A week after Congressional Democrats opened an inquiry into the Trump Administration’s billion-dollar taxpayer deal to cancel wind projects, as Americans are increasingly feeling the price of electricity, New York State’s largest pension fund has asked, as an investor, if the company is jettisoning value and harming their business.

1. Utilities Spend Big Against Steyer

California gubernatorial candidate Tom Steyer has become a target of major utilities in the election, and other election updates.

• California utility PG&E, the largest in the state, is injecting $10 million into anti-Tom Steyer super PACs alongside the real estate and construction industries. Steyer is a leading candidate and has the backing of environmental and climate advocates.

• Steyer has a long record on climate change: he led the campaign for Prop. 39, which closed a tax loophole for oil companies to fund schools. He also founded Galvanize Climate Solutions, a climate-centered investment firm, and NextGen America, a progressive organization that began as climate-focused and been run one of the largest youth voter registration drives in history. He’s also made climate change and energy affordability central to his campaign, including pledging to significantly expand clean energy and lowering guaranteed rates of return for utilities.

• Meanwhile, on Tuesday, voters in Ohio went to the polls to vote for the nominees in their gubernatorial race. Vivek Ramaswamy, former presidential candidate and anti-ESG campaigner, won the Republican nomination. Finally, voters in a hyper-rural county in Ohio narrowly upheld a ban on local solar and wind projects by a 53-47% margin.

2. Insurance Commissioners Issue New Data Call

Insurance regulators in all states are looking to better understand how climate change is impacting the insurance market.

• State insurance regulators are issuing a new call for data from insurance companies, representing internal records showing losses caused by climate-driven perils in each ZIP code in which they sell policies. The call is being overseen by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, which supports the country’s insurance regulators.

• This is the first data call since 2024, in which the Treasury Department’s Federal Insurance Office collaborated with the NAIC to “better understand” climate-related impacts on insurance markets. The new data call seeks to capture a larger share of the regulated market nationwide.

• Data quality remains a significant gap in efforts to assess and reform the country’s decentralized and distributed insurance industry as climate change continues to increase physical and financial risk across the country.

Jordan Haedtler, climate finance policy lead at Climate Cabinet, said,

“We literally don’t have a full and comprehensive system for monitoring insurance market data. There’s so much salience on this issue that [insurance] departments of various ideological leanings are at least finding data collection to be in their interests.”

3. West Coast Energy Market Goes Live

On May 1, a new Western energy market turned on, linking utilities across multiple states.

• On Friday, a group of California utilities joined with Oregon’s second-largest utility to officially launch CAISO’s extended day-ahead market (EDAM). CAISO is the grid operator for most of California and part of Nevada.

• Now, CAISO will be able to freely optimize generation and transmission between Oregon-based utility PacifiCorp and California-based utilities, essentially pooling all their assets together. The move is likely to save consumers significant dollars, as one CAISO study showed the West could save up to $1.2 billion annually.

• Larger markets and interregional planning make the grid better, more resilient, and more efficient. In EDAM, Oregon customers will now see the benefit of plentiful solar power and battery storage from Southern California, while Southern California customers will see the benefit of Northwestern hydropower. Organized markets let each utility tap into a much larger pool of generation capacity.

PacifiCorp’s Vice President of Energy Supply, Mike Wilding, said,

“These organized markets are the best tool that we have available to control our costs for our customers. The way they do that is they leverage larger footprints, a larger pool of generation and more transmission connectivity than PacifiCorp has on its own, which now means you can move electricity where it needs to go more effectively and more efficiently.”

4. Virginia Transmission Sets Back Renewables

Failures in Virginia’s transmission planning process have blocked multiple gigawatts-worth of renewables from adding to the grid.

• Data from PJM shows that more than 100 new energy-generating facilities since 2018 have been “withdrawn or significantly delayed” by failures to upgrade existing transmission or build new transmission capacity in Virginia. Most of those have been clean energy projects.

• The review of delayed and blocked projects found dozens of projects by Dominion Energy, Virginia’s largest investor-owned utility. The cancelled projects would have added 5 GW to Virginia’s grid.

• Transmission remains a significant bottleneck to the energy transition, particularly as the country’s aging grid meets new large loads in data centers and struggles to handle new generation capacity in the clean energy boom. Interconnections and transmission pitfalls have long been a barrier to bringing new, much-needed clean energy online.

5. Salt River Project To Develop 3GW of Arizona Solar

The state’s largest public utility will build 3GW of new solar as a new clean energy majority takes their positions on the Board.

• The Salt River Project, a public utility serving 2 million Arizonans, announced that it will partner with developer NextEra Energy Resources to develop 3 GW of new solar capacity in Arizona by 2034. The plan will add 500 MW of new solar per year from 2029 to 2034.

• SRP is seeking to “double” its generating capacity as it seeks to meet rising load growth, and this addition will triple the total amount of solar it has on its grid. Around 1GW of its existing solar was also developed by NextEra.

• Despite its relatively low profile, SRP saw headlines in recent months as it held elections for its board system, in which a pro-clean energy slate won an outright majority, defeating candidates backed by the far-right political group Turning Point USA.

6. Tipping Points Threaten Global Stability

Climate change’s irreversible thresholds threaten fundamental global climate patterns that undergird the modern world.

• As climate change brings about felt impacts via climate-driven disasters, its sub-surface impacts on global currents are becoming more clear, and worrying. Experts have identified the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) as “under threat” from climate change as warming seas and temperatures, melting ice, and more rainfall change the balance of the North Atlantic.

• The AMOC is a critical system of ocean currents, which includes the famous “Gulf Stream,” keeps much of the world as it is today: it keeps Europe warm, and cools down areas close to the equator. As climate change weakens the streams of currents, AMOC approaches a “tipping point,” in which the climate-driven changes weaken it to the point of collapse.

• Countries, companies, and key decisionmakers are now having to think about these threats more clearly. In late 2025, Iceland declared the potential collapse of AMOC an “existential threat” and a key national security concern. Meanwhile, JPMorgan is responding to client interest in understanding tipping points and navigating uncertainty.

SPOTLIGHT: New Recommendations for Insurance Regulators

A new report from Brian Shearer, Director of Competition and Regulatory Policy at the Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator, argues that there’s a “greedflation” problem in insurance markets, and outlines steps that regulators and policymakers can take to address it.

The report argues that insurers are spending too little of the money made from people’s premiums on paying out claims, creating a low “loss-ratio.” A loss-ratio is the term for the proportion of premium-revenue paid as claims. The report finds that most insurers’ loss-ratios are between 50% and 70%, and have been falling for years. Shearer argues that property and casualty insurers should be held to a similar standard as health insurers, which are required under the Affordable Care Act to spend a minimum of 80% of their premiums on medical care and improving the quality of care.

This ratio matters for families as climate-related risks increase financial risks to properties. The report also argues that insurers spend too much money on unnecessary expenses, advising lawmakers to cap or prohibit insurers from spending corporate dollars on private jets, lobbying, campaigning, and excessive advertising.

The Virginia Governor spotlights energy and energy affordability in her first 100 days in office.

• Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger has made energy, especially energy affordability, a focus of her first hundred days since taking office in January. Spanberger was elected in 2025 after focusing much of her campaigning on tackling rising electricity rates in Virginia.

• Spanberger has signed a number of bills aiming to lower energy bills, including legislation to allow utilities to assign costs of servicing data centers directly to those large loads, to simplify transmission permitting, and legislation to develop demand flexibility programs for large loads.

• By January 2027, new governors will be taking office in at least 18 states, and are looking at a similar set of challenges: Spanberger’s focus on affordability and energy is perhaps an indication of what should be on their agendas moving forward.

2. Gas Plants Get Even More Expensive

The cost of fuel isn’t the only thing driving up the cost of gas generation.

• As the World Bank is warning of the “largest energy price surge” since 2022, new analysis from Bloomberg’s BNEF found that the cost of building natural gas power plants has jumped 66% in just two years.

• While the number of gas plants and projects in the pipeline is rising dramatically to meet data center-driven load growth, projects are significantly more expensive, going above $2,100 per KW of capacity, compared to just $1,500 in 2023.

• On top of higher infrastructure costs, natural gas is a historically volatile and geopolitically vulnerable commodity: it is incredibly sensitive to global economic and political upheaval. While gas prices remain lower in the United States, rising LNG exports mean that domestic gas consumers will see prices rise, which we’ve warned about.

3. Mills Vetoes Data Center Pause

Maine Governor Janet Mills vetoed what would have been the country’s first moratorium on data centers.

• Last week, Maine Governor Janet Mills vetoed LD 307, which would have banned new data centers in the state larger than 20 MW for at least two years. The bill, which passed the legislature in April, would have been the country’s first data center moratorium.

• As the politics of data centers and AI gets more contentious, Maine isn’t the only state to consider moratoriums: at least 13 other states have proposed temporary bans on data centers. In other states, lawmakers are interested in paring back incentives for data centers as the costs of tax breaks reach into the billions.

• Still, there’s more states and policymakers can do to protect ratepayers. Innovative rate designs, direct-cost assignment, and special rate classes for large loads can be used to help insulate ratepayers. States can also look to data centers’ significant capital and time-sensitivity as a means of bringing and encouraging more investment in clean energy and critical grid upgrades.

4. Colorado Senate Advances Geothermal Bill

The state is looking to join other states in the west as leaders in geothermal energy.

• The Colorado Senate on Tuesday voted to advance SB 142 in a landslide with significant bipartisan support. The bill seeks to encourage geothermal energy development in Colorado, by authorizing municipal governments to build their own geothermal systems, allowing larger community geothermal projects, and requiring the state to develop recommendations on geothermal production.

• Colorado has long lagged behind other states in the Mountain West when it comes to geothermal, but has made an aggressive push in the last five years in an attempt to cultivate the resource beneath the ground. The State Energy Office operated a $12 million geothermal grant program and an investment tax credit for geothermal projects.

• Geothermal energy is a critical piece of the transition towards a zero-emission economy: geothermal energy can be used to provide energy to meet demand without any emissions. Recent advances in next-generation geothermal have unlocked significant new geothermal resources, including 90 GW of new capacity that could be “economically built.”

Sen. Matt Ball, who sponsored SB 142, said, “Colorado is set up really well for geothermal energy. We think this is a really innovative and exciting place for Colorado to invest to achieve all of our emissions goals in the next several years.”

5. DeSantis Preempts Local Climate Rules

The Florida Governor, a long-time culture warrior, signed a bill prohibiting local governments from adopting “net zero” rules.

• On Earth Day last week, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a new law blocking local governments from adopting any rules or setting policies that would in any way take into account climate change or emissions impact, including transitioning municipal fleets to EVs, requiring low-emission construction materials, and tracking local emissions.

• The new Florida law will put a number of key local initiatives at risk, including many that sought to protect Florida communities from climate impacts like worsening hurricanes, sea level rise, and other climate damages.

• It’s not the only time DeSantis has moved to restrict local governments that disagreed with him: in 2021, DeSantis signed HB 839, a bill which preempts local governments from restricting fossil fuel infrastructure. And DeSantis also removed all mentions of climate change from state codes two years ago, a move many at the time criticized for being willfully blind to many of Florida’s risks.

Miami-Dade County Republican Commissioner Raquel Regalado said, “Every time they preempt us, they take tools away, right? [They] don’t necessarily understand the unintended consequences.”

6. Trump Reaffirms Biden Administration’s Transformer Orders

President Trump issued a Defense Production Act Section 303 Order to support domestic transformer and grid equipment manufacturing, the same move made by President Biden in 2022.

• Last week, President Trump issued a Section 303 Order under the Defense Production Act, which allows the government to take a more active role in supporting certain technologies. The order specifically targets transformers and grid equipment that are critical to meeting the demands of the grid, and can support new clean energy connection to the grid.

• The Section 303 Order allows the federal government and critical agencies, like the Department of Defense and Department of Energy, to purchase and make financial commitments to support these technologies. President Biden issued a similar order in 2022 to support the domestic manufacturing of critical energy technology, including transformers.

• Transformers have been a significant bottleneck in the global energy transition for years, as global supplies have always lagged behind the need for them on the grid. Still, it’s unclear what this order will actually do now: multiple companies are already bringing new manufacturing capacity online, which will begin bringing new supplies in 2027, and not sooner. Meanwhile, the administration’s other policies, particularly on trade and tariffs, have significantly worsened the supply shortage of key grid technologies like transformers.

Spotlight: Pleiades At Climate Week

Thanks to all those who joined us to cover the wide-ranging political, policy, economic, and real-world implications of the ongoing energy transition, and a special thank you to our partners Climate Cabinet Education, the World Resources Institute, and Natural Resources Defense Council for working with us on these three great panels.

Experts, practitioners, and policymakers came together where climate finance, policy, infrastructure, risk, and the real world all meet. With over 200 people registered across three events, we had awesome turnout and really fruitful conversations about some tough issues. To those of you who attended and this is your first issue of Transition Finance Weekly, welcome!! We’re so happy you’re here.

1. ERCOT Claims Its Load Could Quadruple In Six Years

A new forecast from Texas’s grid operator shows load growth even higher than previous, skyhigh estimates.

• ERCOT released a new CEO update this week, in which it said that its forecasted load could grow as high as 368 GW by 2032, a massive increase over the current 2026 load forecast of 98 GW. A similar presentation by the CEO in 2024 anticipated 152 GW of total system load by 2032.

• But it’s not a realistic number: regulators and ERCOT officials alike have said that the forecast is likely an overestimate, and it’s likely closer to the highest-end possible scenario.

• Still, it’s clear that demand for energy is growing, in Texas and everywhere else. The impetus is on policymakers to make sure the growth in demand continues to drive the clean economy, domestic energy supply chains, and the energy transition, while protecting ratepayers from negative impacts.

2. Repurposed EV Batteries Get New Life

A new deal between EV maker Rivian and storage company Redwood Materials will give new life to Rivian batteries.

• Last week, EV maker Rivian and battery recycling company Redwood Materials announced a partnership to repurpose “second-life” EV batteries to provide storage at a Redwood Materials factory in Normal, Illinois.

• Second-life batteries are batteries that have reached the end of their useful life as electric car batteries, but are still useful as stationary grid-serving batteries.

• The new partnership is an example of the value of a domestic energy supply chain, and is an example of how to deliver one step further toward a circular economy.

3. Georgia Power To Let Businesses Sponsor New Clean Energy

Georgia’s largest utility will let its customers pay for new clean energy resources through the utility.

• The Georgia Public Service Commission approved a new plan by Georgia Power to allow major commercial and industrial power users to identify and sponsor new clean energy projects across the state. The program, called the “Customer-Identified Resource” (CIR) Program, comes as data centers are flocking to Georgia and gives a pathway for those large loads to pay their own way — for clean power.

