Considering Private Enterprise, Public Initiative, and Hybrid Approaches to the Challenge of Electricity: Clean Air Task Force/Niskanen Center Report

The Clean Air Task Force and Niskanen Center published an August 2021 report titled:

The Report summarizes “key themes and policy ideas” from a half-day workshop that was held in April to consider the state of electric transmission and clean energy policy in the United States.

The authors of the Report include:

• Liza Reed, Research Manager for Low Carbon Technology Policy, Niskanen Center
• Leslie Abrahams, Director of Energy Systems Analysis, Clean Air Task Force
• Armond Cohen, Executive Director, Clean Air Task Force
• Joseph Majkut, Director of Climate Policy, Niskanen Center
• Bruce Phillips, Partner, NorthBridge Group; Member Board of Directors, Clean Air Task Force
• Andrew Place, State Energy and Climate Policy Director, Clean Air Task Force
• Julia Prochnik, Founder and President, JASenergies LLC

The stated motivation for the workshop and the subsequent Report is the idea that decarbonization studies have indicated that any pathway to a net-zero carbon energy system in the United States will require “a staggering build-out of infrastructure for electricity generation and transmission, zero-carbon fuels, and carbon sequestration.” Concern is expressed that there has been limited conversations among policy analysts or policymakers about how this needed infrastructure initiative should be undertaken.

The workshop is stated to have included practitioners, advocates, and academics who were tasked to consider how such an infrastructure buildout might be undertaken.

Electricity transmission was utilized as a case study.

The workshop is stated to have focused on the following questions:

• How can we achieve the necessary paradigm shift to build at the scale needed?
• More specifically, what are the roles of private enterprise and public initiative in driving the needed infrastructure transformation?

While the Report summarizes certain themes and policy ideas, a caution is included that it does not represent a consensus of the group but instead starting points for further discussion.

Components of the Report include:

• Background: The Decarbonization Challenge
• Why Transmission is Critical and Difficult
• Transmission Development: Key Elements & Challenges
• Exploring the Private Enterprise Approach
• Exploring the Public Initiative Approach
• Summary of Workshop Themes and Outcomes

A copy of the Report can be downloaded here.