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China currently leads the global race in cleantech innovation, manufacturing, and electrification, though the United States and Europe are increasing investments to catch up.

RMI conducted a pre-feasibility analysis on a coal power plant in Indonesia's Java-Bali region, evaluating four transition scenarios: baseline operation, early retirement without repurposing, early retirement with clean energy repurposing, and biomass co-firing. The analysis found that early retirement is financially feasible, especially with blended financing, and that clean repurposing via solar PV and battery storage offers the highest value and emissions reductions, provided land constraints are overcome. Conversely, biomass co-firing was found to be generally unprofitable due to high retrofit costs.

The document argues that traditional cost-of-service regulation (COSR) creates perverse incentives—such as 'gold plating' and 'capex bias'—that hinder the affordable deployment of clean energy and demand-side management. It proposes a transition toward Performance-Based Regulation (PBR), which compensates utilities based on target outcomes rather than costs. The guide details a 'Four Pillars Model' for comprehensive PBR: incentivizing cost-efficiency, removing the throughput incentive, equalizing capex and opex incentives, and incentivizing targeted outcomes. Key tools discussed include revenue decoupling, multi-year rate plans (MYRPs), and performance incentive mechanisms (PIMs). The text contrasts incremental PBR, which layers tools onto COSR, with comprehensive PBR, which fundamentally restructures the regulatory framework, citing Hawaii's 2020 framework as a comprehensive example.

The report examines the use of environmental attribute certificates (EACs) via a book and claim model to scale lower-carbon steel and concrete. It argues that this mechanism allows organizations to fund upstream decarbonization even when they cannot directly procure low-carbon materials. The authors identify critical infrastructure needs—including certification schemes, standards, registries, and reporting guidelines—and share lessons from a Microsoft pilot, noting that the market is currently in early stages with a lack of fit-for-purpose accounting methods.

The report argues that battery minerals are not like oil because their demand can be managed through six key solutions: changing chemistries, increasing energy density, recycling, extending battery lifetimes, improving vehicle efficiency, and enhancing mobility efficiency. Under a 'continued trend' scenario, virgin demand for lithium, nickel, and cobalt is projected to peak in the mid-2030s. Under an 'accelerated trend' scenario, net-zero mineral demand is achievable by 2050, turning mining into a one-off effort. The report highlights China's leadership in recycling and suggests that the Global South can leverage used vehicle imports to build its own recycling industries. Ultimately, the transition to a circular battery loop offers a path from oil dependence to circular energy independence.

The document highlights the risk of insufficient electricity generation during summer heat waves in North America, driven by projected peak load growth of 38 GW through 2028. It proposes Virtual Power Plants (VPPs)—aggregations of distributed energy resources (DERs)—as a key tool to enhance grid reliability and community resilience. VPPs are presented as more affordable than gas peakers or batteries and can be deployed in 6-12 months. The briefing outlines three essential policy principles: expanding the DER asset base, ensuring fair compensation, and enabling value stacking. Case studies from the US and Canada demonstrate VPPs' ability to provide peak capacity, reduce infrastructure costs, and offer backup power during extreme weather.

The report argues for a shift from centralized, fossil-fuel-dependent ammonia production to distributed green ammonia (DGA) in Minnesota. It identifies the state as a viable starting point for DGA due to its fertilizer consumption levels and high transportation costs, suggesting that successful implementation could influence the US Midwest and the rest of the United States.

The Rocky Mountain region (Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming) possesses the feedstocks, industrial infrastructure, and legislative support necessary to develop a sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) industry, yet it currently lacks substantial production. This roadmap examines regional feedstock availability and policy mechanisms to align the region with the US SAF Grand Challenge and outlines actions for short-, medium-, and long-term SAF development.

In 2021, IDB Invest and Engie Energia Chile (EECL) implemented a blended finance package to retire two coal units at the Tocopilla plant early and finance the 151 MW Calama wind farm. The deal utilized a results-based concessional loan where interest payments at maturity are reduced based on verified carbon emissions abated through early retirement, using a pre-agreed carbon price of $3/ton. This transaction was enabled by Chile's top-down coal phaseout policy, the lower cost of renewable energy compared to legacy coal Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs), and the involvement of the Climate Investment Funds (CIF).

