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Warren Leon

wleon@cleanegroup.org

Visual Comparison of State 100% Clean Energy Plans

The tables below compare reports and plans that have been published by seven states. The tables show the topics covered by the different reports and the extent to which a topic is a primary or secondary focus. An * in a cell indicates that there is an explanatory note about the cell in the note section below the table. When additional states produce 100% clean energy plans, they will be added to this page.

The seven reports are listed below. Each one is described and summarized here. The Nevada report is included only in the tables for which it provides in-depth analysis.

California. 2021 SB 100 Joint Agency Report: Achieving 100 Percent Clean Electricity in California, An Initial Assessment
Maine. Maine Won't Wait: A Four-Year Plan for Climate Action
Massachusetts. Massachusetts 2050 Decarbonization Roadmap
Nevada. Nevada’s 2020 State Climate Strategy
New Jersey. 2019 New Jersey Energy Master Plan: Pathway to 2050
North Carolina. North Carolina Clean Energy Plan: Transitioning to a 21st Century Electricity System
Rhode Island. The Road to 100% Renewable Electricity by 2030 in Rhode Island

Technologies Studied

Technology Notes

California

Distributed energy resources fall outside the scope of the analysis included in the California report.

Maine

Maine has established specific goals and proposed concrete measures regarding carbon sequestration. The report proposes Maine conduct a comprehensive analysis of the state's carbon stocks to allow for measuring and monitoring of the state's carbon sequestration progress. It also proposes establishing a "voluntary, incentive-based forest carbon program" for certain woodland owners and other relevant stakeholders.

Massachusetts

Carbon sequestration through nature-based solutions and carbon removal technologies are an important topic of analysis in the Massachusetts report. Massachusetts also provides a land sector supplementary analysis.

New Jersey

Nuclear remains an important part of New Jersey's energy mix now and moving forward. In 2018, nuclear accounted for 42.5% of the state's electricity.

Transportation currently accounts for over 40% of New Jersey's carbon emissions. The New Jersey report recommends substantial efforts to electrify its transportation sector.

North Carolina

North Carolina views offshore wind as a renewable energy technology with strong economic and emissions reduction potential for the state. Under the category of "clean energy economic development opportunities," North Carolina has identified specific measures to advance offshore wind's potential for the state, including advancing legislative and regulatory actions to support offshore wind, establishing offshore wind partnerships with public and private sector stakeholders, and conducting assessments of offshore wind's potential throughout the value chain and relevant opportunities and barriers to its development.

North Carolina anticipates natural gas will remain an important part of the state's energy mix moving forward. Two of the largest natural gas producers in the country include two of North Carolina's primary utilities, including Dominion and Duke Energy. To assist in emissions reduction efforts while maintaining baseload power generation for reliability purposes, North Carolina is looking to "develop pathways to expand renewable natural gas recovery and usage." (TEXT EDIT PENDING - swap "producers" for "procurers"?)

Rhode Island

Offshore wind is projected to play a particularly dominant role as a primary technology in Rhode Island transitioning to 100 percent renewable electricity. The 400 MW Revolution Wind offshore wind project represents a significant portion of this offshore wind mix.

Rhode Island only considers solar and wind in its report.

Policies Examined

Policy Notes

California

California's cap-and-trade program, established in 2012, is an important component of California's existing decarbonization efforts.

Massachusetts

Regional collaboration is a particular point of emphasis for Massachusetts. Massachusetts cannot practically achieve its net-zero emissions goal through state-level policies alone, absent a broader regional strategy. How Massachusetts’ neighbors pursue climate action may dramatically impact costs, risks, and impacts of Massachusetts’ approach.

The Massachusetts Roadmap considers carbon removal in depth, as part of its land sector emissions analysis.

New Jersey

The New Jersey report proposes the "establishment of a New Jersey Green Bank that would leverage public dollars to grow private sector investment, provide low-cost financing, and develop financial protocols to support New Jersey's clean energy economy and the goals of the EMP [Energy Master Plan], such as lowering the cost of capital for renewables and energy efficiency projects."

North Carolina

The North Carolina report proposes the state require utilities to "offer virtual or group net metering to enable greater access to community solar."

The report proposes a recommendation to "require integrated resource plans and distribution system plans to use portfolios and action plans that incorporate a cost of carbon into the portfolio or plan that is selected for use by the utility."

