50 States of Power Decarbonization Q3 2025: States Work to Accelerate Clean Energy Project Development and Define “Large” Load Customers
Raleigh, NC – (November 6, 2025) The NC Clean Energy Technology Center (NCCETC) released its Q3 2025 edition of the 50 States of Power Decarbonization. The quarterly series provides updates on state and utility actions pertaining to clean energy targets, emission reduction targets and carbon policies, generation planning and procurement rules, treatment of large load customers, integrated resource plans, and electric generation capacity changes (RFPs, CPCN requests, power plant retirements, etc.).
The Q3 2025 report finds that 48 states, as well as Puerto Rico, took a total of 384 actions related to electric power decarbonization and resource planning during the quarter (see figure below), in addition to 234 introduced bills that have not yet passed a legislative chamber. Action counts include only regulatory activities and legislation that has passed at least one chamber, with all introduced bills available in an appendix to the report.
The most active states this quarter were North Carolina, California, and Minnesota followed by Indiana, Missouri, and Oregon. Among integrated resource plans recently filed or under review by regulators in Q3 2025, planned capacity additions totaled 87,539 for solar, 77,145 MW for natural gas, 43,031 MW for wind, and 39,310 MW for storage, while planned coal retirements totaled 33,424 MW.
Q3 2025 Action on Power Decarbonization and Resource Planning
The report discusses three trends in power decarbonization actions taken in Q3 2025: (1) states responding to federal clean energy policy changes and working to accelerate project development, (2) states and utilities considering demand thresholds for large load customers, and (3) state regulators revising integrated resource planning rules.
“Following the federal government’s passage of the OBBBA this past quarter, states across the country began initiating efforts to accelerate clean energy project development and maximize use of federal tax incentives before they expire,” observed Autumn Proudlove, Managing Director – Policy and Markets at NCCETC. “Permitting and interconnection are key areas that states are honing in on to speed up deployment.”
The report notes the top five policy developments of Q3 2025 were:
- North Carolina lawmakers overring a Governor veto and repealing interim emission targets;
- The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission approving a new NIPSCO subsidiary targeting large load customers;
- Ohio regulators approving a new AEP Ohio customer class for data centers;
- The Southwest Power Pool approving a new interconnection policy for large load customers; and
- Georgia and Virginia regulators approving integrated resource plans for Georgia Power and Dominion Energy.
“As large load projections – driven in large part by data centers – become a reality, utilities are reexamining how they define a ‘large’ customer. Depending on the scale of projected growth, customer types, and other factors, not all utilities are taking the same approach,” noted Justin Lindemann, Senior Policy Analyst at NCCETC. “Some are raising their minimum demand thresholds to specifically capture hyperscalers and higher load factors, others are broadening their definitions to include a wider range of large-load customers, and some are lowering their thresholds to account for the smaller end of the large-load spectrum.”
View the 50 States of Power Decarbonization Q3 2025 Quarterly Report Executive Summary
View and Purchase the 50 States of Power Decarbonization Q3 2025 Quarterly Report
ABOUT THE NC CLEAN ENERGY TECHNOLOGY CENTER
The NC Clean Energy Technology Center, as part of the College of Engineering at North Carolina State University, advances a sustainable energy economy by educating, demonstrating and providing support for clean energy technologies, practices and policies. It serves as a resource for innovative, sustainable energy technologies through technology demonstration, technical assistance, outreach and training. For more information about the Center, visit: http://www.nccleantech.
Media Contact: Shannon Helm, NCCETC, shannon_helm@ncsu.edu