Utilities have expanded their renewable energy portfolios over the last decade or so, with 23% of 2023’s power coming from nonpolluting sources, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. But we need gigawatts more of solar, wind and storage to decarbonize the grid by the Biden administration’s goal of 2035.

Transmission concerns, such as building new lines and connecting renewable resources to transmission systems quicker, have stymied efforts to meet clean-energy targets. Two new orders from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) could help reduce these bottlenecks and hasten access to carbon-free electricity.

Addressing U.S. transmission capacity

FERC has been trying to address the nation’s transmission capacity shortfall since the first Obama administration, when its Order 1000 was seen as a means for reducing the regulatory hurdles that can cost developers years’ worth of legal costs and approval battles. That rule established the U.S. government’s right to establish priority routes through federal lands and created principles for allocating line construction costs. It quickly fell apart based on claims of federal overreach and fights over whether utilities should get first dibs on transmission construction projects.

In 2014, FERC finalized Order 1920 to readdress these transmission planning issues by imposing approval timelines and requiring planners to consider long-term benefits, not just short-term needs, during regional development efforts. Among the requirements:

• Transmission providers must conduct planning for a 20-year period to identify needs driven by changing resources and demands.
• The 20-year plans need to be developed at least once every five years, using at least three scenarios that address specific factors such as electrification and renewable energy growth.
• Plans for potential transmission projects need to consider seven specific benefits outlined in the rule to determine if regional proposals efficiently and cost-effectively address long-term needs.
• Transmission providers need to consider using grid-enhancing technologies, such as dynamic line rating, power-flow control devices and advanced conductors and transmission switching.

Cost allocation

FERC 1920 also outlines a new cost-allocation process that includes a six-month engagement period with relevant state agencies to negotiate who will pay for projects. A basic principle is that customers should only pay for projects they benefit from.

While FERC 1920 could help get new lines built, it doesn’t address the growing backlogs of projects—primarily solar, wind and storage—waiting to connect to existing transmission operations. A second rule finalized in March, FERC 2023, could help speed these efforts along. The rule attempts to bring efficiency to the interconnection process and adds penalties for transmission operators that slow-walk their approvals process. It also includes requirements for interconnection applicants to ensure their projects are ready to connect when their approval comes through. Its provisions include:

• Requiring transmission providers to replace the previous first-come, first-served approach to handling applications with a cluster-study process that groups projects together at similar stages of preparedness.
• Replacing the previous “reasonable efforts” standard for evaluating transmission providers’ efforts to offer timely review of requests with strict deadlines and financial penalties if missed.
• Establishing a standardized process with firm deadlines for studies needed to evaluate possible effects of new connections on neighboring transmission systems.
• Implementing higher readiness requirements for applicants, including increased study deposits and site-acquisition rules.

Speeding up the process

The Department of Energy (DOE) also is assisting the development of new transmission through a rule announced in April aimed at speeding approval of lines requiring federal approval. Under the new guidelines, the DOE takes the lead in federal environmental reviews for such projects, with an aim of issuing needed permits within two years. Now, this process can take more than four years and involve multiple agencies that conduct their own reviews.

This move could be most significant in the western United States, where the federal government owns nearly half of all land. Permitting here can be especially challenging.

Several congressional leaders are working on legislation to reform how transmission projects are permitted and address issues that FERC’s orders don’t. These include expanding transmission capacity between system operators’ territories and across the nation’s three major regional grids. Sens. Joe Manchin (I-W.Va.) and John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) are drafting permitting-­reform legislation they hope to introduce soon. In addition to transmission lines, the bill also would speed pipeline approvals for moving natural gas and carbon dioxide collected during possible future carbon-capture efforts.

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