Meeting the Reliability Challenges of the Clean Energy Transition

The document asserts that the United States lacks a centralized plan to manage the reliable transition of its electricity sector, noting that current decarbonization targets are set without sufficient coordination to ensure grid reliability. It argues that market-based mechanisms, such as Regional Transmission Organizations (RTOs) and Energy Imbalance Markets (EIMs), are insufficient on their own to incentivize the specific generation resources needed for both resource adequacy and operating reliability. The author highlights that while New York and California are beginning to explore reliability-informed planning, a broader alignment between state policymakers, regulators, and grid operators is necessary to prevent reliability risks as fossil-fuel resources are retired.

• The United States lacks a unified authority or plan to synchronize decarbonization targets in the electricity sector with the maintenance of grid reliability, despite commitments under the Paris Agreement.
• Market prices alone are insufficient to incentivize the generation resources required to meet reliability targets and provide essential services like balancing energy and operating reserves.
• Regional market structures, including Regional Transmission Organizations (RTOs) and Energy Imbalance Markets (EIMs), cannot independently resolve the policy coordination challenges necessary for a reliable transition.
• Only New York and California have started to implement targeted incentives and reliability-informed system planning to support a fully decarbonized energy sector.
• A U.S. Department of Energy task force, involving NARUC and NASEO, has proposed an aligned system planning process that integrates generation resource adequacy with transmission and distribution system planning.

APA

World Resources Institute (2023). Meeting the Reliability Challenges of the Clean Energy Transition. https://www.wri.org/research/meeting-reliability-challenges-clean-energy-transition

Chicago

World Resources Institute. Meeting the Reliability Challenges of the Clean Energy Transition. 2023. https://www.wri.org/research/meeting-reliability-challenges-clean-energy-transition.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=Meeting the Reliability Challenges of the Clean Energy Transition |date=13 December 2023 |url=https://www.wri.org/research/meeting-reliability-challenges-clean-energy-transition |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitute2023meeting, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{Meeting the Reliability Challenges of the Clean Energy Transition}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, year = {2023}, month = dec, url = {https://www.wri.org/research/meeting-reliability-challenges-clean-energy-transition}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }