Americans for a Clean Energy Grid report identifies need for transmission projects

A new report from Americans for a Clean Energy Grid (ACEG) identifies 22 high-voltage transmission projects that would be ready for construction if certain transmission policies were enacted.

The report, titled Transmission Projects Ready to Go: Plugging into America’s Untapped Renewable Resources, said these 22 projects would create approximately 1.2 million jobs and generate 60,000 megawatts (MW) of new renewable energy capacity. Further, that would increase wind and solar generation by nearly 50 percent, improve grid resiliency, and provide cost savings for consumers.

“Transmission may be the purest form of “infrastructure” in a modern economy. The backbone transmission network supports all types of electricity production, and electricity supports every aspect of modern life, including increasingly transportation and all forms of commerce,” Rob Gramlich, executive director of ACEG, said. “Transmission is finally in the conversation about infrastructure and for good reason. We do not have a functioning way to recover costs of the large-scale interregional transmission that we need, and it is an appropriate subject for infrastructure legislation.”

At present, these 22 projects are on hold. To commence, transmission policies relating to how long-range transmission is planned, paid for, and permitted would need to be passed.

The ACEG report recommends several policy changes, including the passage of a transmission investment tax credit; direct investment in new transmission lines, with the federal government serving as an “anchor tenant” customer; FERC using its authority to reform transmission planning and cost allocation; and streamlining and expediting the permitting process.

“Just like the federal interstate highway system helped drive the growth of the American economy in the last half of the 20th Century, an interstate electricity transmission system is needed to power the American economy into the 21st Century,” Michael Goggin, lead author and vice president of Grid Strategies, said. “Over 1.2 million jobs can be created by building transmission lines to access untapped renewable resources, bringing sorely needed jobs and economic development to America’s rural areas. A stronger grid is also the best solution for preventing power outages, like the tragic events that affected Texas and other parts of the Central U.S. in February.”

The 22 proposed projects are located across the country, but most are in the Western United States.