CATF: State-led planning for deregulated clean energy — SkimNews
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- Clean Air Task Force released a Wednesday report finding that deregulated power markets' "inherently near-term" market prices leave long-term planning "disaggregated (and largely atrophied)" and fail to support nuclear, offshore wind, geothermal, and long-duration storage.
- The report recommends three components to improve long-term planning without returning to vertical integration: periodic scenario-based system needs assessments, technology development roadmaps, and development mandates or state-led procurement.
- Lead author Kasparas Spokas, CATF's electricity program director, cited California, New York, and Illinois as deregulated states pursuing state-led planning, calling Illinois' Clean and Reliable Grid Affordability Act — effective in June — "model legislation" now being implemented "live" over the next year or so.
- New York illustrates the risk: the state faces difficulties meeting clean energy goals due to cancellations and delays of several offshore wind projects, an outcome Spokas said sits outside state control but better scenario-based planning could mitigate through embedded assessment capacity and risk contingency plans.
- The report warns that plans still get derailed by factors outside state reach, citing permit denials, community opposition, and lack of available transmission as leading causes of solar and wind project cancellations.
- Spokas pointed to federal-level supports — clearer permitting and siting authority, implementation of FERC Order 1920, and interconnection queue reform — noting that in June FERC approved a waiver allowing Constellation Energy to restart Pennsylvania's Crane nuclear plant (formerly Three Mile Island Unit 1).
Why it matters: Deregulated states' near-term market prices don't attract nuclear and offshore wind investment, leaving projects vulnerable to the cancellations that derailed several New York offshore wind builds. Illinois' Clean and Reliable Grid Affordability Act, now in implementation, is the first formal state-led planning test and should yield concrete lessons for other deregulated states within about a year.
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