States reimagining power grids for wind and solar future, but transition takes time
For years, many states have set ambitious goals and incentives to promote renewable electricity projects. Now, more of those states are turning their attention to the transmission lines, substations and transformers needed to get that electricity from wind farms and solar plants into homes and businesses.
Congress has invested billions in boosting clean energy. But the money won’t lower emissions as much as predicted without “more than doubling” the last decade’s rate of grid expansion, Princeton University researchers noted last year. That expansion is needed to support the new renewable energy projects coming online, as well as the growing number of electric vehicles, heat pumps and other technologies requiring electricity.
Jon Wellinghoff, former chair of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the CEO and founder of GridPolicy Consulting, which works with governments and companies to support clean energy deployment, agreed that expanding the grid needs to be a top priority.
“In some areas, there are significant issues with the number of renewables wanting to interconnect into the grid and the timing it is taking to get those renewables interconnected,” Wellinghoff said.
While some states haven’t set renewable energy mandates, those that have will need to remake the grid to meet them. Some are crafting policies to streamline permitting for transmission lines. Others are pursuing partnerships with neighboring states to strengthen regional connections. And some are working to ensure that long-planned offshore wind projects can bring their electricity ashore.
“There’s definitely a huge need for investment and development across the board for both transmission and distribution infrastructure,” said Clara Summers, climate and energy program manager with the National Caucus of Environmental Legislators, a forum for state lawmakers.
But it won’t be easy. It can take much longer to plan, permit and build transmission lines and other distribution infrastructure than to launch solar and wind operations. And while recent federal legislation includes billions for grid upgrades and planning, the states’ role in spending that money is still being determined.
A 2019 analysis by global consulting group Wood Mackenzie found that reaching 100% renewable electricity would require adding 200,000 miles of high-voltage transmission lines — doubling the existing total — at a cost of $700 billion. A complex web of independent system operators, state regulators and utility companies oversee the planning and construction of new grid infrastructure, with frequent disagreements about who should bear the cost.
In Washington state, leaders are working to connect wind and solar projects in the state’s arid eastern region with population centers west of the Cascade Mountains. Gov. Jay Inslee, a Democrat, is proposing a bill that would speed up permitting for high-capacity transmission projects, placing them under the oversight of the state’s Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council.
“This doesn’t lessen the stringency of how projects are reviewed, but it streamlines it into one body that is going to be doing those reviews rather than one county and city after the next,” said Anna Lising, Inslee’s senior climate adviser.
The bill also would require utilities to conduct transmission planning on a 20-year basis, rather than 10 years, and base that planning on clean energy policy requirements rather than historical figures.
Some advocates say more states need to take a similar approach, directing utilities and grid operators to build transmission infrastructure that aligns with states’ clean energy plans.
“Whether it’s a regulator or a legislator, making sure that the grid operator is planning a grid that is going to accommodate the state goals within the timeframe that the state wants them to happen is really important,” said Beth Soholt, executive director of the Clean Grid Alliance, a nonprofit that advocates for renewable energy policy in the Midwest.
Lawmakers in Maryland passed a climate law last year that, among other provisions, directs the state’s Public Service Commission to incorporate state goals of decarbonization, renewable energy, equity and other factors into its distribution system planning process.
Some states, particularly on the East Coast, are planning transmission infrastructure for offshore wind projects in the permitting and construction phase. New Jersey lawmakers passed a law in 2021 allowing regulators to overrule local governments that attempt to block offshore wind farms from connecting to the grid. Some communities have raised concerns about sightlines and commercial fishing.
City council members in Ocean City, New Jersey, for example, have opposed construction of an offshore wind project by Danish developer Ørsted. In a 2021 resolution opposing the bill, they said it “would severely affect the ability of local governments to exercise home rule.” In other regions, transmission expansions also may face opposition from local governments seeking to stymie renewable projects, fearing their effects on existing industries, local aesthetics or agriculture.
“The show must go on,” said New Jersey state Sen. Bob Smith, a Democrat who chairs the Environment and Energy Committee, told Stateline last year. “We are not stopping wind, because we need it to stop the end of the world.”
In New Mexico, state leaders have established a state Renewable Energy Transmission Authority to facilitate electric transmission and storage infrastructure. The agency, established in 2007, has seen its work accelerate in recent years due to the state’s 2019 clean energy law.