Renewed Energy Politics: An Analysis of Renewable Portfolio Standards in Swing States
Matthew Magill
During the 2024 United States presidential election, energy policy took on renewed importance as a key issue for voters. The September 10, 2024 presidential debate included an extended exchange over the candidates’ respective positions on energy development in the battleground state of Pennsylvania.[1] The discussion of energy policy during the debate specifically focused on hydraulic fracturing, an issue important to “gas-rich states like Pennsylvania.”[2] Nonetheless, the debate was notable for the emphasis from both candidates on domestic energy production, in a potential bid for swing state voters.[3]
Increased attention to energy policy is consistent with polling from the American Petroleum Institute, which found in a poll conducted between September 20-22, 2024, that voters in battleground states wanted to hear more from the candidates about their energy policy platforms in general.[4] Additional polling by the Pew Research Center showed that, while Republicans and Democrats are starkly divided along ideological lines generally,[5] there was broad consensus favoring the development of renewable energy resources including wind, solar, and hydrogen power, albeit with a reluctance to completely phase out fossil fuels.[6]
Irrespective of federal energy policies, an effective strategy allowing for a complicated balance of energy priorities has been unfolding at the state level since the 1990s in the form of renewable portfolio standards (RPSs) and, more recently, clean energy standards (CESs). A survey of RPSs in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, reveals the unique energy priorities of seven traditional swing states[7] pivotal to each presidential contest. Broadly speaking, the battleground states’ RPSs illustrate the policy interests of a country in an energy transition that is seeking to balance diversification of energy resources while promoting domestic and economic development.
RPSs are state mandates that require utilities to provide their customers with a specific percentage of their energy from renewable energy resources by a specified date.[8] Eligible resources vary by state, and recently, several states have amended their mandates to include CESs, which incorporate additional sources of energy that are not renewable but have zero carbon emissions, like nuclear energy.[9] Setting a CES allows a state to set a higher clean energy target, with most states with CESs requiring utilities to meet a 100 percent CES by a certain date even if the RPS target is lower.[10] A common implementing mechanism for an RPS is allowing the purchase of renewable energy credits (RECs), which a utility may obtain from utilities generating qualifying energy through REC markets.[11]
As of 2021, 35 states in addition to Washington, D.C. have enacted either an RPS or CES.[12] An additional eight states have set voluntary renewable energy goals.[13] Each of the seven swing states but Georgia has enacted an RPS or CES.[14] Compiling information on seven battleground states from the Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency and the National Conference of State Legislatures reveals a snapshot of the distinct energy priorities of the states whose voters were pivotal in deciding the 2024 presidential election.[15]
Figure 1: “Renewable Portfolio Standards or Voluntary Targets”[16]
Arizona
The Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) adopted final rules to expand the state’s RPS in 2006.[17] The RPS mandates utilities subject to the requirement to meet 15 percent of their retail electric load from eligible renewable resources by 2025.[18] Of this percentage, 30 percent must be obtained from distributed renewable resources like rooftop solar.[19] Entities subject to the mandate include investor-owned utilities and retail suppliers.[20] Eligible resources include solar, geothermal, biomass, hydroelectric, combined heat & power, landfill gas, wind, anaerobic digestion, and fuel cells using renewable fuels.[21]
Michigan
Prior to 2023, Michigan’s investor-owned utilities, alternative retail suppliers, electric cooperatives, and municipal electric utilities were required to derive 15 percent of their retail electricity sales from renewable resources by 2021.[22] Public Act 235 in 2023 expanded Michigan’s RPS while separately adding a CES.[23] The statute increased renewable energy requirements on a sliding scale, mandating 50 percent of retail electricity sales from renewable resources by 2030 and 60 percent of retail electricity sales from renewable resources by 2035.[24] Eligible RPS resources include geothermal, solar, wind, biomass, hydroelectric, municipal solid waste, landfill gas, tidal, wave, and anaerobic digestion.[25] The addition of the CES set clean energy requirements at 80 percent by 2035 and 100 percent by 2040.[26] The separate CES eligible resources include “all sources that generate electricity or steam without emitting greenhouse gas,” which includes nuclear power and combined cycle natural gas plants that utilize carbon capture and sequestration, so long as those methods achieve 90 percent emissions reductions.[27]
Nevada