• The CIR program will work by having customers pay a monthly tariff to Georgia Power to cover the cost of constructing and operating new renewable energy projects, along with a guaranteed rate of return to the utility. The program also allows 25% of potential savings to be shared with other Georgia Power customers.

• However, the program allows up to 3 GW of customer-sponsored resources by 2035, which Georgia Power will use to satisfy a majority of its 4 GW target of new clean energy.

“These large customers are willing to put down capital on the front end and take on the risk,” said Katie Southworth, CEBA’s deputy director for market and policy innovation in the South and Southeast. ​“This program opens up the procurement pathways.”

4. Hawaii Closer To Requiring Polluters Pay For Their Impact

A Hawaii bill cleared major legislative milestones, bringing new potential pathways for recovering the costs of climate change from polluters.

• Last week, the Hawaii House advanced SB1166 in a floor vote, a bill which authorizes the state and insurers to sue large fossil fuel companies for the costs associated with climate-driven disasters. The Senate and House are now resolving their differences after the bill was amended in the House.

• Meanwhile, in California, the Senate Insurance Committee failed to advance a similar bill after it cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday. The bill, SB982, would have allowed the Attorney General to sue major polluters for their role in contributing to climate-attributable disasters.

• These bills have faced significant opposition in legislative proceedings as the oil and gas industry has funded efforts to pass legislation at the state and federal levels to give the industry legal immunity from paying for the costs associated with their business.

• In Congress this week, Wyoming Rep. Harriet Hageman introduced a bill to give the oil industry “sweeping immunity” from legal and financial accountability, including from state lawsuits against th

5. Michigan AG Asks Courts To Examine PSC Approval For Data Center Contracts

AG Nessel is seeking to unseal and examine “special contracts” signed between DTE and a data center developer.

• Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has once again filed to challenge a utility, as the Michigan PSC approved DTE Energy’s special power contract with a 1.4 GW data center planned south of Ann Arbor. Nessel is seeking to invalidate the PSC’s approval of the contracts, after the Commission rejected her earlier efforts to review the secret contracts.

• Nessel previously requested a contested rate hearing before the PSC, seeking the right to review the “still heavily redacted” contracts, verify DTE’s claims about customer affordability, and verify adequate ratepayer protections. Nessel said she is seeking “clarity” on the contracts, stating that they will set a precedent for all future data center development in the state and their deals with utilities.

• A big challenge for communities facing data center development has been transparency, with key proposal details shrouded from the public eye — and sometimes even from the key legislators and policymakers.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said, “Our utility companies are preparing to bring aboard massive new data centers in the years to come. On these first, precedential contracts, we must have clarity from the Court, and hold the MPSC accountable to the law.”

6. VA Clean Energy and Grid Provisions Signed into Law, with Amendments from Spanberger

VA Governor Spanberger amended two key energy bills, signing others, after campaigning on electricity affordability in November.

• Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger, who campaigned heavily on energy affordability in her 2025 gubernatorial race, amended two bills passed by the legislature: amending two bills to reduce how much money Dominion can spend on undergrounding wires and reducing the rate of return Dominion is allowed to earn on its expenses. The legislature will need to concur with them before they can take effect.

• Spanberger amended one bill, HB 1393, which extends an existing program that allows Dominion Energy to underground power lines, and requires the State Corporation Commission to approve lines with a per-mile cost of less than $750,000. Spanberger changed the bill to limit the per-mile cost at $900,000, and gave the SCC greater discretion in rejecting deals.

• Meanwhile, Spanberger also wants to revise Dominion’s authorized rate of return, the amount of money it’s allowed to earn on its investments, from 9.8% to 9.3% when the SCC conducts its next rate review.

Meet Pleiades at SF Climate Week

We spend a lot of time thinking about how climate conversations get siloed. Energy people talk to energy people. Transportation advocates talk to transportation advocates. Insurance wonks talk to insurance wonks.

But the threads connect.

On April 21, Pleiades Strategy is hosting a full day of conversations at SF Climate Week with some of our favorite thinkers and doers digging into topics that deeply matter — the Pleiades Salon. Three conversations, one through-line: the places where climate risk, the energy transition, economic opportunity, and policy collide in ways that demand our collective attention.

We hope you’ll join us.

Tuesday, April 21 | San Francisco

1. Data Centers Draw From State Budgets As Wallet Impacts Get Sharper

Data centers are costing governments larger and larger amounts of money, as energy done wrong costs ratepayers too.

• The Texas Comptroller’s office found that the state will lose out on $3.2 billion in state sales tax revenue as a result of the state’s tax exemption for certain data center project developers. Texas isn’t the only one, either: Virginia’s tax breaks for data centers cost the state $1.6 billion in missed revenue last year.

• As a result, more states are considering paring back or entirely eliminating state incentives for data centers, partially because the incentives themselves are secondary considerations for data center developers who are prioritizing fundamentals like land and energy.

• Meanwhile, the structure of energy deals themselves are just as important: without the right safeguards, state policies, and utility approaches, data centers can be incredibly costly for existing ratepayers. It’s on policymakers to reclaim their authority to exercise the appropriate oversight and supervision of continued data center development, without harming state budgets and ratepayer wallets.

2. Clean Energy Slate Wins in Arizona

Clean energy-supportive candidates won a majority on the Salt River Project utility’s board.

• Last week, a slate of candidates broadly supportive of renewables and clean energy won a majority of the seats on the Salt River Project’s board. SRP is Arizona’s largest public utility, and delivers power to more than 2 million customers.

• The races drew attention, in part because of the SRP’s unusual system of awarding one vote per acre to landowners in its service territory, and also because the far-right advocacy group Turning Point USA endorsed its own slate of candidates.

• Though two TPUSA-backed candidates won seats on the board, the Clean Energy Team swept the remaining races and won an outright majority on the board. SRP’s board will be majority pro-renewables for the first time in its history.

Ken Clark, one of the new Clean Energy Team board members, said,

“Starting when we’re sworn in, S.R.P. will be the largest utility in the country with a majority vote of clean energy supporters. There has been a pent-up demand, especially in Arizona, for people to have their energy freedom, to have solar panels, batteries and more energy-efficient measures.”

3. Climate Costs Are Already Costing Households $900 Per Year

The costs of climate change aren’t a far off abstraction: they’re here, and getting bigger.

• According to research from a trio of economists, climate change is costing the average American household around $900 per year, a figure with significant geographic variance. For 10% of counties, the cost is significantly higher at $1,300 per year per household.

• Insurance costs alone, driven upward by the increasing frequency and severity of climate-driven disasters like hurricanes and wildfires, account for a majority of the direct costs to households. Higher insurance costs are contributing to a $600 increase in household expenditures, up to $1,000 in the highest-cost areas.

• In total, the aggregation of these costs amounts to $110 billion per year in the United States, a figure that will continue to grow absent additional climate action.

4. Oklahoma’s Highest Court Rules Anti-ESG Law Unconstitutional

After years of litigation, the Oklahoma’s Energy Discrimination Elimination Act is dead.

• The Oklahoma Supreme Court issued a permanent injunction against the state’s Energy Discrimination Elimination Act of 2022, upholding a 2024 lower court decision ruling the law as unconstitutional. Oklahoma’s EDEA was one of the first anti-ESG laws passed nationwide, and required the state to blacklist companies that allegedly “boycott” fossil fuel companies.

• Though the law was blocked on constitutional grounds as a result of a retiree-initiated lawsuit, it also significantly increased costs to taxpayers, who were forced to pay $180 million in additional borrowing costs because of restrictions put in place via the EDEA.

• Oklahoma’s law isn’t the only anti-ESG law blocked either: a federal court struck down a similar law in Texas, which required the Comptroller to develop a “business blacklist.” And in Missouri, an anti-ESG rule proposed by the Secretary of State, which would have required investment advisors to make politically-charged statements, was struck down by a federal judge.

5. Coal Plants Aren’t Operating, Despite DOE Orders

“Emergency” orders by the Trump Administration don’t make the coal math work.

• Three coal-fired power plants, which were ordered to stay open beyond their closure dates, are not operating. The Trump Department of Energy has used little-accessed federal emergency authorities to force coal power plants to stay open past planned closures, contradicting what utilities, grid operators, and states say they need.

• Generators at the Washington State Centralia power plant, Craig in Colorado, and R.M. Schahfer in Indiana didn’t generate any electricity in January. Tri-State Generation & Transmission in Colorado, the owner of the Craig Power Station in Colorado, formally objected to the DOE’s order.

• Meanwhile, as states, consumer advocates, and environmental groups sue the administration over its coal orders, the costs for utilities and ratepayers are mounting: the costs of keeping just one Michigan coal plant open have ballooned to over $135 million in less than one year. Even without generating power, Craig Station costs $80 million per year to keep operational.

Spotlight: Oil and Gas Industry Looks to Liability Shield

Fresh off its campaign to toxify corporate climate efforts, key anti-ESG leader Will Hild and donor Leonard Leo are organizing a new campaign to pass measures giving the oil and gas industry a liability shield against the damages their products have created. This replicates a playbook from the gun industry to avoid liability for the harms their products perpetuate. In 2026, Utah became the first state to pass measures to protect the oil and gas industry from litigation. The oil and gas industry is also fighting tooth-and-nail against measures in other states that would require the industry to pay for the costs caused by their extensive pollution.

Former California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones characterized the efforts as “beyond dangerous.” Jones argues that making polluters pay is one of the most important avenues for funding climate change mitigation and recovery efforts, especially as the Trump Administration slashes federal disaster funding and climate-related programming.

Pleiades at SF Climate Week

We spend a lot of time thinking about how climate conversations get siloed. Energy people talk to energy people. Transportation advocates talk to transportation advocates. Insurance wonks talk to insurance wonks.

But the threads connect.

On April 21, Pleiades Strategy is hosting a full day of conversations at SF Climate Week with some of our favorite thinkers and doers digging into topics that deeply matter — the Pleiades Salon. Three conversations, one through-line: the places where climate risk, the energy transition, infrastructure, and policy collide in ways that demand our collective attention.

We hope you’ll join us.

🗓 Tuesday, April 21 | San Francisco

🔗 Link here

1. California Earthquake Authority Releases Wildfire Study

As ordered by the state legislature and Gavin Newsom, the Wildfire Fund Administrator issued recommendations to overhaul California’s insurance and energy landscapes.

• The California Earthquake Authority, which manages the Wildfire Fund, came out with its final recommendations after a multi-month examination of the state’s insurance market and electricity system, which included nearly 80 submissions from environmental, consumer, industry, business groups, and government agencies. The study was mandated by SB 254, a bill passed in the wake of the 2025 wildfires that added $18 billion to the wildfire fund.

• The report falls short of endorsing a specific policy path forward, but issues a number of recommendations under three main categories, including how to manage physical risks, how to allocate risks and “burdens,” and what the state’s potential role could be in the market.

• Though it gives plenty of options for lawmakers to consider, the report is unequivocal in its declaration that any real solution to the insurance crisis must come with real, serious physical risk reduction measures at the property and community level.

2. Pair of Pennsylvania Bills Will Enhance Existing Electricity Assets

Lawmakers in Pennsylvania are considering bills to deploy advanced transmission technologies and VPPs to enhance the grid.

• As part of a growing trend across the country, lawmakers in Pennsylvania are considering two bills to increase the grid’s ability to take advantage of existing resources on the grid, HB 2223 and HB 2264. HB 2223 would require utilities to consider deploying advanced transmission technologies and HB 2264 would require utilities to develop virtual power plants.

• Both solutions would make the grid significantly more efficient and allow grid operators and utilities to increase grid utilization. And virtual power plants in particular have emerged as a significant opportunity to coordinate and aggregate distributed resources to potentially add up to 60 GW of capacity to the grid by 2030.

• The bills face significant headwinds, though: the legislature has been slow to take up bills, even those backed by Governor Shapiro. Strategies to take advantage of existing grid assets also don’t fix Pennsylvania’s relative lack of clean generation assets, which exists in part thanks to the state’s arcane rules which add $6,000 to the cost of residential solar systems.

House Energy Committee Chair Rep. Elizabeth Fielder said, “We know that we are dealing with serious supply chain problems and demand problems, and that we need to do everything we can to get as much as possible out of our existing infrastructure.”

3. Minnesota Approves Xcel’s “Distributed Capacity” Program

Minnesota regulators approved the state’s first virtual power plant, but distributed energy advocates criticize the utility-centric model.

• Xcel Energy received approval from Minnesota regulators on its Capacity*Connect program, a utility-owned 200 MW distributed storage and VPP program. Xcel has permission to develop up to 200 MW of energy storage across its grid with 1 to 3 MW batteries.

• The VPP program is unique: most VPP programs use customer-sited and customer-owned energy resources. Meanwhile, Xcel itself is operating a VPP program in its Colorado service territory.

• Though Capacity*Connect leaves out customer-sited resources, it’s revealing from the company and an acknowledgement that a substantial piece of the future of the grid will be distributed, including those operated by major investor-owned-utilities.

4. Nevada’s Largest Utility To Join New California Market

Nevada’s PUC will allow NV Energy to join CAISO’s new electricity market in a game-changing move.

• Last Friday, the Nevada Public Utilities Commission approved NV Energy’s request to join the California Independent System Operator’s new Extended Day-Ahead Market (EDAM). CAISO, which manages California’s electricity grid, is proposing a new energy market to share energy and grid resources across a wider geography, through EDAM.

• EDAM is launching May 1, 2026 with PacifiCorp and Portland General Electric, with more grid operators and utilities slated to join in the next year. EDAM will also provide significant benefits for DER and VPP integration into a wider wholesale market.

• The launch of a new Western energy market is a significant milestone for the grid. As with “smaller scale” energy system upgrades, linking regions with coordinated energy markets and transmission unlocks more capacity everywhere and reduces the need to build additional generation.

5. Trump Admin Takes Axe To Forest Service

As fire risk grows and the West approaches wildfire season, the Trump Administration is moving to close three quarters of its forest research facilities.

• The Trump Administration is moving to massively reorganize the U.S. Forest Service, which manages 193 million acres of federal land and works on wildfire suppression and mitigation across the country. As part of the cuts, the administration is shuttering 57 of the agency’s 77 research stations and moving its headquarters to Salt Lake City, Utah from Washington, D.C.

• The move is reminiscent of Trump’s reorganization of the Bureau of Land Management during his first term, in which he moved the agency’s headquarters to Colorado from Washington. His chief of staff at the time claimed that moving agency headquarters was a “wonderful way” to get federal employees to quit. Some anticipate that the Forest Service will lose as much as half of its workforce in the move.

• The Forest Service could be unequipped for what is expected to be a more-dangerous-than-usual wildfire season across the Western United States, which is already dealing with a significantly warmer and drier winter than usual.

A prescribed burn site at the Crossett National Forest research station, one of the long-standing USFS research hubs that has added to our understanding of scientific forest management and resource management that is at risk from cuts to USFS science programs. Taken on a field trip by Frances in 2014.

