White House Unveils Plan to Accelerate Power Grid Expansion

The Department of Energy created a one-stop shop for federal permitting, helping transmission developers avoid the lengthy patchwork of regulatory approvals that have traditionally slowed many major power grid projects.

The new program makes the department the lead agency in permitting and finalizes a yearslong, multi-administration effort to coordinate the work of at least nine agencies with a hand in permitting power lines.

Administration officials have also said that long-haul power lines and upgraded older ones are needed to strengthen a grid that faces increasingly violent storms and extreme temperatures.

Power Grids Across the West

Large multistate projects can be held up for years as permitting delays, lawsuits and other challenges emerge as energy companies string massive electricity lines across public and private land.

Transmission projects that the Biden administration now considers crucial have been in the works in many cases for more than a decade.

Read the full article about power grid expansion plans here.