Transmission Reform and Key Messages

March 5th, 2026

Presentation Slides:�cclusa.org/transmission-reform-slides

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About Our Speakers

VP of Gov’t Affairs Citizens’ Climate Lobby

Research Manager Citizens’ Climate Lobby

Learning Goals

1. Learn about the political climate surrounding transmission reforms and key messages for each party

2. Understand why transmission reforms are such a key climate solution

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3. Explore specific transmission solutions that could be included in a comprehensive package

Why Transmission is Important

Why Transmission is Critical

• Big new power generating facilities tend to be located away from households and businesses that need clean power
• Transmission lines are the highway system for electrons
• Most permitting reform climate pollution reductions come from transmission
• More transmission capacity also makes the grid more stable, secure, affordable

National Academies of Science

“Perhaps the single greatest risk to a successful energy transition during the 2020s is the risk that the nation fails to site, modernize, and build out the electrical grid.”

“The need for adding new transmission capacity and pathways during the 2020s is unprecedented … The net result could be increased [fossil fuels] … The committee recommends siting and permitting reforms”

Barclays Agrees

“Electricity is becoming cleaner, but not materially larger within the energy system. The bottlenecks now lie in grids, permitting, financing, and system integration, not in the cost of photovoltaic panels … Slow grid expansion, not technology cost, is the binding constraint on electrification.”

Transmission’s Political Climate

Transmission Used to be Boring

For decades, transmission was:

• Not strongly partisan
• Driven by utilities and grid operators
• Focused on grid reliability
• Mostly about moving fossil fuel generation

What Has Changed

• For the first time in decades, electricity demand is rising fast due to:
• Data center boom
• Electrification
• Manufacturing reshoring
• Wind & solar became cheapest power

What Has Changed with Congress

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• Federal backstop authority and cost-sharing policies became central and caused concern with Republicans
• Data center boom has opened everyone’s eyes to the need for more transmission capacity

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Where Things Stand

• Transmission is considered a top Democratic priority in permitting reform negotiations
• Republicans resistance has softened due to:
• Concerns about reliability and consumer costs
• Increased power demand from data centers and manufacturing

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The Tension Points

• Federal backstop authority (federalism)
• Cost allocation (who pays?)
• Local land use opposition
• Incumbent power plant revenue loss
• “Green Energy Subsidy” narrative

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Challenges and Policy Solutions

Problems to Solve

• Adding cheap clean energy to the grid and sharing it across the country requires more transmission lines
• Increasing extreme weather events are causing more blackouts
• Many regions have very little transmission connection to neighbors

2023 Transmission Planning & Development Grades

2025 Transmission Planning & Development Grades

Need at Least Double Transmission

• More power demand requires more transmission
• Electrification
• Data Centers
• True of any type of power, but especially solar and wind
• Rising demand means we probably need to at least double transmission capacity by 2050

Transmission Solutions

• Interstate transmission line federal backstop permitting authority
• Interregional Transmission Planning
• Standard cost allocation approach
• Make FERC the lead agency
• Create some Categorical Exclusions
• Incentivize grid enhancing techs
• Transmission tax credits

Remember the BIG WIRES Act?

The Building Integrated Grids With Inter-Regional Energy Supply (BIG WIRES) Act tells FERC to require each transmission planning region (except Texas) to increase interregional transfer capacity to lesser of:

• Its current capacity + 15% of peak load
• 30% of the region’s peak load

Peak load = region’s biggest hourly electricity demand

Big Savings from Transmission

• New study found ~$5B annual savings from more interregional transmission
• Doesn’t include reduced power outage benefits
• But expensive power plants along the coasts lose revenue

Transmission Saves Money

• Building long-distance transmission lines costs billions of dollars
• But it also unlocks more cheap clean power supply
• And allows more cheap clean energy to be utilized, shared
• Improves energy reliability, security
• Economic benefits exceed costs by ~1.5–3x

What about Climate Pollution?

• Together, the EPRA and FERC Order 1920 would accelerate transmission expansion by 2–4x over today’s rate.
• New transmission would help the U.S. grid deploy large amounts of clean energy, helping to meet expected load growth, and displace fossil fuel electricity generation.
• In central scenario, RMI estimates EPRA would help build clean energy that would reduce grid emissions by 6.5 Gt CO2 equivalent cumulatively through 2050.

RMI Conservative Assumptions

• The Energy Permitting Reform Act would allow transmission operators to build lines faster
• But how fast would they actually build them? Not as fast as possible
• “We assume the United States as a whole builds at half of MISO’s rate to balance Order 1920’s ambition, the EPRA’s new siting and cost allocation provisions, the limitations of stakeholder processes, and some US regions’ hesitancy to build too much transmission too quickly.”

RMI Conservative Assumptions

• Assumed transmission growth would rise from 1 to 2–4 TW-mile per year
• Enough for high-renewable, moderate load scenario
• Assume planning regions will build to only 20% interregional transfer capability
• Less than 30% optimal, and in BIG WIRES
• Assumed linear load growth to double load in 2050. Net Zero America finds that it must double to quadruple

Calculating Emissions Cuts

Half as fast as MISO

32 GWh/year per GW mile

0.6 tons/MWh displacing gas

30% credit to EPRA

100% credit to EPRA

8%–22% cut in 2030–2050 emissions

Does the Analysis Still Hold?

We essentially assumed that wind and solar will have the financial and policy outlook necessary to want to build and fill up any new transmission capacity.”

– Chaz Teplin

RMI Principal, Carbon Free Electricity

Comparing Avoided Climate Pollution

• IRA: ~7 billion tons
• Preserved post-OBBBA: ~1 billion tons
• Transmission permitting reform: ~6.5 billion tons
• Equivalent to restoring the IRA!
• Permitting reform is the big climate policy today, and CCL can play a key role

Key Messages on Transmission

Key Messages on Transmission

For Republican Offices, lead with:

• Grid reliability
• Energy dominance
• Economic competitiveness
• Affordability, lower consumer costs
• Energy supply for domestic manufacturing and data centers

Avoid the climate angle

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Key Messages on Transmission

Democratic offices are already supportive.

We don’t need to persuade; we have to stress the urgency. Emphasize:

• Transmission as backbone of climate progress
• Restoring emissions reductions lost in the IRA rollback
• Reliability and lowering consumer costs
• Keeping the clean energy transition on track

Upcoming Permitting Reform Trainings

Build Faster

Thursday, March 19th

�Fair Permitting Certainty

Thursday, April 2nd

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Community Engagement

Thursday, May 7th

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Key Permitting Messages

Thursday, May 28th

All trainings at 8pm ET / 5pm PT �Recordings will be posted on CCL Community afterwards.

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