(The Center Square) – Cost of living dominated voter concerns in this year’s elections, and clean energy policies may have shaped outcomes in several states where candidates made them central to their platforms – albeit emphasizing affordability over climate impact.
Advocates say energy affordability tipped the scales in New Jersey and Virginia, where both governors-elect campaigned on promises prioritizing clean energy solutions, sending a clear signal to policymakers nationwide.
A post-election media briefing hosted by Advanced Energy United a, national trade association representing many of the leading clean energy companies, featured their policy directors from both states who provided analysis and context on the implications of the recent gubernatorial wins.
“That both governors won so decisively while running on these messages is notable,” said Adam Winer, the organization’s communications director, adding that household electricity bills are up about 10% nationwide – and as much as 20% in New Jersey.
“The real headline from Tuesday’s election,” said New Jersey Policy Lead Katie Mettle, “is that Governor-elect Mikie Sherrill ran on bringing down energy prices with clean energy, and showed she is committed to being a national leader on energy affordability.”
There is an incredible urgency to the moment across the PJM region, she stressed, but focusing on New Jersey, there are two time-sensitive cliffs we are looking at tumbling over.
One is the expiration of federal tax incentives for solar projects on July 4, 2026 and the other is possible blackouts as early as summer 2027, as PJM has warned.
She stated solar remains the cheapest form of electricity, even without incentives, and that solar and battery storage projects can typically be deployed within 18-24 months – far sooner than new natural gas plants, which can take a decade to build. Realistically, the only resources we can get onto the grid before the summer of 2027 are solar and battery, she added.
Critics, however, say that renewable projects aren’t expansive or reliable enough to step in for baseload generation, like natural gas, coal and nuclear plants. Without states like Pennsylvania, where one-quarter of the grid’s electricity is generated, aggressive green energy goals in others may not be as viable.
And it’s one reason why Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and lawmakers pumped the brakes on its entry into the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a multi-state compact to reduce harmful air pollutants across the mid-Atlantic. While the state’s natural gas industry has contributed to lower emissions over the last 20 years, the program’s rules could restrict their production in a way that reduces those gains and spikes electricity prices nearly 30% through 2030.
But for green energy advocates, it’s one of the more meaningful steps toward addressing climate change and pollution – one that could and should be taken by governors, even if it was found unconstitutional in Pennsylvania’s lower courts.
However, New Jersey’s governor, Mettle said, holds broad executive authority and can use it to do things like accelerate clean energy development.
Through executive orders, Sherrill can direct the Department of Environmental Protection and the Board of Public Utilities to fast-track permitting, expand solar access, and streamline or redesign existing programs to eliminate delays.
Additionally, she can instruct regulators and utilities to reduce peak demand and prevent blackout risks through initiatives like demand-response programs and virtual power plants – measures that proved vital during last summer’s heat waves in the PJM region.
Solar also takes center stage in Virginia governor-elect Abigail Spanberger’s strategies, which prioritizes affordability, optimizes the use of existing infrastructure, and accelerates the shift from fossil fuels to renewables.
Jim Purekal, policy director for Virginia, explained their solution is to maximize clean energy and get it onto the grid to keep energy affordable while meeting the state’s carbon emission goals.
Virginia’s Clean Economy Act, or VCA, requires utilities to move to 100% clean energy by 2045.
Purekal cited the recently released Lazard’s Levelized Cost of Energy report, listing utility scale solar as one of the most cost effective forms of new build energy generation.
Standalone solar costs $38-$78 per MWh, and solar-plus-storage falls between $50-$131 per MWh. He also noted that solar has decreased over the last 20 years and they see the same pattern with storage – which has dropped by 40% in the past 12-14 months.
In comparison, fossil fuel-generated electricity falls within similar – but generally higher – cost ranges, according to 2024 estimates from the U.S. Energy Information Administration and Lazard.
The levelized cost of energy from natural gas combined-cycle plants averages between $45 and $90 per MWh, while coal ranges from $90 to $160. And gas peaker plants, which operate primarily during times of high demand, can exceed $115 per MWh.
Virginia’s Dominion Energy 2025-2026 draft Integrated Resource Plan, Purekal said, projects fuel savings of roughly $12.5 billion from 2022 through 2035, and about $157 billion over 50 years through 2073.
Their proposed solutions to the state’s energy challenges include fast-tracking more solar and solar-plus-storage, streamlining interconnection to make better use of existing grid infrastructure, and expanding flexible resources such as virtual power plants.
As previously reported in The Center Square, experts say a balanced energy mix is essential for grid stability. Renewables like wind and solar generate power less consistently than fossil fuels, requiring greater installed capacity to match their output – though advances in storage and grid technology are steadily improving their reliability.
“The results of both Governors races reflect that leaders who embrace clean energy as a path to lower bills, reliable power, and economic growth are being rewarded at the ballot box,” said Heather O’Neill, President and CEO at Advanced Energy United in a press release. “These elections send a clear message to every statehouse in America: clean energy wins.”
