A long-running challenge in many parts of the US is that electricity generating capacity and energy demands grow faster than transmission systems. People and businesses want cheap, reliable electricity, but few embrace the necessary towers and wires—especially if they seem to deliver electricity and economic benefits mostly to far-off areas. There are often aesthetic, environmental, social justice, and business competition criticisms as well.

A 2005 energy law sought to address these tensions, granting the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) the ability to step in and sign off on projects that could alleviate transmission constraints in certain areas designated national electric transmission corridors. But so far, the Department of Energy has only designated two such areas, in the mid-Atlantic and in Southern California.
In addition, a federal court of appeals ultimately limited FERC’s authority, finding it only had the right to sign off on projects if states or other jurisdictions held up an application for more than a year. It did not have the ability to overrule state rejections of applications under the law, the court ruled.

A section of the infrastructure package expands the criteria that the department can use in selecting and designating transmission corridors. Among other changes, it could incorporate not just areas that are experiencing “capacity constraints and congestions” but those that are expected to, says Liza Reed, a research manager focused on transmission at the Niskanen Center, a think tank in Washington, DC.

In addition, the proposed rules now state that FERC would have the right to reverse state decisions for transmission lines in these high-priority corridors, not just act when states don’t. Making the process clearer and increasing the odds of approval should encourage more investors and developers to pursue such projects.

But the infrastructure deal is still just a baby step toward the modern national grid we need.
Some have argued that legislators should grant FERC the authority not just to overrule states, but to run the whole approval process for lines that cross several states, similar to its powers over natural-gas pipelines today.

The bill also establishes a $2.5 billion revolving loan program for projects, which effectively makes the Department of Energy the initial customer for new transmission lines. This federal financing could help get time-consuming but necessary transmission projects under way before the developer has lined up customers. That could ease the perpetual chicken-and-egg problem between building more electricity generation and constructing the lines needed to transport it, observers say.

Eventually the federal government can sell those rights to clean electricity plants that need access to the lines as they come online.
It’s a promising policy tool that “just needs another zero in that budget line,” Jenkins says.

Any effective plan to tackle climate change hinges on a basic technology: long wires strung across tall towers.