Data shows natural gas is driving increases and volatility in energy prices.

• A new analysis published by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) and the Brattle Group on the state of electricity prices found that increases in the price of natural gas drove generation and wholesale electricity prices higher across the country. The effects, like most factors in electricity markets, were not evenly distributed across geographies.

• The report found that electricity prices had been insulated from excessive price increases over a six year period from 2019-2025 as a result of low natural gas prices, but fluctuations in commodity prices drove significant volatility in electricity prices. States that received more of their electricity from natural gas saw significantly more volatility in annual electricity prices.

• Natural gas exports will also worsen the price impacts of domestic natural gas use as more domestic producers seek to sell gas to the more expensive international markets, especially amid the U.S.-Iran conflict’s impact on energy markets.

• In short, the report affirms that relying on volatile commodities for fuel is a vulnerability for cost control. Technologies like wind and solar, which don’t rely on fuels, are free from this vulnerability.

From the report: “In 2025, the national-average price of natural gas delivered to electric generators increased 36% from the all-time low in 2024, pushing generation costs and real-time wholesale electricity prices higher.”

2. La Plata Leaves Tri-State, Lowers Costs and Increases Clean Portfolio

The Colorado distribution cooperative is leaving the Tri-State Generation and Transmission to pursue local affordable clean generation.

• On April 1, La Plata Electric Association, a Colorado-based distribution cooperative, exited its membership in the Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, its longstanding wholesale generation and transmission provider.

• The move is expected to save La Plata 10% on its wholesale electricity costs and significantly reduce its emissions, savings realized through access to local clean generation, more market purchases, and an escape from legacy coal.

• The move away from Tri-State has been long-planned: the two coops signed an agreement in 2024 to terminate the contract and shift towards a continued relationship via PPAs for 40 MW of firm capacity and 40 MW of solar.

• In making their exit, La Plata in part took inspiration from the New Mexico Kit Carson Electric Cooperative, which pushed to leave Tri-State in 2016 and has since shifted to locally-sourced clean energy.

• In the meantime, Tri-State has made strides toward improving its resource mix and finances: it secured $2.5 billion in New ERA funds for modernization, has moved to procure significant solar and storage, and has offered new local generation for members.

La Plata Board President Nicole Pitcher said, “This is exactly why we made the decision to leave. I was proud to be part of that Board vote, and we’re already seeing it pay off for our members with lower costs, stable rates, and a cleaner, locally controlled power supply.”

3. Energy & Data Centers Take Center Stage in Texas

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick & Speaker Dustin Burrows highlight energy and data centers as priorities for the next Texas legislative session.

• On Friday, a day after House Speaker Dustin Burrows released his own list of priorities, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick asked state legislators to “study” a range of policy issues including energy and data centers ahead of the 2027 session. The Texas legislature does not hold regular legislative sessions in even years.

• Specifically, Patrick is asking legislators to review transmission policy, assess the impact of existing policies on the Texas grid, and examine the impact of energy-intensive technologies on the grid. Patrick also wants to examine “renewable energy decommissioning,” a common talking point among anti-renewable advocates seeking to block clean energy.

• Speaker Dustin Burrows similarly called on lawmakers to focus on energy issues, including developing microgrids and distributed energy resources, specifically as they relate to reliability and affordability for consumers.

4. California Resiliency & Insurance Study to Come Out April 7

The California Earthquake Authority will release a major study mandated by SB 254.

• On Tuesday, the California Earthquake Authority is expected to release the outcome of a multi-month study into California’s insurance markets, utilities, and resilience in the face of ever-increasing climate-driven disaster risk, primarily from wildfires.

• The CEA, which administers the California Wildfire Fund, was tasked with studying the state’s insurance market and resilience to catastrophes via SB 254, a major bill signed by Gavin Newsom in September 2025. Among other things, SB 254 also added $18 billion to the state’s Wildfire Fund, which faced near-depletion as a result of the 2025 Los Angeles fires.

• More than 80 groups and stakeholders have submitted commentary to the CEA as part of the study, but it’s unclear what the body will recommend. A separate SB 254-initiated report, by the California Public Utilities Commission, called for sweeping reforms to California’s insurance system, including by reining in utility liability, more risk sharing and pooling across different risk profiles, and changing the responsibility for wildfire mitigation.

• The SB 254 process has put a spotlight on the ways that climate-driven risks are reshaping the financial landscape, with taxpayers, ratepayers, and the insured (read: people) covering the tab across the board. Mapping these hidden climate costs makes it clear: fair and transparent investments in real, tangible risk reductions are crucial to California’s continued economic thriving.

5. MI, NY, MA — All Considering Virtual Power Plant Legislation

Lawmakers across the country are looking to allow the grid to take advantage of distributed, small-scale energy resources.

• Last week, a Michigan Senate committee voted to advance SB 731, a bill that would establish a framework for implementing VPP programs in the state, tasking the Public Service Commission with adopting program requirements within one year. The bill’s backers say that the bill will allow the state to take advantage of its plentiful distributed energy resources.

• Michigan’s not the only state moving on VPPs: a pair of bills in New York introduced in mid-March will require the utility and Department of Public Service to develop and deploy VPP programs if passed. In Iowa, legislators are considering legislation to require the Utilities Commission to develop VPP rules, and a Massachusetts bill would require utilities to develop VPPs.

• Across the country, policymakers are increasingly turning to VPPs as a means of addressing immediate affordability challenges and capacity needs on the grid. Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger, who ran on energy affordability, signed a bill allowing Virginia’s electric cooperatives to deploy VPPs.

SPOTLIGHT: Florida Port Rejects LNG Bid

A week before the Space Coast successfully launched Artemis II to the moon, Port Canaveral Commissioners voted unanimously against selling a slice of Port-owned land to Berkshire Hathaway and Chesapeake Utilities, which sought to build an LNG liquefaction plant for the cruise and space industry. Liquefaction facilities also unlock the export of natural gas to international markets, further tethering U.S. gas prices to international market fluctuations.

The Port Canaveral Commissioners rejected the bid in part because the land is “a strategic port property,” and because of significant opposition from the community. The LNG facility would have been built less than a mile from hundreds of homes.

Attorney General Dana Nessel is trying to cut DTE’s proposed gas rate hike by 85%.

• Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said last week that she filed against DTE Energy’s request to increase its rates for all customers by 10%. Under DTE’s proposal, residential customers would see at least an 8% increase.

• Nessel criticized DTE in February when it announced that it would seek yet another rate hike, just days after the Michigan Public Service Commission approved a $242 million rate hike for its electric service.

• Nessel isn’t alone here, either. Attorneys General are increasingly stepping into utility rate cases to defend their constituents’ pocketbooks as energy prices become more salient to customers. In Arizona, AG Kris Mayes has stepped in to block Tucson Electric Power’s proposed 14% rate increase, and North Carolina AG Jeff Jackson has stepped in to block multiple utility-proposed hikes.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, on DTE Energy’s proposed rate hikes: “It’s astonishing that our current system allows DTE to announce their next rate hike case less than one week after locking in a $242 million rate hike, all while the utility projects record profits.”

2. Massachusetts Sets New Energy Targets

Governor Maura Healey signs executive order setting new in-state clean energy deployment targets.

• Last week, Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey signed an executive order ordering the state to bring 10 GW of new clean energy resources online by the end of 2035. The EO calls for 4 GW of new solar, and 3.5 GW of demand management capacity. Importantly, the EO also targets 5 GW of energy storage by 2035.

• Healey’s EO includes recommendations to support the development of new resources, including improving interconnection processes, supporting the expansion of wind generation, and expanding distributed resources including microgrids.

Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey said, “While the President is taking American-built energy sources off the table, in Massachusetts, we are saying yes to more supply from more sources of energy. We are saying yes to American jobs and American energy independence. And we are saying yes to lowering energy bills for all.”

3. DOE Coal Orders Undermine Utility Planning, Face Resistance

Utilities are working to resist the Trump Administration’s emergency coal power plant orders as they undermine system planning.

• Since taking office, the Trump Administration has forced 16 power plants nationwide to stay open, regardless of their cost to operators, in a bid to increase coal consumption in the United States. The plants forced to stay open include Tri-State G&T Cooperative’s Craig Station in Colorado, Constellation’s Eddystone in Pennsylvania, Campbell Power Plant in Michigan, and Washington State’s Centralia plant.

• For state utility regulators, policymakers, and grid operators, the federal government’s politically-motivated efforts to boost coal are undermining their ability to plan for the future. The orders undermine state-level agreements, utility decisions, and laws binding utilities to decommissioning assets that they’ve concluded are too costly or inefficient to run.

• For utilities, the orders are unnecessarily driving up their costs and similarly affecting their long-term planning. Consumers Energy says that the order keeping Campbell open has cost ratepayers $135 million in just a few months. Meanwhile, Tri-State and Platte River Power Authority filed to block the order.

Pete Wychoff, Deputy Commissioner of Energy Resources for the Minnesota Department of Commerce, on the order keeping Campbell open in Michigan: “This is nuts … we are not happy and are repeating to anyone who asks that there is a coal plant in Michigan that is being forced to stay open.”

4. Geothermal Can Connect Faster Than We Knew

Enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) can achieve commercial operation within three to six years of project initiation — a timeline that aligns with near-term resource planning.

• A new white paper from the Center for Public Enterprise finds that novel enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) are ready for quicker deployment than previously thought. Unlike traditional geothermal systems, EGS uses horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing technologies, borrowed from oil and gas extraction, to use the Earth’s heat to generate electricity.

• The paper argues that new EGS projects can start producing power within three years of breaking ground on construction, timelines which look incredibly attractive compared to other sources of clean firm energy like nuclear and traditional geothermal.

• Even more key, EGS has extreme potential in displacing dirty generation, particularly due to its high capacity factor (over 80%) and its continued eligibility for a 30% investment tax credit. Coupled with the attractive timelines, the paper argues that western utilities should rush to include EGS in their next round of integrated resource planning processes.

5. Hochul Says She Can’t Meet Deadlines Of Law She Failed To Implement

New York Governor Kathy Hochul has delayed the implementation of the state’s landmark climate law, and now wants legislation to revise the goalposts.

• Governor Kathy Hochul wrote an op-ed calling for legislation to delay the implementation of New York’s 2019 Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, a landmark bill committing the state to 100% net-zero electricity by 2040. The law also binds New York to 40% GHG reduction by 2030 and 85% by 2050.

• Hochul is now arguing that the law is at odds with “affordability” and says that the state won’t be able to meet the targets. Hochul also claims that the Trump Administration’s war on renewables is undermining the buildout.

• But Hochul also failed to implement the law herself. Hochul’s administration failed to promulgate the rules and regulations required to achieve the cuts by 2024 as required by the bill. Hochul’s proposed rules would allow energy providers and homes to burn more dirty fuels for longer, exactly at the moment that those energy sources are skyrocketing in price.

SPOTLIGHT: Renewables Growing As Share of America’s Grid

Wind and solar grew to produce 17% of all U.S. electricity in 2025, up from less than 1% in 2005 according to the Energy Information Administration. Even amidst a “war” on renewables from the Trump Administration, renewables continue to drive growth in the electricity sector. In 2025, 93% of the 63 GW of grid additions were wind, solar, or storage.

Two Massachusetts and Rhode Island-based projects targeted by the Trump Administration are getting closer to full operations.

• On Friday night, the Vineyard Wind project off the coast of Massachusetts installed its final blades, completing construction at the 800 MW wind farm. Also on Friday, Revolution Wind, a 704 MW project near Rhode Island, began delivering power to New England’s grid.

• The two projects have faced significant hurdles in their long road to connect onto the grid. In December, President Trump issued a blanket stop-work order halting construction at the two offshore wind projects (and three more on the East Coast). Judges ruled against the administration in all five cases.

• While it marks a significant milestone, and a major victory for the politically castigated wind energy industry, the threats from the administration continue to shape the future of offshore wind. Just this week, the New York Times reported that the administration is planning to pay French energy giant TotalEnergies $1 billion to cancel its planned offshore wind developments off the coasts of New York and North Carolina.

Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey said in a statement, “The affordable, homegrown power it delivers to Massachusetts residents and businesses will bring costs down as President Trump throws global markets into disarray.”

2. In Tenn., Distribution Utility Deploys Batteries

EPB of Chattanooga is supplementing its grid with new battery-based microgrids.

• In partnership with the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Tennessee-based utility EPB of Chattanooga says it has installed five microgrids with 58 MWh of energy storage and is planning two more. It expects to deploy another 45 MW of front-of-the-meter energy storage in the next year and is planning to have around 150 MW of storage on its grid within three years.

• EPB purchases its energy from the Tennessee Valley Authority, which caps self-generation for member utilities at 5% of their own load. EPB’s agreement with the TVA exempts storage from counting towards the limit, which allowed the utility to develop these storage sites.

• It’s another in a long list of examples of the different use-cases for batteries, all across the energy delivery chain. For EPB, it’ll help guarantee reliability to thousands of customers, while allowing it to shave off the peak of its demand.

3. Trump To Release Stored Petroleum

The United States is set to make its second-largest release from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve as Trump’s war with Iran escalates with attacks on fossil fuel infrastructure.

• Last week, the Trump Administration announced that it would release 172 million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the largest release since President Joe Biden’s 2022 release. This release will bring the SPR to its lowest levels since 1982.

• It’s the latest move from an administration desperate to lower energy prices that it sent skyrocketing when Trump launched attacks on Iran weeks ago. The United States and Israel have targeted key Iranian energy infrastructure, and Iran has done the same to American allies, forcing a halt of around 10 million barrels a day in oil production. Natural gas is a similar story: prices are spiking as a result of supply chain disruptions to LNG exports in the Gulf and attacks on production infrastructure.

• Short of time travel, there’s little the administration can do to lower energy prices immediately: a release from the SPR won’t hit the market for weeks and natural gas prices continue to move up. Meanwhile, the administration has relentlessly attacked the only surefire solution to reducing dependence on expensive, geopolitically vulnerable fuels: clean electrification.

4. South Dakota Limits Utilities’ Wildfire Liabilities

Governor Larry Rhoden signed a bill to protect utilities from liabilities related to wildfires.

• On March 5, South Dakota Governor Larry Rhoden signed SB36, which bars the application of “strict liability” to utilities in wildfire-related lawsuits. Strict liability makes utilities responsible for harms they caused, whether or not they intended the harm or were negligent. The bill was sponsored by State Senator Steve Kolbeck, who also works at South Dakota utility Xcel Energy.

• The law requires utilities to file five-year fire mitigation plans. Under the new law, utilities will only be liable for damages if they fail to file fire mitigation plans or fail to follow their mitigation plans. The law also makes utilities liable for criminal intent or “wanton” misconduct.

