The Role of Clean Firm Power in a Reliable, Affordable, and Clean Electricity System in the Southeast

Since fall 2024, the Clean Air Task Force and Duke University’s Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment & Sustainability have led in-person and virtual meetings and one-on-one dialogues with Southeastern energy and environmental regulators, utilities, consumer advocates, and businesses to discuss clean firm generation and how it could help meet electricity demand growth.

This policy brief explores the roles clean firm technologies play on the electric grid and identifies the drivers of clean firm resources. The brief also summarizes insights from the discussions, including what state leaders and key stakeholders think still needs to be done to foster regulatory and market conditions for timely clean firm resource deployment.

The convenings were hosted under the auspices of the Southeast Energy and Environmental Leadership Forum (SEELF), an ongoing engagement with state environmental agencies and utilities commissions in the Southeast to help government officials understand the complex dynamics that are affecting the evolution of the electricity sector.