Using Carrots And Sticks To Unleash The Potential For Clean Utilities

This is the twenty-first in our series, "The ABCs of the AJP."

President Biden's  American Jobs Plan (AJP) sets an ambitious goal of "achieving 100 percent carbon-free electricity by 2035."  To accomplish this, the AJP proposes significant investments in  grid modernization,  transmission infrastructure,  offshore wind, and  energy storage, as detailed by our prior posts.  Whether these investments – carrots, if you will – will be sufficient to drive down emissions in all states and achieve the 2035 target, in the absence of an enforceable clean electricity standard (CES), remains uncertain.  Equally uncertain is the pathway for Congress to enact a CES.

A CES would mandate that electric utilities increase the amount of zero-carbon power they deliver to their customers on a gradually increasing schedule, until the target is achieved.  Such "sticks" would not only assure continued addition of renewables to the grid, but would also provide a strong