• While the bill insulates utilities from risks and saves them money, it’s unclear whether those savings will actually make it to customers, particularly those who will see their insurance rates rise and fire victims with fewer options after suffering devastating damages.

5. Elevated Fire Risk After Historic Dry and Warm Winter

An incredibly warm and dry winter across the West has elevated wildfire risks through 2026.

• The National Interagency Coordination Center, which coordinates responses to wild fires, warned that fire risk will be significantly elevated in 2026, especially compared to the 2025 fire season, after an especially dry winter. In 2025, wildfires burned a smaller-than-usual amount of acreage, but high-profile fires in Los Angeles, which killed 31 people and caused billions in damages, brought significant attention to fire risk.

• One of those Los Angeles wildfires, the Eaton Fire, was the first utility-caused wildfire since the creation of the California Wildfire Fund, and threatened to drain the entire fund in one fire. California passed legislation in 2025 to add $18 billion to the wildfire fund.

• The NICC is also warning of elevated fire risk in areas that are typically not considered at-risk from wildfires, including a significant share of the South and Southeast, from Texas to Virginia.

SPOTLIGHT: New Insurance Regulation Mapping Tool

Increasing pressure from rising insurance costs, elevated climate-related risks, and the growing damage caused by major disasters is shoving historically low-visibility political officeholders like insurance commissioners straight into the limelight.

A new tool from Revolving Door Project Researcher Kenny Stancil titled “Mapping Home Insurance Regulation” helps catalogue the differences between all 50 state offices charged with regulating insurance, including their budgets, staff, and authority over insurance rates.

Desperate for a fix for its oil price shocks, the Trump Administration looks to a refinery project that has failed to get off the ground for years.

• As the administration is scrambling to find solutions to the price shocks arising from its war in Iran, President Trump announced a “$300 billion” refinery project backed by Indian refiner Reliant Industries and America First Refining, led by John Calce. This is Calce’s fourth time trying to build a new refinery in Brownsville, with at least one of his past attempts leading to bankruptcy.

• This would be the United States’s first major refinery in 50 years, but has faced significant, sustained opposition from local residents, environmental advocates, and local business owners in Brownsville. Despite Trump’s claims that the refinery would be the “cleanest,” refineries of its kind are highly polluting and damaging to local communities. The facilities release toxins linked to cancer, heart disease, and neurological and reproductive damage.

• Still, the deal is extremely thin on details, and is vaguely reminiscent of Trump’s first administration’s promise to Wisconsinites: that Foxconn would bring billions of dollars and tens of thousands of jobs in development, which never materialized.

2. Texas County Pushes Renewables Ban

Steeped in anti-renewables disinformation, Van Zandt County, Texas moved to ban all renewable and battery project development.

• The Van Zandt County Commission in February approved a moratorium on all clean energy projects, including battery storage projects. The Commissioners cited AG Ken Paxton’s new “investigation” into “CCP-aligned” products used in Texas. Paxton has previously used tools of his office to threaten companies investing in the energy transition.

• The moratorium was heavily pushed by a newly-formed anti-renewable energy organization called the “Legislative Energy Action Foundation.” LEAF’s founder, Nancy White, has used extensive disinformation to attack clean energy.

Despite, not because of, political leaders like Paxton, Texas has emerged as an unlikely standard-bearer for the energy transition. That progress is now at risk if the state’s leadership continues to prioritize culture war politics over sound energy policy.

3. Policymakers Move To Maximize Existing Grid Connections

Legislators in Indiana and Virginia moved bills to allow energy developers to take advantage of “Surplus Interconnection.”

• Indiana and Virginia lawmakers passed two bills to create Surplus Interconnection Service, which will allow energy developers to connect to the grid at an existing facility’s interconnection point. The Indiana bill is now law, while Virginia’s version awaits Governor Abigail Spanberger’s signature.

• The SIS bills will allow energy developers, especially renewable and battery developers, to connect to the grid much faster, since grid operators typically study SIS much more quickly than standard interconnection requests.

• Existing evidence shows that projects connected via surplus interconnection are typically significantly cheaper than those needing a full interconnection review, largely due to the much shorter time frames.

Virginia Delegate Phil Hernandez, who sponsored Virginia’s bill, said, “We believe this could be one of the fastest, lowest-cost ways to add power to the grid.”

4. Culture Warriors Step Into Arizona Utility Elections

Far-right political organization Turning Point USA is endorsing candidates in the Arizona Salt River Project public utility races.

• The far-right advocacy group Turning Point USA endorsed a slate of candidates in Arizona’s Salt River Project Board elections. The Salt River Project is an Arizona-based public utility, and is one of the largest public utilities in the country.

• TPUSA’s slate is led by current Vice Chair Chris Dobson, who is also being backed by Arizonans for Responsible Growth. ARG has long positioned itself, and its candidates in Salt River Project, as being “growth-minded people.” ARG itself is backed largely by SRP contractors and companies with financial interests in the outcome of the races.

• TPUSA, co-founded by the late Charlie Kirk, is most known for its rambunctious campus tours. With ties to fossil fuel funding and networks, TPUSA-led student organizing supported campus opposition to pro-climate fossil free divestment campaigns and Kirk’s content often highlighted climate denial.

As utility analyst Paul Walker put it, “The worry I have, and many others have, is that Turning Point wants SRP to stop building what’s economically rational and start building what scores political points. They have nobody with any background or training in the water or electric sectors, but that’s not stopping them from trying to tell Arizona voters how to shape the water and power future.”

5. Production Restarts At Georgia Solar Plant

Qcells restarted production at its Georgia solar plants after their cells were detained by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol.

• Late last week, solar maker Qcells announced that it was once again back to “normal production” at its two factories in Dalton and Cartersville, Georgia, with a production capacity of 5.1 GW and 3.3 GW of solar panels respectively.

• In 2023, Qcells announced a $2.5 billion expansion of its investments in manufacturing in Georgia. Its expansion would bring the total solar manufacturing capacity to 8.4 GW a year and will create the first fully-integrated American solar supply chain.

• The QCells facilities are an example of the Inflation Reduction Act’s success in driving a renaissance in clean energy-oriented regional economic growth. Since the passage of the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” such projects have faced tough headwinds, with more than $35B in investments evaporating as a result. The domestic solar supply chain is critical to building long-term energy security, as recent weeks have demonstrated.

6. TransAlta Won’t Run Washington’s Last Coal Plant

Despite a DOE order delaying Washington’s last coal plant’s retirement date, IPP TransAlta says it likely won’t run the plant.

• TransAlta, which owns Washington’s last coal power plant, was planning to retire Centralia Unit 2 in December 2025, until Energy Secretary Chris Wright issued an “emergency” order requiring it to stay online. Despite the order, TransAlta says the plant probably won’t need to run because the state is “flush” with other, mostly clean, power.

• It’s not the first time the administration has used this power to keep coal plants open past their planned retirements. Other utilities, including Tri-State in Colorado and Consumers Energy in Michigan, have been required to do the same and have opposed the administration’s moves, saying the named plants are economically uncompetitive.

• Washington State isn’t sitting on its hands either: the state is suing the administration to block the order, and it passed legislation to heavily tax Centralia’s energy output, with the intent of keeping it shut off.

Washington Governor Bob Ferguson: “Washington is not going backward on clean energy. [This] keeps the state on track to phase out coal power as we have been planning to do so for the last 15 years.”

Amidst a highly fluid situation, the Trump Administration tries to mitigate energy price spikes as it triggers regional war.

• The Israeli and American-launched war against Iran in the Middle East has plunged the resource-rich region into chaos, as American-aligned Persian Gulf countries are now facing retaliatory strikes from Iran. QatarEnergy, which supplies 20% of the globe’s natural gas, is halting production and export of natural gas. A significant share of Israeli, Iraqi, and Saudi fossil fuel capacity is also halted.

• The war-driven disruptions are causing significant price spikes in global oil and gas prices. The price impact is also translating directly to consumers: gasoline prices in the United States jumped by nearly 20 cents since last week. The Trump Administration is reportedly offering insurance and US military assets to protect fossil fuel shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, 80% of which are destined for Asian markets.

• This is yet another reminder of the significant risks inherent to fuel-based energy systems that go beyond simple infrastructure costs. Renewables must be a core part of each country’s energy security formula, and are key to protecting energy systems from geopolitical shocks.

Rocky Mountain Institute Founder Amory Lovins in Brittle Power (1982): “A key feature which helps to make these energy sources resilient is that they are renewable: they harness the energy of sun, wind, water, or farm and forestry wastes, rather than that of depletable fuels.”

2. Data Centers’ Other Reliability Threat

As recent incidents in Virginia have shown, data centers abruptly dropping off the power grid can present significant reliability risks for grid operators.

• In a series of incidents in 2024 and 2025, dozens of Virginia data centers suddenly dropped off the grid after problems from high-voltage power lines. The data centers totaled around 2,000 MWs worth of energy dropping off the grid virtually instantly.

• Grid operators are charged with keeping the grid stable. In the context of data centers, most of the attention goes to ensuring that data centers have access to enough power. But the opposite is also true: grid operators also have to make sure there is enough demand to meet real-time energy supply.

• While the Virginia incidents did not rise to the level of “emergency,” according to PJM, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation has warned that the risk of larger grid impacts as a result of load shedding is growing with the growth of data centers.

Mike Bryson, Senior VP for Operations at PJM: “It didn’t cause an emergency, but I would say it caused concern. What we’re worried about is, what if that happens for 3,000 megawatts or 5,000 megawatts?”

3. CARB Sets Climate Disclosure Timeline

CARB will exempt insurers from meeting climate disclosure rules as other sectors prepare to report by August 16, 2026.

• Last week, the California Air Resources Board approved the California Greenhouse Gas Reporting and Climate Financial Risk Disclosure Initial Regulation, which sets up the regulatory framework under SB 253 and 261, two climate disclosure bills passed in 2023. CARB paused enforcement of SB 261 pending the outcome of litigation.

• SB 253 requires corporations that operate in California with over $1 billion in annual revenues to report Scope 1 and 2 emissions beginning in 2026, and Scope 3 emissions beginning in 2027.

• Over the objections of bill sponsor Senator Scott Wiener and former Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones, CARB exempted insurance companies from complying with its regulations, claiming that they were subject to duplicative regulations by the California Department of Insurance. Wiener argued that the Board did not have the authority to circumvent the legislature’s intent to cover insurance companies, while Jones said that the CDI’s regulations were voluntary.

SB 253 sponsor Senator Scott Wiener, in response to CARB’s exclusion of insurance companies: “The Legislature’s intent with respect to the insurance industry is crystal clear. [...] The law of California is that the insurance industry is included in SB 253’s carbon disclosure requirement. I do not believe that the board has the authority to remove an industry that was included by the Legislature.”

4. California PUC Pushes More Renewables

California’s Utility Commission is looking for 6GW of clean grid additions before tax credits expire.

• Last week, the California Public Utilities Commission proposed a new framework to add 6 GW of new clean energy to the grid between 2029 and 2032. The CPUC’s decision is driven largely by a desire to “pursue any viable projects” that can qualify for federal tax credits before they currently expire.

• The CPUC is seeking 2,000 MW of new clean capacity by 2030, and an additional 2,000 MW in each of 2031 and 2032. The development of the resource procurement plan is being done alongside CAISO’s transmission upgrade planning.

• California is continuing its leadership in renewable energy deployment, despite significant headwinds from the federal government, and has met RPS milestones ahead of schedule.

CPUC President Alice Reynolds said, “California is the model for how to proactively plan and successfully procure the clean energy assets capable of powering the world’s fourth largest economy.”

5. Matched Clean Capacity the Way Forward

Google is paying for its own clean capacity at its planned Minnesota data center.

• Google announced a new data center complex south of Minneapolis that drew attention not because of its size, but because of what will be the world’s largest iron-air battery. Google will partner with Xcel Energy and Form Energy, a battery maker, to power its data center campus with 1,400 MW of wind, 200 MW of solar, and a 30 GWh battery. Google will also help fund an Xcel-run distributed battery program.

• Google is becoming the first hyperscaler to use Form Energy’s unique battery chemistry. The company’s strategy isn’t all rosy, however: Form Energy has yet to finish its first commercial battery installation, and Google is looking to bring 179 diesel generators to a planned Indiana data center.

• Still, Google’s latest deal is a significant bet on long-duration energy storage, which could prove to be a significant leap in the already ongoing renewable and energy storage revolution.

SPOTLIGHT: Primary Elections in North Carolina and Texas

Voters went to the polls in North Carolina, Texas, and Arkansas on Tuesday, where most eyes watched the hotly contested Senate seat in Texas. In that race, Democrat James Tallarico will now face either incumbent Senator John Cornyn or Attorney General Ken Paxton in November pending the outcome of the GOP primary runoff. Paxton has been a key leader in the multi-state, activist-led anti-ESG campaign. Meanwhile, in North Carolina, former Governor Roy Cooper won the Democratic Primary for Senate and Michael Whatley won the GOP nomination, setting the top of the ticket for a critical Senate race.

Down the ballot in North Carolina, the three Democrats who helped Republicans override Governor Josh Stein’s veto of SB 266 lost their seats by wide margins to challengers. SB 266, now law, suspended interim emissions reductions targets for Duke Energy, allows utilities to charge consumers for incomplete power plants, and is expected to cost North Carolinians $23 billion in future costs. Two of the candidates, Democratic Representatives Carla Cunningham and Nasif Majeed, both of whom voted to override Stein’s veto on SB 266, each failed to break 30% support in their respective primaries.

This morning, Vanguard caved to pressure from Republican AGs, agreeing to a $29.5 million settlement without an admission of guilt to settle partisan accusations of breaching antitrust law. BlackRock and State Street remain in ongoing litigation.

1. California and Companies Continue Focus on Emissions

Today, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) is holding a hearing on proposed climate-related financial disclosures — meanwhile, companies continue to invest in Scope 3.

• CARB is holding its first public hearing today on its draft regulations under California’s twin 2023 laws, SB 253 and SB 261, which require large companies to report their emissions and their climate-related financial risks. In November 2025, a U.S. Court of Appeals halted enforcement in SB 261 pending the outcome of an appeal, after a lower court ruled against the law’s challengers.

• California is moving forward with implementing SB 253, the Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act, and is planning to set the first-year reporting deadline for companies covered by the law. Under the law, companies will need to report their Scope 1 and 2 emissions this year, with Scope 3 emissions reporting beginning in 2027.

• Meanwhile, new research indicates that companies are continuing to prioritize Scope 3 emissions reporting, despite policy uncertainty in the United States. As companies continue to face and contend with significant climate risks, which will continue to exist whether or not companies track them, standardized disclosure becomes all the more important for investors and corporate leaders.

2. Clean Energy Changes the Data Center Game

For data centers, meeting energy needs with renewable generation is one of the few things that increases public support.

