Clean Energy Buyers Institute: Grantee Spotlight (Q3 2026)

The Giving Green Fund is awarding a restricted grant to the Clean Energy Buyers Institute (CEBI) to modernize utility resource planning and grid interconnection in the U.S. CEBI is a U.S. nonprofit that works to advance low-cost, reliable, carbon emissions-free global energy systems.

CEBI’s work falls within our philanthropic strategy of unleashing clean energy in the U.S., including supporting clean firm power innovation and deployment and removing barriers to clean energy deployment. Please see Giving Green’s strategy report for more information, including potential risks and co-benefits, recommended sub-strategies, theory of change, funding need, and key uncertainties.

Last updated: October 2026

What Is the Clean Energy Buyers Institute?

CEBI is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 2020 and is the research and policy affiliate of the Corporate Energy Buyers Association (CEBA), a business association that activates energy buyers and their partners to advance low-cost, reliable, carbon emissions-free global energy systems. CEBI works to drive market and policy solutions to bolster clean energy deployment.

CEBI informs technical proceedings where power sector decisions are made—such as utility resource planning dockets before state public utility commissions, stakeholder processes at regional transmission organizations, and proceedings at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). To do so, CEBI conducts technical analysis, builds coalitions across energy customers and developers, and participates directly in proceedings. What distinguishes CEBI from others is its connection to large energy customers who are also stakeholders in planning and interconnection proceedings. CEBI uses its understanding of offtakers’ needs and preferences for reliable, low-cost, carbon emissions-free electricity to inform policy development and implementation.

What Are We Funding, and How Could It Help Address Climate Change?

As part of our focus on reforming the markets and grid rules that govern clean firm power, and removing barriers to clean energy deployment, we are providing CEBI with funding to:

• Assess open-source resource planning tools through a landscape assessment of utility use cases
• Publish guidance for regulators on transparent modeling in integrated resource plans
• Run outreach with public utility commissions on adopting open-source planning
• Pursue interconnection and market reforms in PJM, including expanded surplus interconnection service and load flexibility policies

Integrated resource plans influence a utility's grid and generator investments and will shape emissions for decades. Existing models can be unclear and do not always accurately represent existing conditions, meaning regulators cannot test whether a chosen portfolio is genuinely lowest-cost. By helping utilities adopt updated planning practices, CEBI will ensure they accurately evaluate clean technologies and, in turn, shift toward cleaner portfolios. Additionally, existing interconnection capacity is limiting how much clean technologies can connect to the grid. By pushing the use of existing points of interconnection instead of waiting in a backlogged queue for a new interconnection point, CEBI will help drive faster clean energy deployment and ultimately reduce power sector emissions.

Why Do We Think the Clean Energy Buyers Institute Will Use This Funding Well?

CEBI has extensive experience engaging in proceedings and helping inform policies. For example, it engaged in Georgia Power’s resource planning process to advance the Customer Identified Resource program, creating a pathway for large customers to bring clean energy onto the system, and helped champion the policy and legislation behind a California Independent System Operator-supported expansion of a western regional grid organization. Given CEBI’s experience in state resource planning dockets, its existing work in PJM and at FERC, and its team’s technical expertise in electricity markets, we think CEBI is well suited to help improve utility planning and speed up the interconnection of new clean energy resources.

We publish grant spotlights to offer transparency to Giving Green Fund donors and resources for those interested in the impact strategies each grant supports. Giving Green believes our Top Climate Nonprofits have the greatest impact potential for large, unrestricted gifts. For several reasons, we also disburse and recommend grants to other organizations surfaced through our research process for work that we believe is at least as impactful as grants to our top recommendations. 

This is a non-partisan analysis (study or research) and is provided for educational purposes.

CEBI is a registered nonprofit in the U.S. CEBI is a 501(c)(3), while its sister organization CEBA is a 501(c)(6) entity. As Giving Green is itself a charitable, tax-exempt organization, we are only offering an opinion on the charitable activities of CEBI's 501(c)(3) arm, and not on CEBA, the 501(c)(6) entity.