Rhode Island

The Rhode Island report considers establishing a 100 percent renewable electricity by 2030 renewable portfolio standard to be a critical component of achieving the state's goal.

The Rhode Island report recommends balancing wholesale and retail renewable electricity through net metering programs.

Scope of Analysis

Scope of Analysis Notes

California

The California report identifies impacts to ratepayers as an important area of focus, but does not provide an in-depth analysis on rate and cost impacts.

Maine

The costs of inaction represents a core guiding principle for how the report is structured and what strategies are proposed.

Rhode Island

The Rhode Island report provides detailed analysis of the average monthly bill increase for a typical Rhode Island residential customer based on a multitude of scenarios.

Notes on Pathways Considered for Each State

California

The seven scenarios include three core scenarios (which all align with the SB 100 goal of 100 percent carbon-free electricity by 2045) and four study scenarios (which are "exploratory analyses" that "examine outcomes outside the scope of the joint agencies' interpretation of the SB 100 policy" to provide general information to inform California's broader planning efforts). The three core scenarios include a main core scenario (which includes retail sales and state loads and assumes high electrification demand and full resource availability), a scenario that considers a range of demand sensitivities (i.e., demand scenarios or load shape), and a scenario that considers a range of resource sensitivities (i.e., candidate resource availability). The four study scenarios include: (1) expanded load coverage, (2) no combustion, (3) zero carbon firm resources, (4) accelerated timelines.

Maine

The report consisted of a series of strategies and sub-strategies proposed by the Maine Climate Council. It did not explicitly list multiple pathways considered to achieve Maine's climate and energy goals.

Massachusetts

The eight pathways consider a range of assumptions including: (1) all options, (2) limited offshore wind, (3) limited efficiency, (4) pipeline gas, (5) 100% renewable primary energy, (6) no thermal, (7) regional coordination, (8) distributed energy resources breakthrough.

Nevada

The report proposes a series of policy and strategic recommendations. Further pathways-based modeling analysis is necessary.

New Jersey

The New Jersey report considers nine scenarios, including two business-as-usual scenarios and seven hypothetical pathways. The business-as-usual reference scenarios include: (1) "no-current or prospective energy policies", (2) "existing policy except 2050 GWRA & 100% Clean Energy". The hypothetical pathways consider a range of assumptions, including: (1) a least-cost pathway (based on the "fewest constraints to achieve emissions and clean energy goals"), (2) regional deep decarbonization, (3) reduced regional cooperation, (4) retaining fuel use in buildings, (5) accelerating renewables and storage cost decreases, (6) retirement of nuclear and no new gas plants, (7) reduced transportation electrification.

North Carolina

The report proposes a series of policy and strategic recommendations. Further modeling analysis is necessary, but separate from the initial North Carolina Clean Energy Plan report.

Rhode Island

The four technological bookends are: (1) 100% land-based wind, (2) 100% offshore wind, (3) 100% wholesale solar, (4) 100% retail solar.

Timeline of Report's Goals

Timeline Notes

California

Neither California nor SB 100 provides a legal definition of "zero-carbon resources". However, the California SB 100 Joint Agency Report interprets "zero-carbon resources" as "energy resources that either qualify as 'renewable' in the most recent Renewables Portfolio Standard (RPS) Eligibility Guidebook or generate zero greenhouse gas emissions on site."

Massachusetts

The Massachusetts Roadmap Report defines net-zero emissions as "a level of statewide greenhouse gas emissions that is equal in quantity to the amount of carbon dioxide or its equivalent that is removed from the atmosphere and stored annually by, or attributable to, the Commonwealth; provided, however, that in no event shall the level of emissions be greater than a level that is 85 percent below the 1990 level."

New Jersey

The New Jersey Energy Master Plan defines 100% clean energy as "100% carbon-neutral electricity generation and maximum electrification of the transportation and building sectors (the sectors that produce the greatest carbon emissions in the state) to meet or exceed the GWRA [Global Warming Response Act] emissions reductions by 2050."

Rhode Island

Rhode Island defines 100 percent renewable electricity as "ensuring that the annual production of renewable energy and associated RECs is sufficient to match all of Rhode Island's annual electricity demand." The analysis provided in the report assumes Rhode Island will increase its renewable portfolio standard to 100% by 2030.