With the growing levels of wind and solar farms that need to be connected to the grid with new transmission lines, and with the demand for more transmission to keep up with advancing grid technologies, one would think that transmission buildout would be increasing significantly.

However, according to a new report, “Fewer New Miles: The U.S. Transmission Grid in the 2020s,” jointly published by Americans for a Clean Energy Grid (ACEG) and Grid Strategies, this is not the case.

ACEG is a non-profit, broad-based public interest advocacy coalition focused on the need to expand, integrate, and modernize the North American high-capacity grid. ACEG brings together a diverse coalition, including business, labor, consumer, environmental groups, and other transmission supporters, to advocate for policies that recognize the benefits of a robust transmission grid.

The report details the alarming slowdown in the construction of high-voltage transmission lines across the United States and reveals a contrast between transmission spending and the dwindling expansion of new infrastructure, posing significant challenges to the nation’s energy future.

The most significant and alarming finding is that construction of new high-voltage transmission in the U.S. has slowed to a trickle over the past decade, with only 55 new miles built in 2023.

Other findings from the report:

· Projected load growth has doubled in the last year, and serving that load will require expanded transmission capacity.

· Despite this decline in new construction, annual transmission spend has risen to more than $25 billion in 2023. Ninety percent of this spend is driven by reliability upgrades and the replacement of aging equipment, which does not increase delivery capacity.

· The U.S. only builds 20 percent as much new transmission in the 2020s as it did a decade ago in the first half of the 2010s.

· This trend began over a decade ago, when the average of 1,700 miles of new high-voltage transmission miles per year from 2010 to 2014 dropped to only 925 miles from 2015 to 2019, and has fallen further to an average of 350 miles per year from 2020 to 2023.

“The findings of this report are a wake-up call,” said Christina Hayes, executive director of ACEG. “With only 55 new miles of transmission built in 2023, we are not keeping pace with the growing demand for power. The slowdown in new construction not only impacts our ability to meet future energy needs, but also risks increasing costs for consumers and reducing grid resilience. It is essential that we address these challenges to ensure a secure, reliable, and affordable energy future for all Americans.”

“We know how to build large scale transmission, because we built a lot a decade ago,” said Rob Gramlich, president of Grid Strategies. Policy changes to address planning, permitting, and paying would get transmission back on track.”