Sharing the load: Finding a fair approach to clean energy siting policy 

This piece is co-authored by Sarah Mills, Director of the Center for EmPowering Communities, and Associate Professor of Practice at the University of Michigan. 

Clean energy siting policy can make or break the energy transition. These policies set regulations on where and how projects are built and who decides. Even when federal policies spur new investment, policies at the state and local levels determine if, where, and how clean energy technologies are built. Nearly all projects need some kind of approval from a local or state authority.  

Across the U.S., state policies vary around what level of government has the final say on a project. In states like Indiana and Montana, decision-making authority is predominantly left to localities. In some cases, like Maryland, decision-making is up to the state. And in other states, like California and Washington, the size of the project or the preferences of the community can determine jurisdiction. 

Among the patchwork of policies, one thing is increasingly clear: prevailing approaches to siting and permitting are not meeting the challenge of getting enough infrastructure built. In states where local governments hold the decision-making authority, a wave of local ordinances now heavily restrict or, in some cases, ban clean energy outright. Many local governments facing clean energy projects for the first time have limited capacity or guidance on how to plan for them and sometimes shut these projects out entirely. In 2024, 15% of counties in the U.S. had some restriction on renewable energy development. Conversely, where the state has full preemption over local decisions, communities lose the ability to inform how clean energy fits into their community. This can exacerbate the perception of an urban/rural divide – where rural areas feel overburdened by infrastructure facilitating the energy transition – and further fuel growing resistance to critically needed infrastructure. 

We need policies that not only get projects built, but do so in ways that respect and engage local communities.  

Finding a fair approach 

A new white paper, co-authored by Clean Air Task Force and the Center for EmPowering Communities at the University of Michigan, puts forth a ‘fair share’ approach to clean energy siting policy – where all communities must meet local requirements set by the state that cumulatively achieve state-wide deployment goals. Crucially, local governments could retain flexibility in how they meet their targets and opt out of additional development once their fair share is met. This approach won’t result in every county hosting a wind farm. Instead, it means that no single community would bear a disproportionate burden of the energy transition.  

Fair share policies may look different across states depending on their existing regulatory frameworks. In states where local governments have decision-making authority, those governments could have the first opportunity to decide on projects, but states could override project denials if a locality’s fair share is not met. In states where the state has decision-making authority, the state could approve projects at the local levels until fair share thresholds are met, and then localities can decide if they want to exceed that threshold.    

Learning from 50 years of fair share housing policies 

The idea of fair share siting is not new. In fact, fair share policies have been tried and tested for over 50 years, helping to build affordable housing in states like New Jersey, Illinois, Massachusetts, and California. They haven’t solved the housing crisis, but they’ve made progress in key areas: encouraging more planning, increasing supply in previously exclusionary communities, and setting examples for durable policymaking in a constantly evolving political landscape.  

Developing clean energy is certainly different than developing housing – but there are parallels that are too compelling to ignore. Fair share’s adaptation to the clean energy context has emerged in recent years, including a 2016 law review article and in our own Science of Siting workshops. Elements of a fair share approach to renewable energy have also appeared in bills proposed or passed in multiple states, including Maryland, Michigan, Virginia, and New Jersey (see Appendix B of the white paper).  

In the fall of 2024, CATF and the Center for EmPowering Communities hosted a workshop with housing and clean energy policy experts to understand what we can learn from fair share housing policies and how they might be shaped or implemented differently as clean energy policy.  

Core principles of an energy fair share approach  

A key takeaway from our workshop was that fair share solutions, whether for housing or for energy, will inevitably vary from state to state, depending on existing regulatory frameworks, land use policies, and other considerations. However, no matter the state, a set of core principles emerged that should guide any clean energy fair share policy:  

1. Once a community has met its fair share, it can decide to opt out of further development. This allows localities to contribute to the statewide goal while retaining some autonomy. 

2. Siting and permitting processes should favor developers – with guardrails and standards in place to ensure responsible development – up to the point that a community meets its obligation.  

3. All people in a state connected to the electricity grid are responsible for sustaining it – that means rural communities with the greatest energy resources, urban areas with the highest electricity needs, and everyone in between. 

4. Planning and modeling tools can help states and communities understand their energy needs and how to meet them. But planning should not become a substitute for action and should not be used to delay development.  

5. Fair share policies should be supported by aligned state policies that leverage tax incentives, technical assistance, and funding programs. A cohesive policy environment will enable economies of scale and accelerate the highest impact projects. 

Thinking about policy design 

When policymakers consider implementing fair share policies, they must carefully consider several policy design challenges to ensure that these policies are effective, clear, and supported by state and local-level stakeholders. These challenges include: 

1. Definitions and measurement: What units of measurement (e.g., megawatts, emissions reductions, etc.) should be used, and if based on future energy projects, how far out should those projections be made? 

2. Apportioning the fair share mandate: How is the “fair share” decided, and how will that share be split among different kinds of communities (e.g., urban and rural areas)? 

3. Compliance: Which technologies or measures qualify to meet mandates, and what mechanisms will be in place to hold jurisdictions accountable for meeting their “fair share?” 

4. Incentivizing development: Will “fair share” qualifying projects be eligible for streamlined approval processes, and what kind of regulatory or financial support options should be available to developers? 

5. Political feasibility: Is this approach more or less feasible in different areas of the country, what roles should regulators play, and how will “fair share” be determined in the absence of state-level clean energy goals, mandates, or plans? 

Giving it a fair shot 

A fair share approach offers what prevailing policies lack: a path of shared responsibility, rapid expansion of clean energy, and alignment with local priorities. It is unlikely that there is one ‘model’ policy that can serve as an off-the-shelf option for any state, and in some cases, it might make more sense to adopt elements of fair share policies into existing regulatory and policy structures than to fully overhaul existing state policy. A meaningful next step would be to develop two fair share frameworks: one for states where localities have authority over siting decisions, and one for states who already have some level of a state process. From there, these frameworks can be further built out to fit the regulatory context of a specific state. 

While there is a lot to figure out, we’re not starting from scratch. The challenges of getting projects built aren’t unique to the energy transition – and we can draw on successful, long-standing policies from other land use sectors to ensure that clean energy siting is both effective and centers community needs.