• New data in polling by Climate Power, a climate-focused communications organization, finds that voters are significantly more supportive of data center development when paired with clean energy than fossil fuels.

• Overall, voters said they’d support renewable-powered data centers by a 25 point margin, while voters opposed data centers powered by fossil fuels by a margin of 16 points, representing a 41 percentage point swing in net support.

• For data center developers and hyperscalers, it’s yet another data point showing that there is a better way to build: with new, matched clean energy, particularly amidst the upswell of local opposition to data centers across the country.

SEIA Communications Director Seth Miller: “If data centers want to maintain their social license to operate... the need to BYONCE. (Bring Your Own New Clean Electricity)”

3. Insurers Worked To Undermine Climate Risk Rules

Insurance lobbyists fought as the world’s insurance regulators tried to set standards for climate risk.

• New research from accountability researchers InfluenceMap found that insurers “mobilized to slow down efforts” at the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) to set global standards for climate-related insurance risk management. The insurance industry’s lobbying groups, many of which are based in the United States, downplayed risks to the insurance industry.

• The industry’s statements downplaying climate risks to regulators stands in sharp contrast to other statements from insurance companies claiming that climate change and climate risks “exacerbate” losses for insurers. Insurers have been acutely aware of the threats to their business model from climate change since the early 1970s.

Still, insurers continue to invest heavily in fossil fuels, despite the serious threats that climate change poses to their bottom line. In 2023, fossil fuel companies made up nearly 5% of all insurance industry portfolio holdings.

4. California Considers New Risk Mitigation Legislation

A new California bill would require insurers to cover homes meeting wildfire safety standards.

• Senator Sasha Renée Pérez (D-Alhambra), Chair of the Senate Insurance Committee, and Senator Mike McGuire, Senate Majority Leader, introduced SB 1076, a bill that would require insurers to offer coverage to homeowners whose properties meet minimum home hardening standards. The bill is being backed by consumer advocates.

• The bill is part of a new nationwide trend to require insurers to recognize individuals’ efforts to mitigate physical risk. In 2025, Colorado passed legislation to require insurers to give homeowners a discount on premiums based on physical mitigation. Lawmakers in Washington are considering similar legislation.

• These measures acknowledge an important truth: to deal with skyrocketing insurance rates, states will have to focus on actual risk reduction, both at the individual home level and the community level. States are increasingly taking up policies that seek to create a positive flywheel between making these investments, lowering risk, and strengthening access to affordable insurance.

5. Buffett’s PacifiCorp Agrees To Pay Half A Billion

Berkshire Hathaway-owned utility PacifiCorp in Oregon will pay $575 million as part of a wildfire settlement with the federal government.

• To settle a series of lawsuits filed by the federal government, PacifiCorp, a Western utility owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, has agreed to pay $575 million for its role in sparking multiple fires in 2020 and 2022. Meanwhile, a jury also awarded 15 wildfire survivors $300 million yesterday as part of a class action against PacifiCorp in its role in the fires.

• PacifiCorp faced liability over its role in the 2020 Labor Day Fires, during which it kept power lines charged. It now says it resolved nearly 90% of “known claims,” totaling more than $2.2 billion in liability. While the utility says it remains “financially healthy,” last fall it faced a credit downgrade by S&P Global to BBB-, one step away from a “non-investment” grade.

• The recent saga is another warning sign for other utilities on the west coast, which are facing significant threats to their physical infrastructure from climate disasters, while also facing increasing liability risk from the same physical infrastructure. In some circumstances, utilities are being forced to interrupt service to customers during high-risk periods.

SPOTLIGHT: Renewables Can’t Stop Winning

Despite the federal government’s best efforts, wind, solar, and batteries will continue to dominate American grid additions through 2026, according to data from the Energy Information Administration. Wind, solar, and batteries account for 93% of the 86 GW in projected 2026 energy capacity additions. While there’s 6.3 GW of natural gas planned in 2026, wind will add nearly twice as much (11.8 GW) and solar accounts for seven times as much new generation (43.4 GW).

Georgia PSC Chairwoman Tricia Pridemore announces she won’t run for reelection this year.

• In a surprise announcement on Tuesday morning, Public Service Commission Chairwoman Tricia Pridemore announced that she would not run in the race for her seat. Pridemore was appointed by Governor Nathan Deal in 2018 and has never faced voters in all eight years she served on the PSC.

• At the time of her appointment, Pridemore had little experience on energy or related issues. Pridemore co-chaired both of Governor Nathan Deal’s inauguration committees, and served on Gov. Brian Kemp’s 2019 transition team.

Pridemore’s decision comes on the heels of the two new Democratic Commissioners Alicia Johnson and Pete Hubbard’s significant wins in their respective races in 2025. Commissioner Hubbard is running for reelection this year, and Democrats will see Pridemore’s decision not to run as a major boon for their chances at flipping the entire Commission.

2. Virginia Legislators Push Grid Utilization

In search of cost savings, legislators pass a pair of bills pushing utilities to more effectively use the grid we have to meet growing electricity needs.

• The Senate and House in Virginia’s General Assembly advanced a pair of bills this week (HB 434 and SB 621) that would require the Virginia State Corporation Commission to set a “grid utilization” standard. Grid utilization refers to how efficiently the grid’s infrastructure is used compared to its peak capacity.

• The bills would require the SCC to grade Appalachian Power and Dominion Energy, Virginia’s two investor-owned utilities, on their utilization data, and provide recommendations to the utilities on improving service through “non-wires alternatives” with technologies like battery storage, virtual power plants, and distributed generation.

• The bills are a key part of new Governor Abigail Spanberger’s promises around protecting Virginians from excessive rate hikes. During her 2025 campaign, Spanberger specifically advocated for using “existing resources more efficiently.” Spanberger has clearly gotten buy-in for her project: the House version of the bill passed unanimously.

Energy entrepreneur and former DOE Loans Program Officer Director Jigar Shah said of the bill: “This is pragmatic, data-driven energy policy — and exactly the kind of step we need to tackle affordability while meeting future load.”

3. California Moves Forward with Climate Diplomacy

Governor Gavin Newsom makes deals with world leaders in Europe on climate and energy — deepening a tradition of city and state climate diplomacy.

• Last week, Governor Gavin Newsom was abroad at the Munich Security Conference, where he met with and signed deals with Germany and the United Kingdom on energy and climate issues. Newsom pledged “deepening collaboration on green technologies” alongside German Environment Minister Carsten Schneider.

• Newsom also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with UK Energy Security Minister Ed Milliband, to “deepen” the state’s ties with the UK on climate and clean energy collaboration. Newsom also announced a commitment from British energy company Octopus Energy to invest $1 billion into California’s clean tech sector.

• While the deals incensed President Trump (who called Newsom a “loser”), they are continued evidence that subnational diplomacy is increasingly concerned with climate change. No one can go it alone: cities and states are still looking for ways to work collaboratively and internationally to tackle these problems globally.

Use the Truman Center’s Multilevel Diplomacy Map to view a list of subnational diplomatic agreements on various topics — including climate change.

4. New York Lawmakers Advance Climate Disclosure

New York Senate passes a bill requiring companies to disclose emissions, echoing California’s law.

• The New York Senate passed SB 9072 last week, titled the Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act. The bill would require companies operating in New York that generate more than $1 billion in annual revenues to disclose all greenhouse gas emissions, and is highly similar to California SB 253.

• New York’s version of the bill would require companies to report their Scope 1 and 2 emissions beginning in 2028, and their Scope 3 emissions beginning in 2029. California’s bill requires companies to report their Scope 1 and 2 emissions beginning in 2026, and Scope 3 in 2027.

• At the same time, the Senate passed bills to limit distribution warehouse pollution, prohibit the sale of certain goods with PFAS chemicals, and fund municipal environmental remediation.

Ceres’s Steven Rothstein:

“This legislation, building on corporate climate reporting in 37 countries and the state of California, will ensure that investors, employees, customers and others of the largest companies will have the information to understand current resiliency and risks.”

5. Maine Report Confirms Natural Gas Driving Rates Up

An Energy Resources Department report lifts up high fuel costs as a key driver of unaffordable electricity — warning of worsening stressors with more LNG exports on the horizon.

• A report released this week by the Maine Department of Energy Resources and prepared by the Brattle Group found that Maine’s high electricity rates are being driven by historically high natural gas prices.

• The report further warned that historically-high natural gas prices would be driven up even further by expanded natural gas exports, a factor that we at Pleiades have warned will continue to drive the price of energy in the United States.

• Of note, the report explicitly recommended that Maine can “mitigate consumer risks” by expanding clean energy development, load flexibility, and energy efficiency in the state, alongside “economical electrification” to replace key fossil fuel-dependent systems like most heating systems in the state.

SPOTLIGHT ON PUBLIC SAFETY: Utility Cutting Thousands Off From Power

On Monday, Coloradans served by Black Hills Energy briefly lost power as the utility declared an Emergency Public Safety Power Shutoff. The utility also warned that it may be forced to cut off power to thousands more as high winds and dry conditions increased fire risk in the area.

Utilities are now looking to protect their customers, and themselves, from increasing fire risks across the United States. Still, despite steps like this, Stanford researchers warned in 2025 that utilities are “unprepared for wildfire risk.” Stanford wrote in their report that “utility-ignited wildfire risk can no longer be ignored by electric utilities, regulators and lawmakers, or the communities they serve.”

Lawmakers in Illinois have introduced the POWER Act (SB4103/HB5513), a bill which would set a new high standard for data center development centered on common-sense consumer, clean energy, and water protections.

1. Ending the Endangerment Finding Doesn’t End the Danger

Climate deniers’ victory over the long-held basis of climate regulations don’t actually mitigate any existing danger.

• Today, the EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin and President Trump are formally announcing the rescission of the “endangerment finding,” a 2009 conclusion by the EPA that six greenhouse gases posed a public health risk. The finding arose from a 2007 Supreme Court decision classifying greenhouse gases as pollutants.

• The endangerment finding provided the legal foundation for most federal climate regulations, and eliminating it would instantly impact a number of federal regulations on cars, power plants, and more. Many legal observers suspect the administration wants the case to reach the right-wing Supreme Court, to overturn Massachusetts v. EPA.

• The crusade against the endangerment finding has been a long-running project driven by a small number of right-wing political staffers, including individuals connected to fossil fuel-linked right-wing advocacy groups.

• Despite eliminating the EPA’s finding, the evidence since 2009 in favor of the finding has only gotten stronger. The EPA’s strategy of burying the country’s collective head in the sand will not eliminate the very real dangers posed by greenhouse gas emissions, even as they continue to obscure climate change’s impacts on people’s lives, wallets, and safety.

2. Energy at the Super Bowl

Superstar Bad Bunny highlighted Puerto Rico’s struggling electric grid amidst his celebration of Puerto Rican and pan-American culture.

• Album of the Year-winner Bad Bunny climbed utility poles while singing “El Apagón” (“The Blackout”) during his Super Bowl halftime show, bringing attention to Puerto Rico’s electric grid which has the highest levels of blackouts in the United States.

• The island’s grid has particularly struggled since Hurricanes Irma and Maria struck in 2017, which caused an island-wide blackout and downed the island’s highly centralized and fossil-dominated power grid. Since the hurricanes, Puerto Rico has emerged as a leader in distributed energy systems, including rooftop solar, home batteries, and virtual power plants.

• But the consumer and citizen-led transformation of the grid isn’t enough: it needs the scaffolding and support of dedicated federal policy. Three days before Bad Bunny took the stage in San Francisco, Latitude Media reported that the Trump Administration cancelled the Congressionally-allocated $1 billion Puerto Rico Energy Resilience Fund, which had, until then, supported distributed and clean energy systems as a measure to boost resilience.

3. City of Naperville Cuts Off Electricity Talks With Mega-Polluter

Skepticism among Illinois cities as the IMEA fails to clean up its act and ignores changing energy economics.

• Last week, the Naperville, Illinois City Council voted 6-3 to pause contract talks with the Illinois Municipal Energy Agency, which it is currently contracted to buy electricity from until 2035. The IMEA sought to secure contract extensions from some of its members through 2055. In 2025, Naperville allowed its contract extension deadline to lapse, but continued negotiating — until last week.

• The move away from the IMEA would end Naperville’s reliance on the state’s largest polluter: the IMEA owns and gets 49% of its energy from the Prairie State Energy Campus (PSEC), a coal power plant that is the state’s most polluting power plant and the 8th biggest polluter in the nation. PSEC was, at the time of its construction, the “largest source of carbon dioxide built in the United States in a quarter-century.” Around 80% of the IMEA’s generation comes from coal.

• Naperville isn’t alone in this: St. Charles, another IMEA member, rejected the agency’s initial contract extension terms, as did multiple downstate communities.

Naperville Councilwoman Mary Gibson said: “We are in a rapidly changing market. If Naperville’s needs don’t dictate that we make those long-term decisions now, we should wait until those needs dictate that we start looking at our future options.”

4. Alabama Lawmakers Want To End PSC Elections

Utility-backed lawmakers in Alabama introduce legislation to eliminate elections for PSC commissioners as voters nationwide turn their attention to high energy prices.

• In Alabama, legislators introduced SB 268 to transition the Public Service Commission from an elected body to one chosen by the Governor, House Speaker, and Senate President. The legislators behind the bill have received a combined $200,000 in campaign contributions from Alabama Power, the state’s largest utility.

• The bill is part of the “Alabama Affordability Protection Plan,” a package including two bills focused on data centers and a third targeting PSC governance. But the bill itself doesn’t include any more oversight powers for the PSC, or ensure that appointed commissioners aren’t also captured by utility interests.

• Alabama Power is a subsidiary of Southern Company, which also owns Georgia Power. The Georgia branch of the company suffered a significant blow in November 2025, when Democrats Pete Hubbard and Alicia Johnson defeated two Georgia Power-backed candidates in a stunning upset, largely driven by frustration over regulators’ approval of utility rate hikes.

Energy Alabama Executive Director Daniel Tait, whose organization opposes the bill, said: “Alabama Power is so scared of voters that they are trying to take you out of the equation completely. If the Alabama Power Grab passes, the public loses oversight and the utility gains insulation once and for all. That is the whole point.”

5. Anti-Renewable Campaigners Run Up Against Their Constituents

From Missouri to Wyoming, anti-renewable policies that constrain the freedom of landowners to develop their land are facing backlash from property owners.

• In multiple states, the right-wing war on renewables is running into a new crop of opposition: their constituents. In Missouri and Wyoming, lawmakers are hearing from constituents incensed that their lawmakers are barring them from using their land productively.

• In Missouri, in testimony to lawmakers considering legislation to implement a moratorium on new solar development, one resident said that the bill “strips landowners of our fundamental right to choose our most profitable crop. And right now, solar energy generates twice the revenue of any other crop we can produce.”