In 2022, Starwood Energy Group (now Lotus Infrastructure) accelerated the retirement of the Logan (225 MW) and Chambers (285 MW) coal plants by 30 months, moving the date from 2024 to 2022. This was achieved through a three-part strategy: renegotiating Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) with Atlantic City Electric (ACE), refinancing project debt with a $200 million loan from MetLife, and planning the redevelopment of the sites into grid-scale battery storage. The transaction resulted in an estimated reduction of 3.9 million tons of CO2 and saved ACE customers approximately $30 million.

In 2022, ACEN Corporation sold its equity in the SLTEC coal plant to a special purpose vehicle (SPV), reducing the plant's operating life by 25 years to a retirement date of 2040. The transaction was enabled by the use of domestic financial institutions to provide low-cost debt and equity, as international lenders often have coal exclusion policies. The SPV re-levered the capital structure, increasing the debt/capital ratio from 0.58 to 0.79, with $247 million in debt provided by RCBC and BPI. This structure allowed ACEN to divest the asset and reinvest proceeds into renewable energy, aligning with its corporate goal of 100% renewable energy by 2025.

The document advocates for the adoption of virtual power plants (VPPs) to address electricity grid reliability and affordability during summer peaks. It highlights that VPPs can leverage existing assets to manage investment costs and enhance community resilience against extreme weather, providing guidance for regulators to replicate successful VPP implementations from other jurisdictions.

The document highlights the critical role of China's iron and steel sector in the global carbon budget, noting that current emission trajectories could exhaust the sector's projected budget in 5-12 years. It advocates for the development of industry-level targets derived from China's national goals of carbon peaking by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060, supported by technological feasibility assessments and synergistic mechanisms involving trading, financing, and carbon asset management.

In May 2024, the USDA and HUD updated minimum energy standards for new construction, requiring buildings under four stories to meet the 2021 IECC and taller buildings to meet ASHRAE/ANSI Standard 90.1-2019. The report argues that these standards, combined with 45L tax credits from the Inflation Reduction Act, make high-performance certifications like ENERGY STAR and Zero-Energy Ready Home (ZERH) financially attractive, particularly for all-electric construction in specific climate zones.

The report argues that utility-enabled distributed energy resources (DERs) can address Nigeria's power sector bottlenecks, such as high ATC&C losses and supply deficits. It identifies a market opportunity exceeding 20 GW over the next decade, which could reduce carbon pollution by 33 million tons per year and lower customer energy costs by up to 25%.

The Virtual Power Plant Flipbook provides a resource for utilities to implement VPPs—aggregations of distributed energy resources like batteries and electric vehicles—to enhance grid reliability and decarbonization. It offers case studies on various technologies, compensation frameworks, and partnership models to serve as a starting point for program managers and grid operators.

The briefing proposes "clean repowering" as a strategy to overcome the US grid interconnection backlog, which currently sees over 2 TW of clean energy projects delayed. By utilizing existing interconnection points through surplus interconnection or generator replacement processes, the time to reach commercial operation can be reduced from an average of five years to less than one year. RMI analysis suggests this could deploy 250 GW of new clean energy, saving regulated utilities $46 billion over 30 years and reducing US carbon emissions by 25 percent relative to business as usual through 2035. The document highlights Xcel Energy's Sherco project in Minnesota as a model for this transition, combining solar, storage, and workforce retention.

The report quantifies the massive energy and financial waste inherent in the fossil fuel system, noting that nearly two-thirds of primary energy is lost before providing useful services. It identifies fossil thermal power plants and internal combustion engines as the primary drivers of this waste and posits that the transition to renewables, localization, and electrification will undercut fossil fuels through superior efficiency and lower lifetime costs.

The document argues that current EV charging infrastructure is concentrated in high-income areas, creating a barrier to adoption for lower-income multifamily housing residents. Based on engagement in Portland, Atlanta, and Phoenix, it recommends that stakeholders prioritize community engagement, affordability, multimodal solutions, and inclusive local partnerships to ensure an equitable transition to transportation electrification.

The briefing examines how distributed solar, particularly through schemes like PM Surya Ghar and PM-KUSUM, can mitigate the financial distress of Indian Discoms by reducing the cost of supplying subsidized consumers and lowering power procurement costs. It highlights the potential for distributed solar to contribute significantly to India's 2030 renewable energy purchase obligations (RPO) and suggests that the adoption of virtual power plants (VPPs) and battery storage could further modernize the grid and manage peak demand.