Dive Brief: Dive Insight: The potential development corridors DOE named are areas where a lack of transmission capacity can drive up consumer electricity bills and where extreme weather can result in power disruptions, agency officials said Tuesday in a call with reporters. A key to developing more reliable and affordable clean power “is improving how we plan, how we permit and how we finance transmission all across the country,” Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm said. The 10 potential NIETCs, informed by DOE’s 2023 national transmission needs study, include: A complete list of DOE’s proposed NIETCs can be found here.

“We want to hear from developers and environmental groups and state and community advocates about any concerns or challenges that they anticipate in these areas,” Granholm said. Following the comment period, “we'll narrow down the list ... and once the final NIETCs are identified and designated, those projects will be eligible for special financing streams, including $2 billion in loans from the Inflation Reduction Act,” she said. “This program is going to help us build out transmission capacity quickly and efficiently for the people who need it most without compromising on the quality of environmental reviews or community outreach,” Granholm said.

“DOE has set up a very consultative process, and has used the best information from macro studies down to work on the ground with micro routes,” Rob Gramlich, president of Grid Strategies, said in an email. “Getting the macro and micro together has been a major challenge since the policy started in 2005. I’m sure people along these routes will look forward to the financing tools that are opened up with designations.” The preliminary corridors “include several critical transmission pathways, including the complete footprint of Invenergy’s Grain Belt Express and Cimarron Link projects,” said Invenergy's Shashank Sane, executive vice president of transmission.

“We are exploring how designation might further expedite these projects. Designation in the Midwest is especially important for MISO, as the highest-risk area in the country for supply shortfalls,” Sane said. "This announcement is the latest affirmation of the urgent need for interregional transmission investment.” Transmission development and permit reform have been a focus of the Biden administration, and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is expected to issue new rules for planning and cost allocation at a special open meeting May 13. Those rules could help “unlock transmission across the country,” Granholm said.

The NIETC comment period closes June 24, after which DOE said it will narrow the list of potential development corridors and begin drafting formal corridor designation reports, conducting environmental reviews and taking public comment, among other steps. That process is expected to begin in the fall, officials said. The Transmission Facility Financing program can provide direct loans for eligible transmission projects within a NIETC. DOE is also taking comments on the scope of eligible projects and financing requirements for the program. The agency said it expects to open the TFF program in 2025.

The transmission permitting process has historically been plagued by “delays and bottlenecks,” said White House clean energy senior advisers John Podesta. The Biden administration has laid out a road map for cutting through the red tape on permitting reform, he said. “The truth is, if we can't build critical clean energy projects through a few backyards then no one will have a backyard,” Podesta said.