The U.S. electric transmission system is a critical component of the "world's largest machine," and, according to some, the greatest engineering achievement of the 20th century. [1] Our electric transmission infrastructure is a complex network of high-voltage conductors, cables, structures and ancillary equipment that transports electricity across long distances, primarily from centralized power plants to load centers. [2]
Like all machines, parts of the electric transmission system are wearing down and urgently need upgrading. Moreover, ever-evolving public policy priorities are forcing electric transmission owners and operators to modify the electric transmission grid to perform functions at a scale not envisioned even 20 years ago.
Reasonable minds can disagree about the best way to encourage clean energy development, but it is beyond dispute that states are aggressively legislating such development. According to the Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency, as of June 2019, 29 states and the District of Columbia have mandatory renewable portfolio standards, and another eight states have nonbinding renewable portfolio goals. [3]
Similarly, as of August of this year, 23 states and the District of Columbia had introduced greenhouse gas emission targets to reduce emission levels by a certain date. [4]
There is also widespread recognition that the electric transmission system must be significantly expanded and upgraded to facilitate clean energy development. For example, the staff of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission recently submitted a report to Congress discussing the barriers and opportunities for high voltage electric transmission.
Large renewable energy generating facilities are being constructed in remote areas away from population centers, and "[n]ew high voltage transmission lines can increase the availability of carbon-free energy and facilitate the replacement of energy generated by fossil fuels, thereby helping states meet their [renewable energy and greenhouse gas emission reduction] targets." [5] Many electric utilities generally concur.
According to a recent analysis on behalf of WIRES, an international nonprofit trade association of investor-owned, member-owned and publicly owned entities dedicated to promoting investment in the electric transmission grid, "[t]ransmission investment will be required to help states and utilities with clean power targets meet their energy needs with the most cost-effective and abundant resources." [6] Even environmental groups, like the National Resources Defense Council [7] and the Western Resource Advocates, [8] agree that clean energy investment will require significant upgrades to our electric transmission system.
There are multiple challenges that impact our ability to upgrade the electric transmission system, but one of the most potentially perplexing is the need to secure siting approval from state regulators. This process can take years and cost millions of dollars. How can we improve state siting regulation to reduce these bottlenecks?
What Are State Siting Approvals?
As relevant here, state siting approvals are those approvals necessary to physically construct and operate electric transmission lines. [9] Each state is different, but generally siting regulators [10] evaluate a proposed project against potential alternatives, to determine if the project is needed and can be constructed at a reasonable cost without causing excessive impacts.
States have different names for the approval, but examples are "certificate of public convenience and necessity," "certificate of public good" and "certificate of need and environmental compatibility." State approval processes are typically quasi-judicial in nature, requiring a detailed application and supporting materials.
Most states allow for intervention by other interested parties, discovery, public hearings, evidentiary hearings, cross-examination of witnesses, briefing and appeals to state appellate courts. From the date an application is filed, it may take multiple years before the regulator issues a decision. This does not include the time it takes to prepare a thorough application once a project is conceived — up to one year — or the time to litigate an appeal of a siting decision — potentially more than one year.
When Are State Siting Approvals Required for Electric Transmission Projects?
Depending on the state, an electric transmission owner or developer may need approval before constructing, modifying, relocating, upgrading, rebuilding and/or reconductoring an electric transmission line and associated facilities.
These terms, where applicable, may be uniquely defined in each state, but in general, if electric transmission owners and developers will be touching any parts of the electric transmission system, they should carefully analyze whether siting approval is required.
Why Does This Matter?
Most electric utilities that develop and own electric transmission infrastructure are intimately familiar with applicable state siting requirements in their operating footprints. Whether those utilities are building a new electric transmission line or upgrading an existing one, they will typically be responsible for securing any required approvals.
But where electric transmission line work is needed to interconnect large rural solar and wind generation facilities with load centers, or to accommodate increasingly dense clusters of distributed renewable generation, other stakeholders have a vested interest in the electric transmission siting process. The electric transmission siting process can potentially add multiple years and millions of dollars to renewable energy or energy storage projects.
How Can We Improve the Electric Transmission Siting Process?
First, stakeholders must realize that electric utilities are no longer the only parties negatively impacted by long and expensive siting processes. Clean energy developers and proponents will likely be impacted by the process, as well as legislators and regulators favoring clean energy public policy goals. Further, retail energy customers will ultimately shoulder the costs of the siting process.
Second, if they have not done so already, states should clearly define the types of electric transmission projects that require siting approval, and the scope of that approval process. At a minimum, electric transmission owners and developers need certainty with respect to siting approvals. Where such approvals are required, it is imperative that the necessary time and resources are accurately forecasted at the start of a project.
Third, states should recognize that a one-size-fits-all siting process is costly and inefficient. A brand new, 20-mile electric transmission line constructed in an undeveloped corridor typically will have more impacts than a new 1,000-foot electric transmission line needed to interconnect a large solar generating facility with the existing electric transmission grid.
