By Evergreen Action and Rob Gramlich (Grid Strategies, Americans for a Clean Energy Grid)
Over 80% of planned clean energy projects in the U.S. could be killed before they are ever built. The reason why? We don’t have enough new power lines.
Without transmission reform, the Biden administration stands little chance of meeting its ambitious target of 100 percent clean power by 2035. Now that climate legislation is stalled again in Congress, ambitious agency actions on issues like transmission are even more critical. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission must act now.
Here’s the Problem
The United States’ failure to build new transmission lines is killing the transition to abundant and cheap clean energy. Over 1,300 gigawatts of wind, solar, and storage are waiting to be built—enough to power up to 84 percent of the entire country and put us on track to achieve President Biden’s target of 100 percent clean power by 2035.
However, without dramatically expanding our electric grid, the vast majority of those projects will likely never be completed. Even the lucky few have faced costly delays of three and a half years on average to be connected to the grid, based on the complicated, required grid capacity assessments. The largest grid operator in the country, PJM (which includes utilities and customers from New Jersey to Virginia to Illinois), just paused all new power projects—almost all renewable energy—for two years as it sorts through the backlog. This presents a massive problem as the Biden administration seeks to make good on its bold climate goals.
A landmark Princeton study found that the U.S. will likely need to triple its transmission infrastructure to fully decarbonize the grid. Tripling the existing transmission infrastructure would require around 400,000 miles of new lines. Over the past decade, we have built only around 1,800 miles per year. It’s clear that the current system of transmission planning and expansion is woefully inadequate. Urgent action is needed.