POLICY: FERC Can Lead the Way on Clean Energy

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is an independent federal agency that regulates the interstate movement of natural gas, oil, and electricity within the United States. That makes it an important player in increasing Americans’ access to renewable energy and fighting climate change. FERC can help bring more renewables online by leveling the playing field in electricity markets and upgrading the U.S.’s electricity infrastructure. 

“We are at a critical inflection point in the energy transformation. Clean energy is affordable and reliable, transportation and building electrification is now happening, and the overriding imperative of fighting climate change is stronger than ever. FERC’s markets and transmission—rules need to keep pace…

The structure of […] capacity markets in much of the nation unfairly gives an advantage to large, fossil-fuel resources while making it harder for solar and wind to compete. Trump-era FERC orders restrict state-supported clean energy resources from selling in the capacity markets. At the same time, the markets also artificially inflate capacity revenues for traditional power plants, keeping far more fossil plants online than are needed to maintain system reliability.”

Read the full story on NRDC Blog.