Not long ago, the rise of U.S. renewable energy was largely tied to state policies that required or encouraged utilities to meet benchmarks for obtaining wind and solar power.
The first of these “renewable portfolio standard,” or RPS, laws was likely the one adopted in Iowa in 1983. But they didn’t become a trend until the late 1990s, when Arizona, Nevada and Texas passed their laws, and in the early 2000s, when California was among the many that followed suit.
A new book, “Owning the Green Grid” by Joshua Basseches, seeks to understand how these policies helped to shape utility regulation and what they teach us about the political power of utility companies. Basseches teaches environmental studies and public policy at Tulane University in New Orleans and is moving this summer to assume a similar role at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.
I spoke with him about the book, which covers policies that I know well from covering legislative debates, especially in Ohio.
One of his key findings is that utility companies used their influence to ensure the laws were favorable for corporate profits. But the specifics of this influence varied by state and utility, often reflecting each state’s regulatory structure and the extent to which fossil fuel companies also had political power.
