America is on the cusp of an energy renaissance. Billions are flowing into nuclear power, renewables, and advanced energy technologies, and optimism about what we can build has never been higher. Beneath the excitement, however, lies a quieter, more stubborn problem: being able to move the power we’re already producing.
Outdated and insufficient transmission infrastructure is quickly emerging as the greatest long-term constraint on America’s energy future, stranding generation, driving up costs, and increasing grid fragility. While innovation in energy supply is critical, it is meaningless without a modern grid to deliver it. Transmission reform, not another breakthrough technology, is the missing link between America’s energy ambition and energy reality.
The recent NERC reliability assessment paints a grim picture of the American energy future. On top of issues with generation arising from the fact that much of the energy slated to come online in the near future is weather-dependent like solar, right as many fossil-fired generators are set to retire, years of delayed maintenance have left the country with a grid under-equipped for the modern energy economy. Rising peak demand and the retirement of older dispatchable plants are tightening supply across multiple regions. At the same time, interconnection backlogs and transmission bottlenecks are preventing new generation from coming online fast enough to fill the gap. Every NERC reliability assessment area in the United States is currently rated as elevated or high-risk by 2030, based not only on demand forecasts but also on projected lags in transmission growth. In short, America is not only running out of energy but running out of ways to move it.
The bulk of the energy conversation largely focuses on generation and demand. While there is an exciting abundance of opportunity for innovation in both of these areas—both increasing our energy supply and increasing energy efficiency—robust transmission is the too-often invisible middle sitting between this supply and demand. The consequences of insufficient transmission threaten to stall projects before they ever deliver power, strand generation far from the communities that need it most, and drive up electricity prices through congestion and inefficiency. A solar farm in the desert or a nuclear plant in the Midwest cannot power homes hundreds of miles away if the lines to deliver that electricity do not exist to begin with. Without major investments in transmission, even the most promising energy technologies will struggle to translate into reliable and affordable power for American consumers.
America already knows how to build powerlines, but right now they take longer to approve than to build. For transmission, our problem is one of governance stifling the country’s lifeblood—not one of engineering or innovation. The solution lies within government, too. Faster federal permitting and modernizing cost allocation rules would allow the country to build unfettered by outdated red tape. At the same time, states must work together to develop long-distance transmission corridors, coordinate regional planning, and improve interconnection processes. The government should help enable the infrastructure that powers economic growth, not stand in its way.
If the country seeks to achieve true energy dominance, the way forward will include not just generation but transmission. We cannot afford to pour incredible amounts of innovation, funding, and effort into increasing our power supply if we will end up with no way to move it. Transmission is our missing middle, and a responsible energy policy will address its deficits.