Xcel Energy becoming the first multistate investor-owned utility to commit to 100 percent carbon-free electricity.
• The transition to a clean energy system requires reforming utility business models and grid planning to accommodate distributed energy resource (DER) technologies, rooftop solar, and battery storage, while addressing the need for grid modernization investments.
• Beneficial electrification—using electricity for heating and cooling in the 70 million American homes and businesses that currently use natural gas, oil, or propane—presents an opportunity to eliminate direct fossil fuel use in buildings and increase market demand for utilities.
• The US is experiencing a rapid decline in coal power capacity, which fell by one-third since 2010, with 16 gigawatts of coal-fired plants retired in 2018 alone. To manage the exit of these uneconomic assets, some state legislatures, such as New Mexico's, are considering securitization as a financial tool to fund plant retirements and clean energy investments.
• Ensuring equity is critical as the grid modernizes, particularly for the roughly 25% of US households that qualify for federal energy assistance and face higher energy burdens and negative health 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} }