• In Wyoming, two ranchers argued in an op-ed that anti-renewable lawmakers were using energy as a “partisan wedge,” against the interest of ranchers and landowners. Wyoming policymakers are currently moving to reverse their own prior decision by cancelling two wind developments.

Wyoming ranchers Rob Hendry and Scott Sims: “Voluntary agreements for energy projects allow ranchers to generate stable income while continuing to run cattle, farm crops, and steward open space. Those dollars pay taxes, keep equipment running, and help the next generation stay on the land.”

SPOTLIGHT: Anti-ESG Laws Show More Bark Than Bite

Last week, a federal judge in Texas ruled that the Lone Star State’s “fossil fuel boycott” law, SB 13, was unconstitutional. The law was “overly broad” and violated First Amendment rights, according to Judge Alan D. Albright, a Trump appointee.

Pleiades Founder Frances Sawyer said to Reuters this week, “It is yet another court ruling protecting the freedom to invest. This should be a strong signal that the overreach of anti-ESG laws has more bark than bite.”

Yesterday, a Federal Court struck down SB13, the Texas law that blacklists companies the state accused of “boycotting fossil fuel companies.”

• In a pointed ruling, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas in Austin struck down SB13 on grounds that it violates both the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the US Constitution.

• The lawsuit against SB13 was brought in 2024 by the American Sustainable Business Council, acting on behalf of members including Etho Capital and Sphere for the law’s violation of its members’ free speech and association rights.

• S.B. 13 functioned by creating a blacklist of companies that, at various points, included major financial firms that invest heavily in fossil fuels, including HSBC, BlackRock, BNP Paribas, and individual funds at Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan Chase. The arbitrary nature of these blacklists, which fall under the discretion of the state comptroller, was explicitly named by Judge Albright, a Trump appointee, as vague enough to violate the 14th Amendment.

• As our legislative tracking shows, twelve states have passed 17 laws resembling model bills directly based on S.B. 13. Anti-ESG laws proved to have cost retirees, investors, and businesses billions in Texas, Oklahoma, and other states — and now have been named unconstitutional to boot.

Pleiades’ Frances Sawyer: “American companies must be able to respond to the opportunities embedded in the energy transition and reckon with the material costs of climate-change, including extreme weather. S.B. 13 tried to prevent their ability to engage with these real risks, costing Texans billions and leaving retirees with the bill. This ruling is a win for business leaders who want to reckon with reality to protect their bottom lines — and all people living with the consequences of investment decisions that will shape our future.”

2. Pritzker Renews Push for Insurance Oversight

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker is pushing for more state rate oversight as insurance costs skyrocket in Illinois and across the country.

• Governor JB Pritzker is bringing back legislation to give Illinois regulators the ability to review insurers’ rate increases after they are implemented and allow them to require consumer refunds in the event that rate hikes are “unfair or excessive.”

• Pritzker called for legislation to do the same during last year’s end of year veto session after State Farm filed to increase rates by a whopping 27%. Pritzker’s bill failed after significant pushback from insurance companies.

• Insurers claim that higher replacement costs and increasing climate-driven events require them to raise rates. Insurance rates are, for many, one of the most visible climate-driven costs to Americans.

• However, as industry profits are reaching new record highs, it is up to regulators to look hard at their approach and understand that insurers can’t simply rate hike their way to stability in a changing climate. Policymakers have to approach the issue holistically, returning again and again to actual climate risk mitigation efforts, including climate-smart infrastructure, stronger building codes, and emissions reductions.

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, in a letter pushing back on claims from State Farm, said: “There is no enforceability by the state, no consequence to the insurance company, and no accountability to consumers. That’s just not fair.”

3. Tri-State Doesn’t Want Costly Craig Coal

The Colorado G&T is arguing that the administration’s order keeping the coal-fired Craig Generating Station open is unconstitutional and costly for member-owners.

• In a petition to the Department of Energy, Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association and Platte River Power Authority formally objected to the administration’s order keeping Craig’s Unit 1 power plant open. Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser and environmental groups also petitioned the Department of Energy to rescind the emergency order.

• Since 2016, Tri-State has planned to retire Craig’s Unit 1, a highly inefficient and aging coal-fired generator, at the end of 2025. Unit 1 alone emitted more than 2 million tons of CO2 in 2024, has been plagued with operability issues, and requires extensive costs just to keep running.

• Keeping it open doesn’t make economic sense: Unit 1 would cost $85 million per year to run, and the limited transmission capacity in Northwestern Colorado means that running it could mean the utility may have to curtail a nearby 145 MW solar farm, which now produces power without any fuel costs, unlike Craig.

Tri-State CEO Duane Highley, on the petition for rehearing: “We do not take this request for a rehearing lightly, but as not-for-profit entities, we face issues that other utilities do not, because it is our members that ultimately are going to pay for the cost of this order.”

4. Virginia Legislators Look To Ease Local Approval of Solar

A new bill by Sen. Schuyler VanValkenburg and Rep. Charniele Herring would stop local governments from banning all solar development.

• Virginia legislators are currently considering a bill that would make it easier for solar developers to get local approval for their projects, and prohibit local governments from banning solar development entirely.

• The bill includes a set of best practices for solar development for local governments to adopt as a framework for solar development, including panel height, grading, decommissioning, and setback requirements.

• The Senate recently approved SB 347 by a vote of 21-17, and the bill awaits committee action in the House of Delegates.

Sen. Schuyler VanValkenburg said: “One of the big complaints has been that there are solar developers who come in and don’t do it the right way. And so this lays out kind of basic guidance about what the right way might look like.”

5. Colorado Weighs Data Center Bills

In Colorado, legislators are considering two very different bills to handle data center development — one to encourage data center development, another to shape their impact.

• Colorado legislators are considering two different bills on data centers, both introduced by Democrats. One backed by the data center industry would provide a 20-year exemption from state sales and use taxes to data centers that meet certain standards. Separately, another bill would require developers to match their energy demand with new clean energy, and pay for the full cost of their facilities.

• The industry-backed bill would provide sales tax exemptions to data centers that commit to a $250 million minimum investment, create high-paying jobs, and have a cleaner backup power source than the EPA’s current standards. The other bill, introduced by State Senator Cathy Kipp, would prohibit utilities from serving data centers if it would cause their emissions to rise or impact their ability to serve other customers.

• Colorado legislators in recent years have already rejected multiple efforts to subsidize data centers in the state.

6. Power Politics of Affordability

In an interview with WABE, Tim Echols reflected on his tenure at the GA PSC, and reiterated his support for clean energy.

• In interviews before leaving office, outgoing Georgia Public Service Commissioner Tim Echols, who lost in a cataclysmic race in November to Democrat Alicia Johnson, reiterated his support for clean energy, particularly for nuclear energy.

• Echols defended Plant Vogtle, despite its significant role in his loss in November. Rates rose significantly as the costs of the plant ballooned, which Echols continued to defend. Echols also emphasized that fossil plants will “close one day,” to be replaced entirely by zero emission energy in the future.

• The Commission’s two new Democratic commissioners ran on platforms that supported both new clean energy as an economic driver and a strong focus on lowering bills for families.

Outgoing Commissioner Tim Echols: “Moving towards solar, batteries and nuclear is the way of the future. And I think we will eventually go that way. Those coal plants will close one day, and those gas plants will close and what will remain will be nuclear energy and renewable energy in Georgia.”

SPOTLIGHT: “Minimal Viable Scale” & Transition Planning

In a new paper, University of Notre Dame researchers Emily Grubert and Josh Lappen spotlight an important reality: the energy transition will not likely be linear, particularly in the phasing out of fossil fuel infrastructure.

Grubert and Lappen argued that current transition planning and policy provide significantly less attention to managing aging and declining fossil energy infrastructure, including refineries, fuel stations, pipeline systems, and more, than it gives in attention to spurring clean energy deployment. These facilities are embedded in complex supply chains and knowledge systems that, as demand for fossil fuels decreases, will hit financial, managerial, and physical constraints that will, in turn, shape the politics of the energy transition.

The paper notes: “As demand for fossil fuels stagnates or declines, these economies of scale will invert, leaving shrinking user bases to carry growing liabilities, and infrastructure designed for expansion to instead weather contraction. Ensuring that fossil energy systems can continue to provide necessary services to remaining users until replacement systems are ready, even as they shrink, is critical not only for completing the energy transition, but also for doing so safely and justly.”

The massive storm is driving major disruptions across the South, East and Midwest — potentially shrinking Q1 GDP by 1.5pp.

• On Sunday, a winter storm buried half the country under snow and in freezing temperatures, leading to at least 41 deaths across 13 states and power outages for more than a million Americans. Storms like Fern are becoming increasingly severe and frequent as climate change continues to disrupt winter weather patterns.

• Fern is also stacking up economic losses across the economy, reportedly causing as much as $100 billion in economic losses and $15 billion in insured losses. Bank of America warned that the storm may have lowered Q1 GDP by up to 1.5 percentage points.

• Meanwhile, electric grids mostly fell short of breaking entirely, but cracks were showing. In PJM, 15 GW of fossil generation failed and went offline as prices stayed high amid spiking demand, and the country’s natural gas delivery system was the “center” of grid challenges. The grid strain is another reminder that extreme weather is the largest driver of major power outages, and that they will get worse as climate change exacerbates extreme disasters.

• What did prove helpful? Batteries and weatherization!

2. Wall Street’s Climate Capitulation

Wall Street started working on the problem of climate risk — then it cowed to political pressure.

• Six years after Larry Fink showed up to Davos in a climate-themed scarf after declaring climate risk a significant investment risk, BlackRock is now positioning itself as a major backer of the Trump agenda, including its efforts to support the fossil fuel industry. In this turnaround, BlackRock has responded to the coordinated network of Republican politicians, conservative activists, and fossil fuel interests pushing for “anti-ESG” policies.

• The anti-ESG campaign has long sought to undermine the energy transition and the financial sector’s ability to understand and manage climate-driven risks.

• It is easy to focus on the politics and forget what prompted BlackRock’s initial reckoning with the realities of climate change: the truth that climate risk is financial risk. In 2024, the United States faced 27 disasters that cost more than $1 billion, totaling $182 billion in damages. In 2025, the LA fires took 31 lives and cost as much as $250 billion alone.

Climate risk is financial risk, and its costs will continue to rise with emissions and inaction.

3. American Automakers Face More Pressure

As Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer campaigned for an ease in tariffs to help automakers, Canada penned a new deal with China.

• Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer criticized the administration’s tariff policies at the Detroit Auto Show, declaring that “America stands more alone than she has in decades” as the administration has pushed for tariffs on close allies, including Canada.

• Partially in response to those tariffs, Canadian PM Mark Carney signed a trade deal with China to lower tariffs on 49,000 Chinese-made EVs annually. As the Council of Foreign Relations’ Edward Alden commented, it’s a “declaration of realignment” for global trade.

• The Trump Administration’s posture on global trade and domestic industrial policy, its consistent antagonism of clean technologies, and its regular undermining of key alliances have driven our closest trading partner into the arms of a geopolitical competitor.

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer said: “When we fight our neighbors, however, China wins.”

4. California’s New Energy Code

With little fanfare, California’s Energy Code went into effect with new emissions and cost reduction measures.

• On January 1, California’s new 2025 Energy Code went into effect, increasing energy efficiency requirements in all forms of housing and strongly encouraging heat pumps. The code uses energy use “budgets” for buildings, requiring buildings to conform to a cap on total building energy use. Buildings built or substantially renovated after January 1 will be required to conform to the new code.

• California’s new code is projected to save residents an estimated $4.8 billion in energy costs over 40 years, and eliminate approximately 4 million metric tons of GHG emissions. Buildings in California account for 25% of the state’s emissions.

• What we love to see: policies that are self-ratcheting as performance improves. Since they were enacted in the 1970s, California building codes have been strengthened through a technology and market-ready driven process that spurs innovation and improves performance every three-year cycle. This is great for the climate — and great for consumers.

• Sadly, last session, under the guise of expediting the LA fire response, California lawmakers disrupted this 50-year tradition of excellence and paused the process for updating new codes until 2031, likely slowing progress on efficiency and electrification.

CEC Commissioner Andrew McAllister, on the update: “When we build and upgrade homes to use less energy, California families save money, and communities get cleaner air and a more reliable electricity system.”

5. Michigan AG: Big Polluters Accused of a Big Antitrust Problem

Attorney General Dana Nessel joined the ranks of municipal and state governments bringing legal cases against major oil companies, with a new approach.

• Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, who is running for Governor, filed a lawsuit against major polluters, including BP, Chevron, Exxon, Shell, and the American Petroleum Institute, the industry’s largest lobbying arm.

• The new suit challenges the oil industry on antitrust grounds, arguing that the companies and the API formed a “cartel” and raised energy costs for Michigan residents by colluding to stifle renewable energy and suppress information about climate change. More than three dozen other challenges by state and local officials sought compensation for the effects of climate change — but Michigan’s lawsuit is an “energy affordability” case, according to Nessel.

• The fossil fuel industry and its allies have reportedly sought to replicate the gun manufacturing industry’s legal immunity from lawsuits and receive a liability waiver from the federal government. The Trump Administration and Republicans across the country have largely supported such endeavors: the current DOJ has sued to block fossil fuel accountability laws and intervened against state and local climate damages claims, while state legislators in at least two states have proposed limits on liability for fossil fuel companies.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel: “These out-of-control costs are not the result of natural economic inflation, but due to the greed of these corporations who prioritized their own profit and marketplace dominance over competition and consumer savings.”

SPOTLIGHT: Nevada law allowing insurers to carve out fire insurance takes effect.

In Nevada, a bill passed unanimously by the legislature in 2025, AB 376, took effect on January 1. Proponents claim the bill, which allows carriers to carve out wildfire coverage, will improve insurance access and increase insurance offerings in the state as climate-driven catastrophes drive increases in risk across the country.

But the law contains multiple provisions that advocates worry leave consumers exposed, including a “regulatory sandbox” provision that will allow insurers to test new models and ideas for product offerings without typical regulatory oversight. The Consumer Federation of America warned that these “sandboxes” are often used by insurers to shield themselves from oversight. The law also allows insurers to carve out fire insurance offerings and to sell fire insurance as separate coverage, which may worsen the insurance access and cost crises. Supporters of the bill said it would increase coverage availability and prevent insurers from leaving the state, but critics pointed out that there’s no other safety net for wildfire offerings, and excluding fire coverage would create a major coverage gap.

BREAKING:

Today, a coalition of mid-Atlantic governors will be at the White House to unveil a deal to limit energy prices in PJM. The plan reportedly includes a two year price cap on future auctions and requirements for new data centers to pay for a greater share of the costs of expanding the grid.

1. Battery Storage is Coming To Illinois

The Clean and Reliable Grid Affordability Act (CRGA) is now law in Illinois, unlocking battery storage, new tech, and lower costs for Illinoisans.

