Renewable Portfolio Standards Chart

Last month, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released a Corporate Goal case model comparing utility emission reduction targets with the Reference Case of last year’s Annual Energy Outlook 2021 (AEO2021). The model shows electric power sector emissions decreasing 11.6% compared to the AEO2021 Reference Case because of additional carbon-neutral resources contributing to a greater share of power generation.

Included in the appendices of this report is a list of all Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) targets already established across the U.S., as well as an “effective RPS” for each state taking into account the carbon reduction goals of each state’s investor-owned utility. Oil & Energy is publishing the list here as a reference for heating fuel industry stakeholders regarding the electric power sector’s transition to renewable energy. Look for more information on this transition in our summary highlights of EIA’s Annual Energy Outlook 2022.

¹Although Hawaii has a renewable portfolio standard for 100% renewable generation by 2045, EIA did not include generation in Alaska and Hawaii in this analysis because the generation mix from these states is determined outside of the National Energy Modeling System because of the unique electricity supply markets in these states.
²All targets are defined by total sales in the given state.
³EIA calculates effective RPS by multiplying the collective investor-owned utility carbon-neutral goal for a state by the share of electricity sales from investor-owned utilities in that state. EIA compares this value with any existing renewable portfolio or clean energy standard that is most commonly applied to all utilities within a state. In cases where a utility in a state has carbon reduction goals but does not exceed the state-level RPS, the state-level RPS used in the Reference case is maintained. This path is noted by Maintains Reference case path.
⁴These states have no existing state renewable portfolio standard or clean energy standard and so have no existing policy in the Reference case.
⁵Tennessee has a low effective RPS because investor-owned utility sales account for less than 2% of total electricity sales in the state. EIA did not consider the Tennessee Valley Authority for this analysis.
Note: Carbon reduction policies use a variety of terms (carbon-free, carbon-neutral, clean energy standard) in the descriptions of their policies. All of the different terms largely mean allowing for technologies other than renewables to qualify. EIA uses carbon-neutral to describe these policy names collectively and only clarifies where the state-level policy explicitly states a term.

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