Let American Energy Move: Modernizing America’s Grid for Growing Demand

I wanted to talk with you about one of my favorite topics – The GRID! We use it every day without having to give a lot of thought. We use it when we light our homes, charge our phones, and store food in the fridge. Many of us rely on it at work to run computers, machines, and various devices. The grid makes our modern life possible. Our grid is an engineering marvel.

You can think of it like a big, interconnected machine with three main parts:

• generation – where electricity is produced;
• transmission – the high voltage highways that move electricity; and 
• distribution – the delivery system to reach consumers and businesses.

Today, let’s focus on the transmission part of our grid.

Those large steel towers that hold up power lines — That’s Transmission.  We have over half a million miles of transmission lines in the U.S. today, servingas the backbone of our grid. And, we’re going to need a lot more. A strong transmission system is crucial for America’s energy future, especially as we face unprecedented demand for power.

Here are some reasons why transmission is so important:

Transmission supports economic growth: If we want to build more manufacturing sites and power AI data centers to support more jobs, we need to be able to move the power to meet the demand. Transmission is needed to support all types of economic growth, whether you live in a rural community or a big city.

Transmission improves affordability: Better use of existing lines and building new transmission lets American energy move between regions, and that can help keep energy bills lower.

Transmission enhances reliability: By connecting many power plants over a wide region, transmission helps cover demand spikes and provides backup when a plant or line goes offline. More transmission means more ability to transmit energy where it is needed.

Transmission helps unlock innovation: Taking advantage of advanced geothermal in Utah, new nuclear plants in Texas or other next generation projects can’t happen without transmission.

At ClearPath, we believe that the U.S. needs to build more transmission to:

• win the AI race, 
• revitalize our manufacturing base, and
• keep energy bills affordable in the long term. 

Right now, it can take 10+ years to build new transmission because of: 

• slow planning processes, 
• complex permitting, 
• disputes about who pays for the lines, and
• litigation challenges. 

So here are three policy solutions to fix it:

• One — Leverage Innovation: This means deploying new technologies to get the most out of the existing grid, like advanced conductors, dynamic line ratings, and updated software and hardware for grid control. We should also support technology derisking with strategic incentives and more efficient information sharing.

• Two — Speed Up Interconnection: We can optimize the use of existing interconnection capacity; prioritize cost-effective upgrades; and streamline the interconnection queue process by focusing first on areas with reliability needs or existing transmission capacity.

• And Three — Build More Transmission: Every energy source relies on transmission. We need to improve federal permitting processes, reduce litigation risks, make it easier for States to collaborate on transmission development and for regions to coordinate grid plans, and we need to modernize federal backstop authority for transmission siting to be a more targeted tool used when absolutely needed.

If we want America to lead, then we need to let American energy move.