• Last Friday, Governor JB Pritzker signed the CRGA, a sweeping clean energy and affordability bill that sets a 3 GW target for battery storage in the state. The bill builds on previous legislative victories including the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act, which set Illinois’s 2021 RPS targeting 100% clean energy by 2050.

• The bill also removes the state’s moratorium on nuclear development, explicitly incentivizes and encourages energy efficiency, and, importantly, requires utilities to develop virtual power plants.

• An analysis from the Illinois Power Agency estimated that the bill would save consumers $13.4 billion over 20 years, a massive relief to consumers as they face rising electricity costs.

Governor JB Pritzker, at the signing ceremony, said: “In Illinois, we are pursuing every available option to produce affordable, efficient, clean, and abundant energy. We are leaving no stone unturned in the work to produce more electricity, lower prices for our people, and secure our long-term energy future.”

2. A 2025 First: More Solar Than Coal In Texas

A new solar milestone in Texas is a glimpse of the future, yet nationwide, an uptick in coal generation helped drive US emissions growth.

• In 2025, for the first time, solar surpassed coal on Texas’s electricity grid. Renewables, as a whole, supplied 37% of all electricity in Texas, a significant milestone in the country’s fossil capital.

• Nationwide, however, coal consumption was up 13%, reversing a two-year declining trend in emissions reductions. The rise in coal didn’t come from new plant openings: existing plants were run at higher capacity as energy demand increased and the price of natural gas skyrocketed, making coal more economically attractive. Also extending the burn: the Trump Administration’s efforts to force aging coal plants to stay online in Colorado, Indiana, and Michigan, actions that are expected to drive up costs for residents.

• The bump in coal’s net generation in 2025 serves as a reminder that policymakers must address both clean energy growth and fossil fuel transition to meet pollution reduction goals, especially in a time of increasing electricity demand.

  

3. Restricting the Proxies: State Legislators Introduce Anti-ESG Bills

Modeled on Texas’s efforts to constrain and punish proxy advisors, some states are again proposing to restrict investor oversight as anti-ESG proposals evolve another year.

• In Nebraska and Indiana, lawmakers have introduced bills to heavily restrict how proxy advisors can work to inform their clients and investors, similar to Texas’s SB 2337 from 2025.

• The Texas law, now blocked due to ongoing litigation from nonprofits and proxy advisor firms, would have prohibited proxy advisors, research services, and nonprofits from providing accurate, robust information on shareholder proposals, and would require them to risk significant legal liability for providing clients with customized recommendations.

  

4. California Regulator Backs Flexible Interconnection

On Christmas Eve, California regulators advanced new policy to increase grid utilization.

• Public Utilities Commissioner Alice Reynolds proposed in December a new rule to require PG&E and SCE in California to enable flexible service connections, allowing new loads to safely connect to the grid more quickly while awaiting infrastructure upgrades.

• The change will reduce the potentially project-ending ramifications of loads stuck awaiting distribution system upgrades by allowing flexible loads to interconnect where and when capacity allows. The changes will allow California to unlock more of its grid capacity, as flexibility enables more customers to take advantage of existing generation and infrastructure.

• California regulators noted in the draft order that “Ultimately, parties are not aware of any standardized, scalable processes in the United States that California can look to for learnings.”

Google’s Tyler Norris commented: “2025 was the year this started to change.”

5. Beyond the Headlines: Meta’s Energy Strategy

On the subject of powering new data center loads, zero carbon headlines can mask a more complex resource picture.

• Meta grabbed headlines this week as it announced that it would “unlock” up to 6.6 GW of nuclear energy to power its data centers. But its newest announcement contains details that matter: Meta’s deal includes the purchase of 2.1 GW of existing nuclear capacity — and counts a large amount of energy that is unlikely to come online for years.

• Meanwhile, Meta is building 2.25 GW of natural gas generation for a 5 GW data center in Louisiana, new fossil fuel infrastructure that locks in long term costs and pollution.

Princeton’s Jesse Jenkins wrote: “When hyperscalars contract with new clean, hourly-matched, deliverable supply, we should laud their efforts. When they try to side-step those responsibilities and take the easy way out by signing up for existing generation, we should all be deeply concerned.”

6. Washington State Picks Up Policies to Address Insurance Affordability and Wildfire Risk

In Washington, Insurance Commissioner Patty Kuderer unveils her legislative package — and seeks to address climate risks.

• Washington Insurance Commissioner Patty Kuderer’s new 2026 legislative priorities broadly seek to address the rising costs and risks of climate change as they hit Washington’s insurance market.

• Her priority bills include bipartisan bills HB 2277 and SB 5928, which would require insurers to disclose fire risk scores and provide information on how to improve the score. The bills are similar to 2025’s HB 1182 in Colorado, which also require premium discounts for physical risk mitigation at the property level.

Commissioner Kuderer said: “I’ve always seen consumer protection as a key element of insurance regulation, and my priorities this year reflect that. I’m excited to work with our state lawmakers to help protect our people, their home coverage and their health insurance rights.”

SPOTLIGHT: Microsoft Moves to Define Community-First AI Infrastructure

In response to growing local backlash to data center growth, Microsoft has announced what it is calling a “Community-First AI Infrastructure Plan” to set a new benchmark for how technology companies will work with communities as they build computing infrastructure. On electricity specifically, Microsoft is pledging to pay high enough rates to “cover the electricity costs” of their data centers, work with utilities to add new generation, pursue efficiency in data centers, and advocate for sustainable generation.

This plan puts a stake in the ground for other hyperscalers. It stands to be seen what Microsoft’s principles will look like in practice, but it’s a significant step in a field that has thus far seemed to ignore broader impacts and their corporate climate commitments.

Energy, climate, and extreme weather decisions are no longer abstract. They’re shaping household spending, state politics, and the structure of the economy in real time.

As we head into 2026, here are some big trends we’re watching, which we think will shape what we see over the months to come.

1. The Energy Transition Keeps Accelerating

• Despite political headwinds, clean energy deployment went full speed ahead in 2025, with the world adding nearly 800 GW of renewables, more than in 2024, and U.S. solar still growing even as federal roadblocks put future projects at risk.

• Wind projects struggled most against politics, particularly offshore. But battery storage emerged as the connective tissue of the grid, with advanced storage technologies and distribution models proving their value during reliability events and moments of peak demand.

2. Batteries, Flexibility, and Grid Management Move to Center Stage

• Speaking of batteries: From Chattanooga’s public utility to Northeast heat waves, grid-scale and distributed battery storage helped keep lights on while lowering costs and avoiding new fossil infrastructure.

• In 2026, the question won’t be whether flexible distribution works, it will be how quickly regulators and utilities scale it to solve urgent capacity problems.

3. Large Loads Are Reshaping the Power System and the Politics of Energy

• Data centers and other large corporate loads are bending the demand curve, creating new reliability risks and cost-shifting concerns that are reaching everyday customers through rate hikes and strain on the grid.

• States and regional grid operators are increasingly confronting the question of how to ensure these customers pay their fair share and protect supply availability for the rest of the market, rather than forcing ordinary ratepayers to invest in new peak generation infrastructure they won’t use.

• Large corporate buyers continue to drive significant demand for clean energy as reflected in their public commitments to clean, but as the race for any electron heats up, gas is also ballooning.

4. Climate Economics Are Now Household Economics

• Insurance markets made the climate crisis manifest for families in 2025, as insured losses from climate-driven disasters topped $100 billion for the sixth straight year and backstop programs like California’s FAIR Plan began to buckle under the pressure.

• This means that for families, climate risk is no longer theoretical; it’s being priced directly into insurance premiums and mortgages, and increasingly into state budgets, too. The question is how to shift risk away from the most vulnerable back onto the insurance companies and large polluters who are exacerbating the problem.

5. The Battle Over Corporate Governance and “Anti-ESG” Escalates

• State laws and regulations intended to block rational investor response to climate risks morphed again in 2025, with states like Texas attempting to restrict proxy voting and weaken disclosure (not to mention promoting fossil fuels at every turn).

• With the Trump administration dismantling climate research, mitigation, and response, just as investors and the public need clear and verifiable information on climate risk, materiality, and greenwashing, we can anticipate a more muddled landscape in 2026, and progressive state governments will need to take even more responsibility for keeping America on a climate-aware path.

6. Politics, Affordability, and Energy Are Fully Intertwined

• Election results are increasingly hinging on household energy affordability and other cost-of-living concerns, with Georgia Democrats winning two statewide utility regulator races by historic margins and governors stepping in to tackle grid failures like PJM. The lesson heading into 2026 is simple: energy affordability is a winning political frame, because it affects every household in a tangible and material way.

7. Local Climate Realism: Problem-Solving at Ground Level

• As federal action stalled, cities, states, and private institutions stepped into the breach in 2025, working together to cut renewable bottlenecks, harden infrastructure against escalating climate hazards, and deploy pragmatic solutions like floating solar to lower local energy costs.

• Climate policy became less about ambition and more about execution, driven by officials solving immediate, place-based problems.
  
  Did you miss our feature on Yale Divinity School’s Living Village, a model net-zero, low-impact campus facility? Here it is!

8. Federal Policy Still Matters — But States Are Doing the Work

• In 2025, as the federal government abdicated its responsibilities, state legislators and governors — understanding both the costs of inaction and the benefits of forward motion — took over as the primary engines of clean energy and climate progress.

• Policies like efficiency rebates, targeted solar incentives, and comprehensive packages like Illinois’ CRGA are the future of climate action, at least through the end of 2028, and we should expect this activity to mount in the coming year.

9. Fossil Fuel Influence: Profits Depend on Control

• Fossil fuel companies are relentlessly working to hijack decisionmaking, because in a world in which the economics are against them, regulatory capture is the only way they can extend their profits and prolong their lifespan.

• From coordinated donation strategies that deliver outsized policy returns to opaque, Leonard Leo–linked networks agitating to block transparency and reform, the industry’s influence campaign has become as central to the companies’ strategies as drilling and mining. (And it’s working: the Trump administration is now mandating that inefficient and expensive coal plants remain operating far beyond the point of reason.)

Thanks again for reading in 2025, and we’ll bring you more news, analysis, and insight over the coming year.

We’d love to work with you in 2026! If you’re interested in collaborating, sharing ideas, or partnering on projects, don’t hesitate to reach out.

Each week here in Transition Finance Weekly, researchers and analysts from Pleiades Strategy summarize the top stories and trends related to the policy, politics, and economics of the clean energy transition in the states.

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1. South Carolina Gas Plant Doubles in Cost

Doubling down on gas is getting more expensive and ratepayers are left bearing the risk.

• South Carolina lawmakers passed H.3309 this year, an energy bill that explicitly encourages Santee Cooper and Dominion Energy to collaborate on new “joint resources.” And with that push, Santee Cooper and Dominion Energy are pressing ahead with a proposed natural gas plant in Colleton County, South Carolina whose estimated cost has ballooned to roughly $5 billion — double the original $2.5–$3 billion projection.

• The cost escalation reflects a broader shift in the economics of gas. The price of large combustion turbines has jumped from about $1,200 to $2,300 per kilowatt, driven by supply chain constraints, inflation, and surging demand. But these South Carolina utilities are doubling down on their commitment to fossil generation at a moment when both construction and operating costs are rising fast — and with Santee Cooper publicly owned, ratepayers will end up paying that escalating price.

2. Virginia SCC Sets New Rules for Large Load Customers

Regulators are starting to put some guardrails around data center–driven growth, but key cost risks remain.

• The Virginia State Corporation Commission approved a new framework for large-load customers alongside a scaled-back Dominion Energy rate hike, raising base rates by $11.24 per month in 2026 and an additional $2.36 in 2027 for the average residential customer, less than Dominion requested. The SCC also limited Dominion’s return on equity increase to 9.8%, below the 10.4% the utility sought.

• More significantly, the SCC created a new rate class for large customers that use more than 25 MW with a monthly load factor above 75%, a category that captures most data centers, along with some industrial and commercial users. Customers in this class will be required to sign 14-year contracts guaranteeing payment for their projected energy costs, even if their usage drops or planned data centers are never built.

• This is a good first step. Long-term contracts help reduce the risk of overbuilding and stranded assets, and special rate classes acknowledge that hyperscale loads pose unique challenges. But these measures don’t automatically ensure data centers pay for all of the infrastructure and system costs they impose.

“Data centers and other large energy users create a special set of risks…. Residential customers should not be subsidizing these wealthy companies, and Virginians are relying on the Commission to address these fundamental questions of fairness,” said Peter Anderson, Director of State Energy Policy with Appalachian Voices.

3. Michigan Moves to Bring Virtual Power Plants Online

VPPs are gaining recognition as a reliability tool that can reduce the need for costly new generation.

• Michigan lawmakers are advancing legislation that would lay the groundwork for virtual power plants across the state. Senate Bills 731 and 732 would establish a legal framework for VPPs to operate and direct the Michigan Public Service Commission to require utilities to account for these resources in their transmission and distribution planning. If enacted, the bills would ensure that VPP aggregators and the owners of distributed energy resources are compensated for the value they provide to the grid.

• VPPs play an important marginal role in modern grids. By coordinating thousands of small, flexible resources, they help stabilize the system during peak events, improve reliability, and flatten the demand curve, reducing pressure to overbuild new power plants that may only run a handful of hours each year.

• Michigan’s proposal signals growing awareness that grid resilience and affordability can be strengthened by using existing distributed assets more intelligently rather than defaulting to expensive new generation.

“We can’t meet our state’s future energy needs with 20th-century infrastructure,” said Sen. Sue Shink. “This legislation will help us create the flexibility and reliability to rise to modern energy challenges.”

4. Surprise! Offshore Wind Isn’t Dead

Maryland just launched the first new offshore wind procurement effort since President Trump took office.

• Maryland has launched a new offshore wind procurement, issuing an advisory seeking a 20-year power purchase agreement from developers holding leases off its coast. The move marks the first new offshore wind procurement effort since President Trump took office, despite his administration’s sustained hostility toward wind energy, particularly offshore projects.

• Maryland announced the procurement days after a federal court victory blocking the administration’s sweeping attempt to halt offshore wind development. A federal judge ruled that the executive order freezing wind permitting in federal waters was “arbitrary and capricious” and violated federal law, undercutting the legal foundation of the administration’s blanket ban.

• Federal agencies still retain ample discretion to slow-walk or obstruct projects through other means, from delayed Army Corps permits to revoked environmental approvals and stalled sign-offs at the Department of the Interior. But Maryland’s action sends a clear signal: coastal states are not waiting for Washington to get out of the way.

“As we look to build the electric grid that will power America’s future, wind energy is a key component,” said Marguerite Wells, executive director of the Alliance for Clean Energy New York. “With this ruling behind us, projects can now be judged on their merits.”

5. Florida Senate Moves to Rein in Rate Hikes – With Limits

Lawmakers are responding to public outrage over soaring bills, but political taboos are constraining how far reform can go.

