Governors' Wind Energy Coalition

A second round of comments on Tuesday flooded the inboxes of everyone closely following FERC’s proceeding on transmission reform. Nearly 200 stakeholders weighed in with additional thoughts on how the commission should approach the issue, which is seen as critical for enabling the buildout of new renewable energy plants.

Rob Gramlich, president of Grid Strategies and executive director of Americans for a Clean Energy Grid, noted one early trend in an email to reporters: 174 commenters supported proactive transmission planning for the future, i.e. preparing the power grid and transmission system for a wave of new clean energy resources. Of those supporters, 59 were consumer organizations, an important signal as FERC weighs the potential ratepayer costs of ushering in the major expansion of high-voltage, interregional transmission lines experts say is needed to meet President Biden’s clean energy goals.