Reuters reports:

The U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Monday approved the first major electric transmission policy update in over a decade that aims to speed up new interregional lines to move more clean energy to meet growing demand amid the explosion of electric vehicles, data centers and artificial intelligence.

Approved in a 2-1 vote, the new rule is also the first time the FERC has ever squarely addressed the need for long-term transmission planning, playing a key role in helping meet the Biden administration’s goal of decarbonizing the economy by 2050 and making the grid more resilient to more frequent climate-fueled extreme weather events.

“This rule cannot come fast enough,” FERC Chairman Willie Phillips, who voted for the final rule. “There is an urgent need to act to ensure the reliability and the affordability of our grid.”

“We are at a transformational moment for the electric grid with phenomenal load growth,” he added, citing the surge in domestic manufacturing, proliferation of data centers, and the surge in extreme weather events that have pushed the country’s ageing infrastructure to its limits.

FERC has been working for nearly two years on the rule to reform how new electric transmission gets approved and paid for, with new requirements for moving electricity across states and covering the costs of new projects.

FERC said that reforms to transmission planning received over 30,000 pages of comments, creating the largest public record ever considered by the commission.

The final rule requires transmission owners to conduct 20-year plans assessing regional electric transmission needs that would need to be revisited every five years. [Continue reading…]