Communities have various reasons for blocking these projects. Landowners might worry about the government seizing their land. Power lines, wind turbines and solar panels can be eyesores in places that rely on beautiful vistas for tourism. Such projects can damage the environment by displacing wildlife or cutting down trees.

With its open plains and thousands of miles of wheat fields, Kansas is one of the windiest states in the U.S. That makes it a great place for turbines that capture the wind and convert it into electricity. But too few people live there to use all that power.
So in 2010, developers started planning a large power-line project connecting Kansas with Missouri, Illinois and Indiana. They wanted to move the clean energy generated in Kansas, from both wind turbines and solar panels, to states with much bigger populations. That would let more communities replace planet-warming fossil fuels that have contributed to the kinds of wildfires and unhealthy air that have blanketed large swaths of North America this week.

Thirteen years later, however, full construction has not yet started on the project, known as the Grain Belt Express. Why? Because in addition to federal permission, the project needs approval from every local and state jurisdiction it passes through. And at different times since 2010, at least one agency has resisted it.

One way to get at that problem is to do what experts call permitting reform. The issue has recently gained national traction, and President Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy, the House Republican leader, discussed it during debt-limit negotiations last month. Local and state governments are considering changes, too.
The goal is to streamline the approval process for energy projects so they can avoid the fate of the Grain Belt Express. As long as such projects languish, Americans will keep using existing coal, oil and gas infrastructure for their energy needs.

The case for a permitting overhaul is that the current system has gone too far. Existing policies have helped protect the environment, landowners and tourism. But they have also become a burden that slows projects far longer than is necessary to ensure safeguards. Reform, then, would be about finding a better balance.
And though changes could allow more fossil fuel projects, they would probably enable far more clean energy projects, experts say. With public attention to climate change, technological breakthroughs and hundreds of billions of dollars in federal spending, clean energy is expected to become cheaper and more competitive than fossil fuels. So developers will be much more likely to build a clean energy project than a fossil fuel one — if they can get the permits.

The company also has planned a Kansas wind farm that would be the nation’s largest installation of wind turbines. The project would see 1,000 wind turbines installed across 100,000 acres of Kansas farmland.

Riggs said he hopes MoDOT’s study looks at ways to make the future interstate “agriculturally friendly” to farmers can co-exist with freight traffic. In addition, he wants the upgrades to include electric vehicle charging stations.

As provided for by the GIA, Show Me State Solar will, prior to commencement of construction by Ameren Missouri, acquire approximately fourteen (14) acres of property for the Burns Switchyard site. Show Me State Solar will have full responsibility for all land acquisition costs.

Niskanen represents landowners impacted by interstate gas projects approved by the
federal government despite a demonstrated lack of public or market need in court and
administrative proceedings, including before FERC. Best practices and lessons-learned from
Niskanen’s substantial work with impacted landowners and communities on such proposed interstate gas projects inform and guide our comments here on FERC’s proposed revisions to its Backstop Authority regulations. Niskanen aims to establish a purposefully defined federal role in electricity transmission infrastructure siting and permitting, including specific circumstances under the Backstop Authority, to enable a repeatable, scalable process for the development of much-needed interstate transmission lines.

There is a Need for Increased Transmission Development and Use of the Commission's Backstop Authority

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Lake said this summer, the riskiest hours on the hottest days could be closer to the 9 p.m. timeframe when solar power goes away with the sunset.
"It's still hot at 9 p.m. The sun sets faster than the atmosphere cools, and our solar generation is all gone. So at that point in the day, we will be relying on wind generation,” he said.  "If the wind does not pick up, we will have to rely on our on-demand, dispatchable generators. And the data is showing us that on our hottest days under a certain set of circumstances, we may not have enough on-demand, dispatchable generation to cover the gap between when the sun sets -- and we lose the solar -- and when our wind generation picks up.” 
So if there's not enough wind on those hottest days, outages are possible after sunset.

SPP has issued a resource advisory for its 14-state balancing authority area in the Eastern Interconnection next week, effective Monday at 10 a.m. CT through 8 p.m. Tuesday, because of an expected shortfall from wind resources and generating units offline on maintenance outages.

The difference is a forecast that projects wind energy to be significantly lower during the advisory period.

"Relatively low wind volatility but low production levels can stress some of our operations conditions as we do have a lot more wind in our system than we have had in the past," Kuzman said. MISO's summer wind forecasts tend to be off by 800-1,200 MW, and there is usually a falloff of wind output in August, he said.

Power supplies in the US PJM Interconnection could get dangerously tight this summer if there is high demand and high outages -- a situation that would require the grid operator to rely on demand response to maintain reliability, Mike Bryson, senior vice president of operations at PJM, said May 4.

When PJM looked at the combination of unexpectedly high demand and high outages, it saw "for the first time that we would be below operating reserves for the summer," Bryson told a meeting of the Illinois Commerce Commission.

“What other states do has a great effect on the grid. For example, any of the [PJM] states that say they’re going to go completely green or clean or whatever you want to call it — they say they’re not going to use any more fossil fuel. Well, that means they’re going to rely on someone else to provide power for them in those times when these clean and green energy projects don’t work. They’re intermittent; they depend on the time of day. The example I use is: Where does the power come from for a solar array at three o’clock in the morning?”

“There are two solutions: There will be certain times when you operate your appliances or charge your car or whatever, or there will be rolling blackouts. Neither of those sound like very good options to me.”

Participatory design gives all stakeholders a sense of ownership over the ideas generated in response to a problem and helps ensure that the ideas and outcomes meet their needs.

...the Equitable Grid Cohort recommends that stakeholders introduce these principles via a popular education model or participatory design approach. Popular education is a technique designed to raise the consciousness of its participants and allow them to become more aware of how an individual's personal experiences are connected to larger societal problems. Participatory design gives all stakeholders a sense of ownership over the ideas generated in response to a problem and helps ensure that the ideas and outcomes meet their needs.

Grid decisionmakers such as the MISO Board should not be selected by or only accountable to electric industry insiders. Grid decisionmakers should protect against outsize influence by utilities and private actors. One way to implement accountable grid decisionmaking would be for MISO to establish a shared accountability committee empowered to oversee decisions. The shared accountability committee would be made up of a democratically elected set of impacted community members and workers. The committee would have a democratic and equitable meeting process designed to ensure all members have equal influence and respect.

Utility funds should be set aside in a dedicated account from which impacted communities engaging in grid infrastructure decisionmaking can draw to hire experts and representation to inform their members and represent their interests in technical matters requiring expertise. This funding should be sufficient to cover communities' entire costs of participation, and utilities should have no influence over whether or how the funding is provided.

Decisionmakers must provide opportunities for communities to share revenue and retain community control of grid infrastructure.

Meanwhile, "local" concerns are often conflated with wealthy landowner concerns, giving private property owners weighted influence and access to the benefits from projects, even when a broader spectrum of community members are affected. In the Northeast and California, the Citizens Transmission model imparts ownership of a portion of the transmission to create electricity affordability and other opportunities for low-income families in the communities affected by the construction.

Grid infrastructure jobs should be made available first to workers in impacted communities.
All workers should be provided rigorous education about the electric grid transition, ongoing job training, and technical assistance. This education and training should be prioritized for workers from impacted communities and businesses owned by women and people of color.