(WASHINGTON, DC) - - President Joe Biden is pushing for a net-zero emission power sector by 2035 and revamping the nation’s grid is a major priority for his massive infrastructure proposal. Greater connections across the country could help regions out of a pinch in disasters like this year’s Texas winter storm, as well as transmit renewable energy to consumers thousands of miles away.
But those build-outs are no easy lift. Prohibitive costs,
notoriously long lead times and disparate priorities have hampered past efforts
to upgrade networks. In other words, what developers call the "three
P's": planning, permitting, and paying for it. And local communities
aren’t always so keen on massive transmission projects passing through without
any clear understanding of how it will benefit them.
Biden has a few tricks up his sleeve to push projects ahead,
including a tax credit for transmission projects and an office at the
Department of Energy dedicated to easing government approvals of new lines.