Nevada established an RPS in 1997 and has frequently modified the standard since then.[28] In 2019, Senate Bill 358 mandated that eligible renewable energy resources supply a 50 percent minimum percentage of total electricity sales by 2030.[29] The schedule additionally includes a 34 percent minimum requirement between 2024 and 2026, and a 42 percent minimum requirement between 2027 and 2029.[30] Investor-owned utilities and retail suppliers must comply with the mandate.[31] Eligible resources include solar, geothermal, wind, biomass, hydroelectric, municipal solid waste, landfill gas, anaerobic digestion, energy recovery processes, and waste tires using microwave reduction.[32] Additionally, energy efficiency measures may be used to comply with up to 10 percent of an entity’s annual RPS.[33]
North Carolina
North Carolina became the first state in the Southeast to adopt an RPS with the passage of Senate Bill 3 in 2007.[34] The state’s mandate requires investor-owned utilities to supply 12.5 percent of retail electricity sales from eligible resources.[35] Rural electric cooperatives and municipal electric suppliers are treated separately, with a lower 10 percent requirement.[36] Eligible resources include solar, geothermal, wind, biomass, hydrogen, combined heat & power, landfill gas, tidal, wave, hydroelectric, and anaerobic digestion.[37] Energy efficiency technologies may account for up to 40 percent of a utility’s requirement, and energy demand reduction is capable of meeting 100 percent of the mandate.[38] The legislature amended the program in 2023 with the passage of Senate Bill 678, creating a CES that includes nuclear and fusion energy within eligible “clean energy resource[s].”[39]
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania established an RPS with Senate Bill 1030 in 2004.[40] The standard requires investor-owned utilities and retail suppliers to provide 18 percent of electricity from “alternative-energy resources.”[41] Eligible resources are classified into two tiers, with the mandate requiring 8 percent of electricity to be derived from Tier I resources, including new and existing solar, wind, low-impact hydropower, geothermal, biomass, wood pulping and manufacturing byproducts from energy facilities, biologically-derived and coal-mine methane, and fuel cells.[42] The remaining 10 percent may be derived from Tier II resources, which includes new and existing waste coal, large-scale hydropower, and municipal solid waste, among other technologies.[43] Separately, rural electric cooperatives must offer retail customers voluntary energy efficiency and demand-side management programs as part of the framework.[44]
Wisconsin
Wisconsin’s Act 9 established the state’s RPS in 1999.[45] While legislation in 2006 updated the overall statewide renewable goal to 10 percent, different percentage requirements are established for each individual electric provider under the regulatory framework.[46] Investor-owned utilities, municipal utilities, and electric cooperative utilities are all subject to specific individual mandates.[47] Eligible resources include solar, geothermal, wind, biomass, hydroelectric, municipal solid waste, combined heat & power, landfill gas, tidal, wave, anaerobic digestion, fuel cells using renewable fuels, landfill gas, densified fuel pellets, pyrolysis, synthetic gas, biogas, and biodiesel, with hydropower receiving special treatment.[48] The qualifying resources were expanded in 2010 to include energy resources that provide displacement of conventional electricity resources.[49] Renewable energy outside the state may be used for RPS compliance so long as it is delivered to Wisconsin customers.[50]
Georgia
Notably, Georgia does not have an RPS or voluntary renewable energy goal.[51] The state does, however, implement renewable energy and energy efficiency incentive programs for residential customers, businesses, and government agencies.[52] Certain qualifying residential solar, wind, or fuel cell energy systems are allowed access to the grid, and utilities may but are not required to offer net metering.[53]
Conclusion
The establishment of an RPS in six of seven battleground states represents growing bipartisan support for renewable energy.[54] A review of the 2024 swing states reveals a wide variety of RPSs. Each of these states’ policies is unique in how they were enacted and whether they were amended with subsequent legislation, what target levels of renewable or clean energy is specified, which entities are required to comply, when utilities must meet target levels, and which resources count towards those targets. Energy policy will likely continue to be a key federal legislative priority after the 2024 presidential election. An analysis of swing state RPSs shows that voters and legislators within these states have already been wrestling with renewable and clean energy issues for over two decades.
[1] See Ariel Cohen, Trump And Harris Duel Over Energy, Forbes (Sep. 11, 2024, 2:54 PM), https://www.forbes.com/sites/arielcohen/2024/09/11/trump-and-harris-duel-over-energy/.
[2] See Zoya Teirstein, At the Presidential Debate, Fossil Fuels and Energy Politics Took Center Stage, Grist (Sep. 11, 2024), https://grist.org/politics/at-the-presidential-debate-fossil-fuels-and-energy-politics-took-center-stage/.
[3] Id.
[4] See Press Release, Am. Petroleum Inst., New Poll: Swing State Voters Want Answers on Energy Pol’y (Oct. 1, 2024).
