Developers of the Grain Belt Express say the massive transmission line remains on track to open up by 2025, connecting wind power in western Kansas with voracious demand in the East.
The 800-mile project promises to add more reliability to the electric grid — all the more enticing since rolling blackouts in February left millions of Americans without power. While the $2 billion overhead transmission line aims at exporting wind energy from Kansas, it will also be capable of moving electricity both directions, which could have helped mitigate the electricity crisis that hit the United States earlier this year.

Zadlo understands the opposition to the project. But he said the benefits for people here and across the United States are immense. Just like railroad cars transport coal from mines to refineries, the Grain Belt will move a much-needed resource to customers, while also strengthening the electrical grid.

"Reliability benefits all people, right? Increasing the reliability of the grid is a good societal impact," he said. "Whether you're in the city or in rural areas, you will benefit from the increased reliability that Grain Belt will bring."

Updating the grid is going to be expensive: at least $150 billion of investment and probably closer to $200 billion. That’s a lot of coin, but here’s the good news: These investments will earn 9 to 11 percent because that’s the regulated return on transmission assets. This is what’s allowed under the regulatory compact that was first laid out in the Binghamton Bridge Supreme Court case of 1865 because transmission is a natural monopoly. This isn’t like the deregulated power generation market; there’s actual competition there so independent power producers like Calpine Corp. can — and do — go bankrupt. Investors can lose everything. Not here — these returns are guaranteed.

The formula is pretty simple. I won’t bother to explain it:

Total revenue requirement = rate base × allowed rate of return + expenses

Biden just unlocked private investment in the grid. It is the most fundamental infrastructure there is — a giant power cord that connects supply with demand. These are valuable assets so the private sector should be lining up to invest. David Swensen made his reputation by championing investment in novel asset classes, and this one is sitting right in front of us: X marks the spot. Pensions and large companies like Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft, and Amazon are sitting on mountains of cash that should be jonesing for private finance initiative projects to build transmission for the federal government, give operational control to a regional transmission organization, and receive the approved return from ratepayers. Do more than consume the power — bank the returns!

“DOE is making financing available for projects that improve resilience and expand transmission capacity across the electrical grid, so we can reliably move clean energy from places where it’s produced to places where it’s needed most,” said Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm.

Observing the report’s map, Skelly said, “If you squint a little bit, you can see the beginnings of what would be a nationally connected system. Obviously, there are plenty of gaps here, but … if these lines get done, then we have the beginnings of a something” that could “grow organically into a national grid.”

Among the projects are a few originally proposed by Michael Skelly’s defunct Clean Line Energy Partners, including the Grain Belt Express and the Plains & Eastern Clean Line.

“The reason we put these projects on the list is because they’re sited, and they’ve got interconnect agreements, and they’ve got studies; they’re ready to go,” said Skelly, now a senior adviser at Lazard, who joined ACEG Executive Director Rob Gramlich and several representatives of the listed projects’ developers in presenting the report.

Given the scale of transmission need discussed above, other policies to enable large-scale expansion of transmission over the longer-term are also needed.

Anchor Tenant

Legislation could be enacted to direct the federal government to directly invest in new transmission lines as an “anchor tenant” customer, and then re-sell that contracted transmission capacity to renewable developers and others seeking to use the transmission line. This would help provide the certainty needed to move transmission projects to construction and overcome what is called the “chicken-and-the-egg problem,” in which renewable developers and transmission developers are each waiting for the other to go first due to the mismatch in the length of time it takes each to complete construction.

FERC Transmission Planning and Cost Allocation Reform
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has authority over how transmission is planned and paid for. FERC can use that authority to break the transmission planning and cost allocation logjams that are preventing large regional and inter-regional lines from being built. Legislation to direct FERC to use that authority could also be helpful.

Streamlined Permitting
While most authority for permitting transmission lines is held by states, federal agencies have authority over lines that cross federal lands. Steps can be taken to streamline and expedite that process, which can currently take a decade or more.

Community opponents of the highway expansion said TxDOT’s only solution to ease traffic problems and congestion is to build more highways, which, besides allowing more cars on the road, also covers more city area with asphalt and concrete. This has considerably increased flooding in areas surrounding highways, many of which have suffered disproportionately since Hurricane Harvey in August 2017, they said.
Michael Skelly, a local activist with the Make I-45 Better Coalition, said TxDOT has consistently ignored residents’ input on project design despite several public hearings. “In 2015, a few of us residents got together and submitted our comments to TxDOT on a 2017 draft project,” he said. “It soon became clear they were not going to commit to anything.”

‘‘(c) QUALIFYING ELECTRIC POWER TRANSMISSION LINE PROPERTY.—The term ‘qualifying electric power transmission line property’ means— ‘‘(1) any overhead, submarine, or underground transmission facility which—
‘‘(A) is capable of transmitting electricity at a voltage of not less than 275 kilovolts,
‘‘(B) has a transmission capacity of not less than 500 megawatts,
‘‘(C) is an alternating current or direct current transmission line, and
‘‘(D) delivers power produced in either a rural area or offshore, and

‘‘(2) any conductors or cables, towers, insulators, reactors, capacitors, circuit breakers, static VAR compensators, static synchronous compensators, power converters, transformers, synchronous condensers, braking resistors, and any ancillary facilities and equipment necessary for the proper operation of the facility described in paragraph (1).

