The Road Less Traveled: Another Path for the Energy Transition

Broad consensus calls for more US transmission infrastructure to speed the entry of new renewable generation into the resource mix. Many types of possible transmission projects vie for a role in pursuing that goal, including the three selected for partial support with $1.3 billion in recent commitments from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).¹ These projects reflect the DOE’s stated goal of promoting “clean energy” in diverse forms—onshore wind and solar electricity in the West and Southwest regions of the United States and the entry of new offshore wind in New England. These projects are “bi-directional”—transmission that can handle new wind and solar generating sources moving electricity one way when available, with more traditional “dispatchable” moving the other way when not.