[5] See Political Polarization in the American Public, Pew Rsch. Center (June 12, 2024), https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2014/06/12/political-polarization-in-the-american-public/.
[6] See Majorities of Americans Prioritize Renewable Energy, Back Steps to Address Climate Change, Pew Rsch. Center (June 28, 2023), https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2023/06/28/majorities-of-americans-prioritize-renewable-energy-back-steps-to-address-climate-change/.
[7] See Elliot Davis, Jr., 7 States That Could Sway the 2024 Presidential Election, U.S. News (Nov. 5, 2024), https://www.usnews.com/news/elections/articles/7-swing-states-that-could-decide-the-2024-presidential-election.
[8] See State Renewable Portfolio Standards and Goals, Nat’l Conf. of State Legislatures, https://www.ncsl.org/energy/state-renewable-portfolio-standards-and-goals#undefined (last updated August 13, 2021).
[9] Id.
[10] Id.
[11] See Lincoln L. Davies, Alexandra B. Klass, Hari M. Osofsky, Joeseph P. Tomain & Elizabeth J. Wilson, Energy Law and Policy 468 (West Academic Publishing, 3d ed. 2022).
[12] Id. at 465-66.
[13] Id.
[14] See Nat’l Conf. of State Legislatures, supra note 8.
[15] See generally Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency, https://www.dsireusa.org/ (last visited Nov. 3, 2024); see also Nat’l Conf. of State Legislatures, supra note 8.
[16] Nat’l Conf. of State Legislatures, supra note 8.
[17] See Arizona Renewable Energy Standard, Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency, https://programs.dsireusa.org/system/program/detail/268/renewable-energy-standard (last updated Dec. 5, 2023).
[18] Id.
[19] Id.
[20] Id.
[21] Id.
[22] See Michigan Renewable Energy Standard, Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency, https://programs.dsireusa.org/system/program/detail/3094/renewable-energy-standard (last updated Dec. 21, 2023).
[23] Id.
[24] Id.
[25] Id.
[26] Id.
[27] Id.
[28] Renewable Portfolio Standard, State of Nev. Pub. Util. Comm’n, https://puc.nv.gov/Renewable_Energy/Portfolio_Standard/ (last visited Nov. 3, 2024).
[29] See Nevada Energy Portfolio Standard, Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency, https://programs.dsireusa.org/system/program/detail/373/energy-portfolio-standard (last updated Dec. 5, 2023).
[30] Id.
[31] Id.
[32] Id.
[33] See Energy Efficiency, State of Nev. Pub. Util. Comm’n, https://puc.nv.gov/Renewable_Energy/RPS/Energy_Efficiency/ (last visited Nov. 3, 2024).
[34] Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Portfolio Standard (REPS), N.C. Util. Comm’n (2024), https://www.ncuc.gov/Reps/reps.html.
[35] North Carolina Clean Energy and Energy Efficiency Portfolio Standard, Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency, https://programs.dsireusa.org/system/program/detail/2660/clean-energy-and-energy-efficiency-portfolio-standard (last updated Dec. 6, 2023).
[36] N.C. Util. Comm’n, supra note 34.
[37] See Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency, supra note 35.
[38] Id.
[39] Id.
[40] Pennsylvania Alt. Energy Portfolio Standard, Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency, https://programs.dsireusa.org/system/program/detail/262/alternative-energy-portfolio-standard (last updated Nov. 8, 2023).
[41] Id.
[42] Id.
[43] Id.
[44] Id.
[45] Wisconsin Renewable Portfolio Standard, Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency, https://programs.dsireusa.org/system/program/detail/190/renewable-portfolio-standard (last updated Nov. 7, 2023).
[46] Id.
[47] Id.
[48] Id.
[49] Id.
[50] Id.
[51] Georgia Programs, Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency, https://programs.dsireusa.org/system/program/ga#:~:text=Georgia’s%20Renewable%20Portfolio%20Standard,a%20voluntary%20renewable%20energy%20target (last visited Nov. 3, 2024).
[52] Id.
[53] Id.; see also Net Metering, Solar Energy Indus. Ass’n, https://seia.org/net-metering/ (last visited Nov. 3, 2024) (describing net metering as allowing “residential and commercial customers who generate their own electricity from solar power to sell the electricity they aren’t using back into the grid”).
[54] Joshua P. Fershee, When Prayer Trumps Politics: The Politics and Demographics of Renewable Portfolio Standards, 35 Wm. & Mary Env’t L. & Pol’y Rev. 53, 61 (2010).