How Renewable Electricity Standards Deliver Economic Benefits

The report argues that state renewable electricity standards (RES) are effective market-based tools that have driven significant growth in wind and solar capacity across the U.S. with minimal cost impacts on consumers. It highlights that these policies stimulate local economies through job creation in installation and manufacturing, provide new revenue streams for rural landowners, and stabilize electricity rates by removing reliance on volatile fossil fuel markets. While noting strong compliance rates, the document identifies transmission infrastructure, market oversupplies, and political opposition as primary challenges to further expansion.

• Renewable electricity standards (RES) have been adopted by 29 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, with 17 of these entities setting targets of 20 percent or greater.
• RES policies are projected to support more than 103,000 MW of renewable energy capacity by 2025, with 87,000 MW resulting from new development.
• Utilities have demonstrated a strong record of compliance with RES targets, with monitoring data through 2010 showing that utilities met approximately 96 percent of their requirements.
• Compliance with RES is generally affordable for consumers; an evaluation of 14 states for 2009 and 2010 found that all but one state had cost impacts of 1.6 percent or less.
• Solar PV capacity grew rapidly, with a record 3,313 MW installed in 2012, a 76 percent increase over 2011, supported by declining costs and RES-specific targets.
• Renewable energy development creates more jobs per dollar invested than fossil fuels and keeps investment in local communities because it relies primarily on local workers for installation.
• Wind projects provide significant revenue for rural areas; for example, wind projects in Iowa provided over $19.5 million in annual property tax payments to state and local governments in 2011.
• A major physical barrier to RES success is the lack of transmission infrastructure to move electricity from resource-rich, sparsely populated areas (like the desert Southwest or the North Dakota to Texas corridor) to industrial centers.
• RES policies face political challenges from organizations like the American Legislative Exchange Council, Beacon Hill Institute, and Heritage Foundation, which advocate for the repeal or scaling back of these standards.

APA

Union of Concerned Scientists (2013). How Renewable Electricity Standards Deliver Economic Benefits. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2019-09/Renewable-Electricity-Standards-Deliver-Economic-Benefits.pdf

Chicago

Union of Concerned Scientists. How Renewable Electricity Standards Deliver Economic Benefits. 2013. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2019-09/Renewable-Electricity-Standards-Deliver-Economic-Benefits.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Union of Concerned Scientists |title=How Renewable Electricity Standards Deliver Economic Benefits |date=May 2013 |url=https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2019-09/Renewable-Electricity-Standards-Deliver-Economic-Benefits.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{unionofconcernedscientists2013how, author = {{Union of Concerned Scientists}}, title = {{How Renewable Electricity Standards Deliver Economic Benefits}}, institution = {Union of Concerned Scientists}, year = {2013}, month = may, url = {https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2019-09/Renewable-Electricity-Standards-Deliver-Economic-Benefits.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }