Technology Choices in the U.S. Electricity Industry before and after Market Restructuring

We study the drivers of the adoption of electricity generation technologies between 1970 and 2014 in the lower 48 U.S. states. Since the 1990s, major electricity market restructuring took place in some parts of the United States. We explore the implications of changing from a regulated “cost-of-service”, or rate of return, system to liberalized wholesale electricity markets on technology and fuel choices.We find that wholesale market...