News & Stories The West Advances Solutions to Lower Costs With More Clean Energy Share By Heising-Simons Foundation on 7/27/2026 on 7/27/2026 The goal of the Foundation’s Climate and Clean Energy program is to protect people and the planet from the worst impacts of climate change by helping make energy clean, affordable, safe, and reliable for all. We support organizations, projects, and coalitions that help advance and implement policies to accelerate progress on clean energy, which can provide affordable and reliable energy for households and communities. Read the full story below. Energy Affordability “This is really a moment for states to do everything they can to address affordability." Leah Rubin Shen has seen the cost of clean energy—think solar, wind, and battery storage—drop over the course of her more than 10-year career. These days, the price of clean energy isn’t the problem. Indeed, affordability is its selling point, and affordability is top of mind for many these days. Electricity bills in the U.S. increased an average of $110 per household between 2024 and 2025. Grid repairs due to aging infrastructure and extreme weather, combined with more natural gas price volatility due to wars in Iran and Ukraine, are the main drivers of electricity cost increases. “This is really a moment for states to do everything they can to address affordability,” said Rubin Shen, western regional managing director for Advanced Energy Institute, an association dedicated to clean energy and electrification. Aerial view of a solar panel array in rural Oregon overlooking a valley, and powerlines outside Las Vegas, Nevada. One straightforward way for states to manage rising energy costs is to invest in more clean energy. Once a clean energy project is built, operating costs are very low. This stands in stark contrast to natural gas power plants, which are prone to sudden price increases.“Renewables, by definition, don’t have a fuel cost,” said Michael Colvin, director of Environmental Defense Fund’s California clean energy program. “If you have an economy that’s more dependent on renewable resources, you’re more immune to those price shocks.” In addition, the cost of building clean energy projects has been coming down fast. More than 90 percent of new renewable energy projects in 2024 cost less and were quicker to build than fossil fuel alternatives. Clean energy is also key to helping fight climate change. Unlike natural gas and coal plants, solar and wind power plants don’t release air pollution. Notably, clean energy progress is accelerating across the country as states race to satisfy growing energy demands—and not just in places with a reputation for climate leadership. Texas now leads the nation in wind energy production with Iowa, Oklahoma, and Kansas close behind. Indiana, Kentucky, and Utah saw the largest amount of clean energy growth in the last year.“Cheap, clean electricity is important for meeting rising energy demand as well as helping society switch from fossil fuels to electricity to power transportation and heat buildings,” said Laura Wisland, deputy director of the Heising-Simons Foundation’s Climate and Clean Energy Program. California Blazing a Clean Energy Trail "We borrowed all the good ideas and iterated on them. All of the activity that the West is going to do into electricity markets over the next two years is going to define the next decade" California has been a clean energy leader for decades, and in 2025, it took a significant step toward making it easier for states throughout the West to invest in clean energy and lower energy costs for millions of consumers. Thanks to support from the Heising-Simons Foundation, clean energy advocates helped the state work with its western neighbors to lay the foundation for a larger, more integrated energy market that will allow electricity to be traded more efficiently across the West. The enhanced coordination enabled by the new market will allow states to invest in more clean energy and eliminate redundant investments needed to keep power supplies reliable. This will save energy customers billions of dollars. Energy markets can be wonky and complex, but the Heising-Simons Foundation understands the value of investing in organizations focused on the technicalities. The details matter.“There’s only a handful of funders that are deep enough in the details to understand what’s going on,” Rubin Shen said. “Heising-Simons is one of those.” Photo: Electric lines in Page, Arizona. The new western market will be governed by an independent nonprofit called the Regional Organization for Western Energy (ROWE). The ROWE was born out of a multi-stakeholder collaborative that formed years ago when several western states realized that by working together, they could save electricity customers money and improve grid reliability. The collaborative was comprised of a variety of stakeholders, including consumer advocates, utilities, clean energy advocates, technology providers, and several Heising-Simons Foundation grantee partners. The stakeholders looked at other organized energy markets for inspiration, explained Colvin, who sits on the Pathways Initiative Launch Committee, which advises the ROWE as it starts up.“We borrowed all the good ideas and iterated on them,” he said. “All of the activity that the West is going to do into electricity markets over the next two years is going to define the next decade,” Colvin said. “This is an absolute inflection point for all customers.”In fact, the ROWE is integrating customer protections into its backbone. The organization’s bylaws specifically call out protecting the public interest. The ROWE must establish an Office of Public Participation, something no other regional energy market has accomplished, said Kelsie Gomanie, the western markets advocate for the Natural Resources Defense Council’s Sustainable FERC Project team.“This will be totally novel to an electricity market governance framework,” she said. “The ROWE may even help push eastern regional trade organizations to recognize that transparency helps them be more successful. It’s really the highest tier of inclusive governance.” Photos: Turbines in Altamont Pass Wind Farm near Livermore, California, and solar panels on the roof of downtown Sacramento’s Golden 1 Center – home of the Sacramento Kings NBA team. The Future Looks Bright in the West, with Promising Outlooks Elsewhere too "What's happening in the West right now is the result of years of painstaking, unglamorous work — states sitting across from each other, stakeholders setting aside their differences, and advocates refusing to give up on a vision that many said was impossible." Since the U.S. Congress rescinded major federal support for wind and solar last year, clean energy advocates have shifted their focus to opportunities at the state and local levels. The creation of the ROWE—and what it will deliver in terms of climate benefits and cheaper electricity prices—is a bright spot in an otherwise challenging environment for clean energy progress.“What’s happening in the West right now is the result of years of painstaking, unglamorous work: states sitting across from each other, stakeholders setting aside their differences, and advocates refusing to give up on a vision that many said was impossible,” explained Wisland. “The creation of the ROWE is proof that persistence pays off. Western states will have a truly independent, home-grown market that stitches together the region’s extraordinary clean energy resources—sun, wind, geothermal—and delivers the benefits to families and businesses. It’s a solution built by the West, for the West. And when it’s fully running, it will mean cheaper, cleaner, more reliable electricity for millions of people, and real money in people’s pockets.” Climate and Clean Energy Close Share this page Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on LinkedIn Share on Email