News

Legislation to build a more resilient, reliable electric grid introduced

U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM) announced Thursday that he had introduced legislation designed to strengthen the electric grid by incentivizing the construction of new electric transmission infrastructure.

The bill, The Grid Resiliency Tax Credit Act, would provide a targeted 30 percent investment tax credit supporting large-scale transmission projects and grid enhancing technologies.

“To meet our nation’s full potential as a global leader in the clean energy transition and to replace rapidly aging electric infrastructure, we are going to need to invest in building many more transmission lines,” Heinrich said. “Over the last decade and a half, tax incentives have sent a powerful signal to private investors to put their capital behind new wind and solar projects. We need to send a similarly strong and long-term financial signal that it is worth the time and effort it takes to steer massive transmission infrastructure projects all the way from planning to construction.”

Companion legislation has been introduced in the House by U.S. Rep. Steven Horsford (D-NV).

Heinrich said the legislation would incentivize regionally-significant transmission projects and critical transmission subcomponents, as well as grid-enhancing technologies. Qualifying projects include new transmission projects that cross no fewer than two states or not less than 150 contiguous miles; modifications to existing transmission project that increase transmission by at least 500 megawatts; transmission property used for Interconnection or generator tie-lines; projects investing in certain transmission subcomponents; and grid-enhancing technology projects.

The legislation would add enough new capacity for the grid to integrate an additional 30,000 megawatts of new renewable energy generation, and create over 650,000 clean energy jobs, while deploying more than $15 billion in private capital investment that could result in a $2.3 billion energy cost savings for American consumers.

Liz Carey

Recent Posts

South Carolina legislation will help Duke Energy Progress customers save money

Innovative legislation will help Duke Energy Progress customers in South Carolina save $35 million in repair costs from a series…

16 hours ago

Appalachian Power, Wheeling Power file cost recovery submissions for West Virginia

Looking to recover costs associated with increased fuel and vegetation management expenditures, Appalachian Power and Wheeling Power recently submitted new…

16 hours ago

Hawaiian Electric launches online siting tool for electric vehicle charging stations

As a way to aid the deployment of electric vehicle charging stations, Hawaiian Electric this week released the online Electric…

16 hours ago

AEP issues 2024 corporate sustainability report

American Electric Power (AEP) released its 2024 Corporate Sustainability Report, which documents its sustainable business practices, strategy, performance and impact.…

16 hours ago

Louisville Gas and Electric and Kentucky Utilities issue RFP for solar, wind and hydro

Louisville Gas and Electric Company (LG&E) and Kentucky Utilities (KU) issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for new solar, wind,…

2 days ago

Southern Power brings Wyoming’s first solar facility online

Wyoming gained its first solar facility this week, and Southern Power its 30th, with the beginning of operations at the…

2 days ago

This website uses cookies.