Policy Projects
The Policy Program generates novel research on electricity markets, grid infrastructure, and clean energy regulation. We partner with organizations working on live policy questions to produce findings that matter.
WHY HUCEG POLICY?
Across nearly every dimension, our success depends on a well-functioning electric grid: AI development requires adequate power supply, affordability concerns center around the rising cost of power, climate goals live or die on renewable penetration, and national security demands energy independence.
In 2026, the grid is at a tipping point. Confronted by surging demand for the first time in over twenty years, regulators have the unique ability to shape the grid of the future. Mismanagement threatens to sink us, but effective policy decisions can guarantee success for decades to come. This is one of the most important problems of our generation, but shockingly few people talk about it.
The mission of HUCEG policy is to steer grid policy in the right direction. Each semester, small case teams partner with regulators, nonprofits, and think tanks to produce either qualitative deliverables (drafting model legislation for state transmission authorities) or quantitative ones (modeling how renewables affect electricity prices). But the through-line is simple: produce analysis that shapes real decisions.
HOW CAN WE HELP?
We add value by generating novel analyses, recommendations, or intelligence reports. Some of our project styles include:
Explainers: we produced a series of documents explaining the reliability and economic rationales behind ISO-NE’s proposed Capacity Auction Reforms. We worked with members of ISO-NE’s Consumer Liaison Group, and our work was circulated by the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Consumer Liaison.
Empirical Analyses: one of our projects is regressing proposed hyperscale data center announcements against residential rate increase requests. Another project assisted a leading national think tank in calculating the price effects of increased renewable penetration in PJM.
Policy Recommendations: we’ve designed legislative frameworks for increasing virtual power plant capacity, reforming state-initiated clean energy financing, establishing an electric transmission authority in Maine, and clearing the post-GIA interconnection backlog in PJM.
Qualitative Analyses: one of our projects aims to analyze the effects of the DOE’s recent usage of FPA section 202(c) to prop up coal generators.
PAST PROJECTS
Energy Affordability Initiative
Partnered with the Rocky Mountain Institute, this project designed a state-level policy framework that lowered energy costs for ratepayers across the United States. Utilizing skills in economics, political analysis, and climate policy, this project delivered solvency for many Americans.
Democratic Energy & Electrification Project (DEEP)
In collaboration with TECO, a clean energy consulting group based in UT Austin, we conducted market research and developed policy solutions for how Texas could scale its virtual power plant (VPP) capacity to 80 MW—enough to power 16,000 homes. The team also worked closely with several private companies and the Texas Public Utilities Commission.
Clean Energy Financing Reform
This team worked on innovative ways to finance major clean energy projects across Massachusetts, working closely with state legislators.
Roadmap for Energy Freedom and Open Reform of Markets (REFORM)
HHave you considered what a Project 2025 would look like for energy policy? The REFORM initiative answered that. This team worked with visionary students and PowerLines, a national think tank modernizing American power, to design a master policy playbook for leaders across this country to use. It analyzed every facet of our energy system, whether that be through economics, public policy, or even technological innovation.
WE HAVE ALSO WORKED WITH…
Massachusetts State Representative Christina Minicucci – Democrat, 14th Essex
Representative Christina Minicucci is a Democrat representing the 14th Essex district in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. Her environmental work in the House has focused on improving air and water quality. Some of the environmental legislation she has sponsored includes reducing natural gas leakage — especially in the wake of the Columbia Gas explosions of 2018 — which is known to be a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions.
Additionally, she worked on legislation related to combined sewer systems, requiring residents of towns and cities with these systems to be notified when untreated wastewater is discharged into the environment as well as mandating increased testing of this water to reduce harm to aquatic and marine ecosystems. Rep. Mincucci, an environmental champion, has collaborated with HUCEG’s policy team to improve our relationships with the MA Legislature.
Massachusetts State Senator Marc Pacheco – Democrat, First Plymouth and Bristol
Senator Marc Pacheco is a Democrat representing the Plymouth and Bristol region of Massachusetts and is the Dean of the Massachusetts State Senate. Senator Pacheco recently authored senate bill S.2227 to expand offshore wind development in the Commonwealth.
Throughout his career in both the MA State Senate and House of Representatives, Senator Pacheco has always prioritized issues surrounding the environment and natural resources, sponsoring legislation to make Massachusetts No. 1 in energy efficiency and to create more than 75,000 clean energy jobs, among others. The HUCEG Policy Team is hoping to work with Senator Pacheco to learn more about the state’s future in the greater renewable energy industry.
Massachusetts State Senator Julian Cyr – Democrat, Cape and Islands
Senator Julian Cyr is a Democrat representing the Cape and Islands region of Massachusetts and is the Assistant Majority Whip in the Massachusetts State Senate. Senator Cyr recently authored senate bill S.2154 to provide for investment in and expansion of the offshore wind industry in the Commonwealth.
As Vineyard Wind works towards building the nation’s first utility-scale offshore wind energy project in his district’s own backyard, Senator Cyr is focused on advocating for a program that addresses investment in wind infrastructure development as well as expansion of offshore wind industry-related employment. The HUCEG Policy Team is hoping to work with Senator Cyr to learn more about future clean energy and offshore wind legislation.
Massachuseets State Representative Patricia Haddad – Democrat, Fifth Bristol
Representative Patricia Haddad is a Democrat representing the fifth Bristol district in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. Rep. Haddad recently authored a petition accompanied by House Bill H.2924 to establish a special commission to study the benefits of implementing an offshore wind investment tax credit.
Massachusetts’ coastline makes the state uniquely positioned to integrate the renewable energy – especially wind – industry into its economy, which is why Rep. Haddad believes this legislation to be crucial in attracting the offshore wind supply chain. The HUCEG Policy Team is hoping to work with Representative Haddad to learn more about the future of the offshore wind industry in the Commonwealth and the ways in which the public can help support its expansion.