Similarly, upgrades to existing electric transmission lines, or even construction of a new electric transmission line in an existing right of way, typically will have far fewer impacts than a new electric transmission line in an undeveloped corridor.
Unfortunately, many state siting processes do not clearly distinguish between these circumstances. To the extent they do not already exist, states should create abbreviated siting processes for projects with limited anticipated impacts.
For example, the Rhode Island Energy Facility Siting Board created two abbreviated siting processes, in addition to their full siting process, for electric transmission lines operating at or above 69 kilovolts. Projects that require construction, relocation and/or modification of electric transmission lines less than 1,000 feet long simply require a brief notice of intent to construct, and the siting board is required to act upon that notice no later than 45 days after filing. [11]
For projects involving the construction of a new electric transmission line longer than 1,000 feet but shorter than 6,000 feet, or for modifications or relocations of an existing electric transmission line longer than 1,000 feet, the siting board requires a more detailed notice of intent, but generally still must act within 60 days of the filing. [12]
States could pursue a slightly different approach that should yield similar results. The Connecticut Siting Council generally regulates the siting of electric transmission lines with a design capacity of 69 kilovolts or more. However, the Connecticut Legislature has specifically exempted "transmission line taps" from jurisdictional electric transmission lines. [13]
Transmission line taps are defined as electric transmission lines with the primary function of interconnecting private power production or cogeneration facilities, and that do not have a substantial adverse environmental impact as determined by the siting council. [14] A private power production facility is a facility that generates electricity solely through cogeneration technology, renewable energy or both. [15]
In other words, the Connecticut Legislature carved out special treatment for electric transmission lines needed to connect renewable energy and cogenerating facilities. This likely requires the filing of a petition for a declaratory ruling to allow the siting council to determine that the proposed project indeed qualifies as a transmission line tap — but that is typically a less costly and time-consuming process than obtaining a certificate of environmental compatibility and public need.
Conclusion
Increasingly aggressive mandates to modify how we generate and use electricity will require significant upgrades to and expansion of our electric transmission system. Regulation of electric transmission siting is important, but states must critically analyze whether current siting processes can efficiently and cost-effectively accommodate the volume of projects necessary to achieve public policy priorities.
Stakeholders that acknowledge the importance of electric transmission to clean energy development should collectively advocate for changes to state siting processes that recognize that not all electric transmission line projects create equal impacts, and that more abbreviated processes are necessary.
[1] National Academy of Engineering, A Century of Innovation: Twenty Engineering Achievements That Transformed Our Lives, 2003.
[2] Electric transmission lines typically deliver electricity to substations where the voltage is reduced for distribution to homes and businesses.
[3] DSIRE, Renewable & Clean Energy Standards (June 2019), https://s3.amazonaws.com/ncsolarcen-prod/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/RPS-CES-June2019.pdf. Virginia, which was included in this analysis as a state with a voluntary renewable portfolio goal, adopted an aggressive mandatory renewable portfolio standard this year that became effective on July 1.
[4] Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, U.S. State Greenhouse Gas Emissions Targets (July 2019), https://www.c2es.org/document/greenhouse-gas-emissions-targets/.
[5] FERC Staff, Report on Barriers and Opportunities for High Voltage Transmission: A Report to the Committees on Appropriations of Both Houses of Congress Pursuant to the 2020 Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 11-12 (June 2020), https://cleanenergygrid.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Report-to-Congress-on-High-Voltage-Transmission_17June2020-002.pdf.
[6] WIRES, Informing the Transmission Discussion — A Look at Renewables Integration and Resilience Issues for Power Transmission in Selected Regions of the United States, 43 (January 2020), https://wiresgroup.com/informing-the-transmission-discussion/.
[7] Cullen Howe, Natural Resource Defense Council, Governor Cuomo Proposes Transmission Improvements for NY (March 4, 2020), https://www.nrdc.org/experts/cullen-howe/governor-cuomo-proposes-transmission-improvements-ny.
[8] John Nielsen, Western Resource Advocates, Planning Wisely for Electricity Transmission and Distribution is Important for Advancing Clean Energy and Protecting Our Environment, https://westernresourceadvocates.org/clean-energy/smart-transmission/.
[9] With limited exceptions, electric transmission siting is regulated by states.
[10] In some states, siting is regulated by public utility or public service commissions. In other states, siting may be regulated by a separate body, such as an energy facility siting board or site evaluation committee.
[11] 445-00 R.I. Code R. §§ 1.6 (C-E).
[12] If the siting board finds that the project will result in a significant impact on the environment or public health, safety and welfare, it will convert this abbreviated proceeding into a full siting process.
[13] Conn. Gen. Stat. § 16-50i(a)(1).
[14] Id. at § 16-50i(e).
[15] Id. at § 16-243(b)(1).
Published in Law360. Republished here with permission.
