Electricity Grid in Peril: A National Priority

The state’s isolated grid was largely to blame. As generators froze and were forced offline, Texas was unable to tap into available power in neighboring regions. A major interregional transmission line connecting the state to the Southeast would have paid for itself in four days during the storm, providing lifesaving electricity for about 200,000 Texans…

The U.S. needs additional grid infrastructure to meet today’s demand and reliability requirements…

FERC recently approved a rule to address the project backlog, instituting a first-ready-first-served cluster study process and requiring greater financial commitments from project developers to reduce delays. But some onlookers warned that the rule did not go far enough. The R Street Institute quipped that interconnection “needed a home run and FERC hit a single.” Without better transmission planning, expedited interconnection queue process reforms may have limited effect.