The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission may be the most important climate agency you’ve never heard of.

Responsible for overseeing interstate transmission of gas, oil and electricity, the independent agency could help determine how much wind, solar and other renewable energy moves from engineering plans onto the nation’s electric grids and into homes and businesses.

On Monday the commission approved long-awaited changes that require grid operators around the country to plan 20 years into the future, taking into account changes in the energy mix, the growing number of states that have policies requiring wind and solar power, as well as the risks that extreme weather poses to reliability.

The vote was -to-1, with the commission’s Democrats approving and the sole Republican objecting, a partisan split that echoed the divide between the two parties over renewable energy.

Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, said the decisions made by the commission on Monday were critical to realizing the full extent of the Inflation Reduction Act, the sweeping climate law that Democrats muscled through without Republican support in 2022. The law provides tax incentives of more than $370 billion to jump start electric vehicles and wind, solar and other renewable energy.