WASHINGTON, D.C. – On January 27, 2021, Americans for a Clean Energy Grid released a new report, “Planning for the Future: FERC’s Opportunity to Spur More Cost-Effective Transmission Infrastructure,” produced by Americans for a Clean Energy Grid (ACEG), recommends FERC undertake a comprehensive transmission planning rulemaking.

The report describes the long and growing list of studies showing that grid capacity must expand two- or three-fold in coming years to efficiently and reliably integrate the evolving resource mix along with other evidence requiring FERC action, and explains FERC’s legal authority and responsibility to do so.  The report proposes a comprehensive rulemaking to reform planning, cost allocation, oversight and governance of transmission, with the following specific recommendations to the Commission intended to stimulate discussion at the Commission and with stakeholders:

• Establish guidelines to ensure proactive planning for future needs;
• Require planners to employ the best available data and forecasting methodologies;
• Require planning authorities to consider the diverse benefits of transmission holistically;
• Require planners to evaluate all available solutions, including new physical infrastructure options and grid-enhancing technologies;
• Direct planners to select a portfolio of solutions that is likely to maximize aggregate net benefits.

Americans for a Clean Energy Grid (ACEG) is the only non-profit broad-based public interest advocacy coalition focused on the need to expand, integrate, and modernize the North American high-voltage grid.

ACEG brings together the diverse support for an expanded and modernized grid from business, labor, consumer and environmental groups, and other transmission supporters to support policy which recognizes the benefits of a robust transmission grid.