• Florida Senate Republicans are advancing SB 126, a bill aimed at tightening oversight of how the Public Service Commission sets energy rates, after the PSC approved Florida Power & Light’s $7 billion rate increase, the largest in state history.

• The rate hike was approved by a PSC stacked with Gov. Ron DeSantis appointees, including a recently added commissioner who has publicly denied climate science. At the same time, DeSantis has taken actions that compound long-term cost pressures: rejecting climate mitigation strategies, steering utilities toward expanded natural gas use, and outright banning offshore wind, while also receiving substantial campaign support from FPL.

• SB 126 would expand the commission from five to seven members, require financial expertise on the panel by mandating one CPA and one chartered financial analyst, and compel the PSC to clearly justify its decisions. It also requires explanations for accepting or rejecting settlements and an annual report benchmarking utility rates, returns on equity, costs, and executive compensation.

“It sends a pretty strong message to investors that it’s going to be risky for the investors if they continue to rely on plants that have big reliability issues like Comanche 3,” said Michelle Solomon, an analyst who tracks the electricity industry at the clean energy think tank Energy Innovation.

Each week here in Transition Finance Weekly, researchers and analysts from Pleiades Strategy summarize the top stories and trends related to the policy, politics, and economics of the clean energy transition in the states.

Subscribe to Transition Finance Weekly here. (Tell your friends!)

1. Congestion Pricing Is Cleaning the Air

New data from New York City shows that in addition to the congestion reduction, pollution has dropped across the region as advocates predicted.

• Cornell researchers released one of the first comprehensive looks at Manhattan’s congestion pricing program, which launched almost a year ago. According to the study, air quality improved by 22% in the Congestion Relief Zone and reductions across all five boroughs and nearby suburbs. Fewer cars and less logjammed idling on the most heavily trafficked roads meant lower particulate pollution, cleaner air in neighborhoods historically burdened by highway emissions, and measurable public health gains.

• The program’s rapid, if not overnight, success reflects what’s been happening elsewhere in the world for years. The study validates what advocates have said for years: doesn’t just cut congestion, it delivers tangible climate and health benefits, fast.

“Our overall conclusion is that congestion pricing in New York City, like many other cities in the world that have implemented it, helped not only improve traffic, but also helped reduce air pollutant concentration, improve air quality and should be good for public health,” said Oliver Gao, director of Cornell’s Center for Transportation, Environment and Community Health.

2. Gas Prices Surge as U.S. Exports Climb

As we forecasted in August and October 2025, natural gas prices are spiking heading into winter.

• Wholesale prices have jumped more than 70% over the past year, with the Henry Hub benchmark recently reaching $5.29 per million BTUs, the highest level since December 2022, when the energy crisis triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine roiled European markets.

• The surge is a direct result of Trump administration policy. Federal regulators with a pro-export tilt are accelerating LNG terminal approvals to send more U.S. gas abroad. More gas exports put American families in direct competition with global buyers because fuel costs are directly passed through to households from utilities on their monthly bills.

• Clean electrification, shifting both end-use energy consumption (heating, cooking) and electricity generation off of natural gas, is key to solving this dependency. In Europe, clean electrification has been a key economic and security imperative since the Russian invasion of Ukraine drove gas prices through the roof in 2022. As natural gas prices continue to grow in the coming years, the imperative exists for Americans too.

“This is great news for the gas industry, which has seen a bump in revenues. But it’s not so great if you’re a US consumer who relies on gas for heating or power,” said Clark Williams-Derry, analyst at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis.

3. Duke Expands Virtual Power Plants in North Carolina

The takeaway: battery storage and electrification continue to unlock new grid capabilities.

• Duke Energy is expanding its virtual power plant (VPP) footprint in North Carolina, launching a new battery incentive program for commercial customers that will offer incentives for installing batteries and allow Duke to access that stored energy during peak events. A business with a 100-kW battery could see roughly $250 in monthly credits if Duke calls on it 36 times a year, with additional payments when the battery actually delivers energy.

• The utility’s residential VPP pilot, PowerPair, arose out of a compromise between solar installers and the North Carolina Utilities Commission. PowerPair incentivizes customers to pair rooftop solar with home battery systems, and it quickly reached its maximum enrollment cap of 30 MW shortly after launching, proving the market for storage and demand flexibility programs.

• As utilities face rising peak demand and increasing pressure to avoid costly new fossil generation, VPPs are emerging as a flexible, customer-friendly alternative. Duke’s expansion signals that North Carolina’s grid will be leaning on distributed energy resources as a core reliability tool.

“In an era of massive load growth, something that should lower costs to customers while helping meet peak demand — to me, it’s an absolute no-brainer,” said Ethan Blumenthal, regulatory counsel for the North Carolina Sustainable Energy Association.

4. Arizona Cuts Energy Efficiency

The ACC once again undermines the grid.

• Last week, the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) voted unanimously to slash Arizona Public Service’s (APS) budget for demand-side management programs, cutting it from $91 million to just $40 million. The move guts funding for energy efficiency in the state, programs that traditionally lower customer bills, reduce peak demand and forestall costly infrastructure spending.

• Vice Chair Nick Myers led the charge against efficiency investments, asking why tools that save money for ratepayers should receive public support. He argued that if efficiency upgrades truly deliver value, customers should adopt them on their own dime rather than through utility-backed programs.

• In Arizona, the Commission has targeted energy efficiency, cutting statewide rules around energy efficiency and demand-side management (DSM) beginning in 2024, despite energy efficiency continuing to be a leading cost-effective energy resource.

5. Colorado’s Comanche Coal Plant Keeps Burning

Shutting down Comanche, one of Colorado’s largest carbon emitters, is critical to achieving the state’s goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 50% below 2005 levels by 2030.

• One turbine at Colorado’s massive Comanche Generating Station will continue operating into 2026, complicating the state’s climate plans. State regulators had envisioned a gradual phaseout of the plant’s three units. The first turbine closed in 2022, and the second, a 1970s-era unit, was originally scheduled to shut down later this year. That schedule changed after the plant’s newest and largest turbine went offline in August due to mechanical issues, including elevated vibrations.

• Now, the second turbine will remain online at least another year while the third unit is under repair. Regulators questioned the wisdom of rebuilding the troubled third turbine, noting that the utility, Xcel, the unit’s largest owner, had not provided a clear estimate of repair costs. Xcel expects the turbine, which originally began operating in 2010, to be back online by summer, despite its history of repeated mechanical failures.

• The situation leaves Colorado balancing reliability concerns with its climate commitments: keeping aging coal units running may help prevent power shortages in the near term, but it delays the state’s transition away from high-emission generation.

“It sends a pretty strong message to investors that it’s going to be risky for the investors if they continue to rely on plants that have big reliability issues like Comanche 3,” said Michelle Solomon, an analyst who tracks the electricity industry at the clean energy think tank Energy Innovation.

SPOTLIGHT: Renewable Buildout Keeps Upward Momentum

U.S. renewable energy continues to expand at a steady clip. According to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s September 2025 infrastructure report, the country added 2 GW of utility-scale solar in a single month, bringing the year-to-date total to 21 GW, slightly ahead of last year’s 20 GW.

Solar dominates the new buildout, accounting for roughly three-quarters of the 28 GW of new capacity installed in 2025 so far. Wind contributed 13%, while natural gas made up 11% of new additions.

Despite this growth, natural gas remains the largest source of electricity in the U.S., representing 42% of total installed capacity. Combined, wind, solar, and hydro make up 31% of the grid’s total generating resources, signaling that while renewables are scaling up quickly, fossil fuels still dominate the overall system.

Each week here in Transition Finance Weekly, researchers and analysts from Pleiades Strategy summarize the top stories and trends related to the policy, politics, and economics of the clean energy transition in the states.

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1. PJM Independent Market Monitor Declares Data Center Additions “Unjust”

The rapid expansion of data centers in PJM’s territory is hitting the grid and consumers’ wallets hard.

• PJM’s Independent Market Monitor asked FERC to restrict the regional operator’s authority to add new large loads to the market absent proof that the large loads can be served reliably without fear of blackouts.

• The move follows a failed PJM stakeholder vote on the topic. PJM had launched a “Critical Issue Fast Path” process to speed decision-making and gather input on interconnecting large loads. As the process concluded, its Members Committee considered a dozen proposals on data center interconnection, but none received the two-thirds support needed to pass the advisory vote.

• Wholesale electricity prices in PJM are already up sharply in 2025. The Independent Market Monitor recently reported a 45% year-to-date increase compared with 2024, underscoring how quickly affordability concerns are mounting. Without clear rules, the addition of large data centers could continue to drive costs higher, leaving policymakers scrambling as energy reliability and affordability collide.

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, at a September summit“Let’s face it: Change is needed to keep energy costs low, bring new energy generation onto the grid more quickly, and meet the needs of the 67 million Americans who rely on this grid for everything from running a business to keeping the lights on at home.”

2. California is Off Coal

This week, the Intermountain Power Plant quietly stopped burning coal.

• Last week, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) shut down the Utah-based Intermountain Power Project’s coal generating units, marking a milestone in the energy transition as the world’s fourth largest economy is now powered entirely without coal.

• This is yet another proof point that the war for coal is failing: as much as the administration tries, there’s nothing they can do to change the economics of the industry. As we’ve covered throughout the fall, the administration’s coal auctions keep failing, with bids as low as 100 times less than similar auctions years ago.

• The switch happened seamlessly, in large part thanks to California’s 17,000 MW of battery storage, which is keeping the state’s grid more reliable than ever.

Former LA Times climate reporter Sammy Roth: “The lights didn’t flicker in Southern California, whatever President Trump might say about the importance of coal to reliable energy supplies. There were no Thanksgiving blackouts. Nobody noticed the difference.”

3. Washington’s Climate Commitment Act Hits $1.5 Billion in Local Investments

Washington State is putting its Climate Commitment Act (CCA) dollars to work.

• A new report details $1.5 billion invested across 3,618 projects during the 2023–25 biennium. The investments target local communities while advancing the state’s goal of reducing climate pollution from its largest sources by 95% by 2050.

• The CCA works by putting a price on greenhouse gas emissions. Companies must buy allowances for every metric ton of pollution they emit, with the number of allowances gradually shrinking through 2050. During this two year period, the $330 million+ in CCA investments are expected to directly reduce nearly 9 million metric tons of CO₂, the equivalent of taking 40% of Washington’s gas and diesel vehicles off the road for a whole year.

• Much of the funding, $800 million, went to serve vulnerable populations.Many projects lay the groundwork for longer-term emissions reductions, from renewable energy infrastructure to workforce development for the clean economy. Transportation projects alone represent a significant share of spending. All CCA investments are publicly tracked on the state’s interactive dashboard, offering unprecedented transparency into how climate dollars flow to communities.

• With 8.6 million metric tons of CO₂ avoided so far, Washington’s CCA is proving that climate action can be measurable, accountable, and directly beneficial to people on the ground.

4. Zillow Removes Climate Risk Scores, Hurting Homebuyer Transparency

This move is more than just inconvenient.

• Zillow has quietly eliminated its climate risk scores, a key tool for homebuyers seeking to understand the hazards tied to natural disasters and other climate threats. Instead of displaying the data directly, the platform now links to FirstStreet’s climate risk information, an opaque step that could leave buyers in the dark.

• Research shows that access to climate risk information meaningfully influences homebuyer behavior: when buyers see clear data about potential risks, they are less likely to purchase homes in high-risk areas. By removing this information from its platform, Zillow is effectively shielding buyers from the very details that could inform smarter, safer decisions.

• The reason for the change is unsurprising. Realtors and homeowners, concerned that visible climate risk scores depress home values and slow sales, pushed for the data to be removed. In California, the Regional Multiple Listing Service has similarly urged other major platforms to strip flood-risk details from listings.

5. Do You Believe in Magic? Georgia Power’s 6 GW of Projected Load Growth Vanishes

Georgia Power’s latest filing with the Georgia Public Service Commission reveals what can only be described as a disappearing act.

• The utility’s pipeline of large load economic development projects shrank by a net 6 GW in a single quarter, dropping to 50.9 GW. While 6.8 GW of new projects entered the pipeline and existing projects increased their projected load by 1.6 GW, a staggering 14.3 GW of projects exited. Near-term large load projects slated for winter 2028–29 also fell by 1.4 GW, leaving a total of 24.4 GW.

• Load growth projections may be significantly overstated, creating a real risk of overbuilding and stranded assets. Meanwhile, Georgia Power continues to promise more natural gas plants and extended life for coal facilities — decisions that lock in fossil fuels and financial risk while underestimating the volatility of actual demand.

“The majority of the new generation Georgia Power seeks to certify … is not backed by executed contracts under the new large load framework,” stated the testimony, given by PSC staff members and consulting analysts. “Only about 1,900 MW is supported by such contracts. The rest is speculative and exposes customers to the risk of stranded costs if the anticipated load does not materialize.”

6. The Shadows Trying To Stop Daylight

In Europe, a ‘secretive cabal’ of US fossil companies are working to block key climate disclosure and transition planning rules.

• Leaked documents from Europe uncovered an alliance of 11 companies — including mega-polluters like Chevron, ExxonMobil, and Koch Industries — that worked together to “divide and conquer” the European Parliament and force the center-right EPP to work with far-right parties to scale back CSDDD, Europe’s flagship climate law.

• The alliance was organized in part by Teneo, a network of right-wing figures chaired by Leonard Leo and whose membership at one point included Vice President J.D. Vance and Senator Josh Hawley. Teneo and the alliance of polluters specifically sought to insert CSDDD into US-EU trade negotiations, which the administration obliged.

• This is yet another signal from polluters that transparency and sunlight are truly existential threats to their bottomline. As the energy transition continues to unfold, fossil companies will continue to try to push back in increasingly desperate ways. It’s still clear: the world is still looking to move on from fossil fuels.

SPOTLIGHT: Clean Energy Drives 90% of Energy Job Growth

The energy sector added over 100,000 jobs in 2024, bringing total employment to 8.5 million, and nearly 87,000 of those new positions were in clean energy. That means clean energy accounted for roughly 87% of all energy job growth last year. With 3.75 million jobs now in clean energy, the sector represents nearly 44% of the U.S. energy workforce, up from 42% in 2023.

The growth isn’t just in numbers; it’s in quality too. Union representation across the energy sector ticked up from 11.4% in 2023 to 11.7% in 2024, continuing a steady rise from 11% in 2020. These are jobs that offer stability and pathways for workers in a rapidly changing economy.

Meanwhile, fossil fuel employment continues its long-term decline. Onshore natural gas extraction jobs fell 6.4%, shedding roughly 15,600 positions, even as natural gas power generation employment grew. Coal jobs also declined: extraction employment dropped 4%, and coal electric power generation jobs fell 4.3%, losing about 2,700 positions in each category.