The 50 States of Power Decarbonization: States and Utilities Navigate Large Load Customer Demand in 2025
Raleigh, NC – (February 13, 2026) The N.C. Clean Energy Technology Center (NCCETC) released its 2025 annual review and Q4 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, requests for certificates of public convenience and necessity, power plant retirements, etc.).
The 2025 annual review report finds that 49 states, as well as Puerto Rico, took a total of 667 actions related to electric power decarbonization and resource planning during the year (see figure below). The report notes the top ten states or territories taking the greatest number or most impactful actions in 2025 were Indiana, Maine, Maryland, Missouri, Minnesota, North Carolina, Puerto Rico, Texas, Virginia, and Washington.
New to the report this year was large load customer treatment, which covered investigations into the impact of large load customers, interconnection rules, rates and tariffs, load flexibility and on-site generation, and resource procurement. Thirty-seven states took 104 actions related to large load customers this year.
2025 Action on Power Decarbonization and Resource Planning
The report highlights ten of the top power decarbonization and resource planning trends of 2025:
- Approving new utility tariffs targeting large load customers;
- Increasing natural gas capacity additions;
- Pulling back on clean energy and emission reduction targets;
- Investigating the impact of large loads on utilities and ratepayers;
- Studying emerging energy generation technologies;
- Updating integrated resource planning rules;
- Adopting new rules for retirement of existing capacity;
- Procuring energy storage through state-led processes;
- Increasing forecasts for future load under integrated resource plans; and
- Considering future deployment of advanced nuclear.
“This year, several states and territories weakened their clean energy or emissions reduction targets, with some removing interim targets and others removing targets altogether,” noted Caitlin Flanagan, Policy Analyst at NCCETC. “On the other hand, many states demonstrated commitment to meeting their clean energy targets by undertaking state-led procurement efforts and investigating future carbon-free generation like advanced nuclear, geothermal, hydrogen, or long-duration storage.”
Among integrated resource plans recently filed or under review by regulators in 2025, planned capacity additions totaled 144,405 MW for solar, 125,016 MW for natural gas, 58,581 MW for storage, and 58,381 MW for wind, while planned coal retirements totaled 56,475 MW.
2025 Utility Integrated Resource Planning Action, by Largest Planned Resource Addition
“Large load growth—driven by a surge in data center development—has become the defining energy issue of the year,” observed Justin Lindemann, Senior Policy Analyst at NCCETC. “Across the country, utilities are implementing large-load tariffs to prevent cost shifting, requiring data centers and other high-load-factor customers to cover the costs of grid upgrades and interconnection. Meanwhile, states are conducting analyses to assess and report the impacts of these new loads on the grid and other ratepayers.”
In Q4 2025, 48 states plus Puerto Rico took some type of action on power decarbonization and resource planning. A total of 400 actions were tracked in Q4 2025, in addition to more than 270 introduced bills.
View and Purchase the 50 States of Power Decarbonization 2025 Annual Review Q4 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