“Sen. Martin Heinrich, Rep. Steven Horsford and Rep. Susie Lee’s introduction today of the Electric Power Infrastructure Improvement Act adds to the growing momentum for a federal transmission investment tax credit (ITC). As we saw this winter, America’s outdated grid infrastructure is hurting consumers and our economy. With a transmission ITC, we can enhance grid reliability, create jobs, save consumers money, and provide developers with the long-term certainty they need to invest in a 21st century Macro Grid that’s capable of delivering the clean energy future Americans want and deserve. We look forward to working with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to pass this critically important legislation this year.”

The American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE) is a 501(c)(3) national nonprofit organization that unites finance, policy and technology to accelerate the transition to a renewable energy economy.

Thanks to generous support from Breakthrough Energy, ACORE and Americans for a Clean Energy Grid (ACEG) launched the Macro Grid Initiative to promote investment in a 21st century transmission infrastructure that enhances reliability, improves efficiency and delivers more low-cost clean energy.

Breakthrough Energy Ventures is an investor-led fund that aims to build the new, cutting-edge companies that will lead the world to net-zero emissions.
Our strategy links government-funded research and patient, risk-tolerant capital to bring transformative clean energy innovations to market as quickly as possible.

The footprint of wind and solar in RE+ [scheme] are extensive and will require broad-based and sustained support from communities across much of the nation.

Build societal commitment.

Creation of the coalitions of public support and political will needed to achieve 2020’s targets.

Major stakeholder engagement campaigns to build:

1. Broad societal awareness of local, state and national benefits of net-zero energy pathways; and
   
2. Acceptance, management, and mitigation of impacts on landscapes and communities associated with the transition.
   

o Major consumer awareness campaigns and incentives to drive low-carbon energy investment decisions

FERC’s powers may be limited, but it can do more. Taking a firmer line on transmission investments proposed by utilities could push more of them to put their planning in the hands of independent regional bodies. In addition, the 2005 Energy Policy Act grants the Department of Energy the power to designate priority transmission corridors; if states refuse to comply, FERC has the authority to approve projects. Court challenges stymied early efforts, yet the legislation remains on the books. The Biden administration should work to revive it.

CCUS at gigaton scale from power plants and industrial facilities will require a major CO2 pipeline infrastructure and significant hubs for geological CO2 storage. In addition, reaching net zero emissions – and eventually net negative emissions – throughout the economy will require carbon dioxide removal (CDR) from the atmosphere and upper ocean layers.

I recommend that Congress create and fund a Federal Electric Transmission Authority with the capabilities and funds to manage and coordinate national-scale transmission planning, design, and construction. This Authority should work closely with FERC, the states, DOE, and existing industry and reliability authorities to expand, build and adapt a robust transmission network that meets our nation’s needs over the long term. This will require decades of effort. Therefore the Transmission Authority must be created by statute to maintain mission, expertise and funding continuity (much like the Federal Highway Administration) and protect it from changing administration policy preferences.

Invenergy spokeswoman Beth Conley said the bill was expected and is no different than previous efforts to use property right concerns as a fake reason to derail the delivery of “clean energy” overwhelmingly supported in Missouri and across the country.

“Not only yes, but hell yes,” James Hoecker, FERC chairman from 1997 to 2001, said of the need for major new transmission investment in a Wednesday webinar introducing the report. Beyond the need to absorb the country's growing share of wind and solar power, the grid will likely “need to double in size to support the electrification of transportation, heat and other industrial processes,” all of which are needed to decarbonize the U.S. economy. 

“I say ‘hell yes’ as well; we need to do more interregional transmission,” Wellinghoff, former FERC chairman from 2009 to 2013 and current CEO of GridPolicy, said at Wednesday’s event. 
“Order 1000 has fallen short on its vision, certainly short on my vision of it." 

By all accounts, wind and solar resources will become a much larger portion of the resource mix in the future, and electrification of transportation and buildings will substantially increase demand. These trends magnify the benefits of building large regional and inter-regional transmission infrastructure to connect resource rich areas with load centers.

“Nobody likes transmission. We will always be litigating it,” Nora Mead Brownell, co-founder of energy consultancy Espy Energy Solutions and FERC commissioner from 2001 to 2007, said during Wednesday’s event. “But I think if we had a more fact-based basis for it and...more coordination between regions,” a broader planning regime could “build people’s confidence that they’re getting a fair shake.” 

given the challenge of siting new projects that may be particularly acute in some regions, limiting competition may be a catalyst for new development because it limits the number of developers that may stir up “not in my backyard” or “NIMBY” opposition via project development activities.

In contrast to the Midwestern Clean Line projects, the 2,100-megawatt SOO Green appears to be encountering little if any resistance.

A new transmission line connected to the Grain Belt Express will bring thousands of jobs and $8 billion in investment to the state of Kansas, Gov. Laura Kelly announced Wednesday.

“Economic recovery and long-term economic competitiveness in Kansas and Missouri depend on new investment, more jobs, and tapping into low-cost, homegrown clean energy, which Grain Belt is moving full speed ahead to deliver,” Zadlo said. “Grain Belt is proud to increase our investment in Kansas and Missouri to rebuild the economy, deliver billions of dollars in energy cost savings, and meet growing renewable energy demand.”

The governor said the state has a lot of unused wind energy and this will be a good way to make sure it isn’t wasted.