Senate Bill to Establish Critical Electricity Infrastructure to Accommodate Clean Energy

U.S. Senator Edward Markey (D-MA) introduced legislation on March 17, which aims to speed the development of clean energy by promoting competition, planning, transparency, and effective supervision of transmission networks. The bill titled Connecting Hard-to-Reach Areas with Renewable Powered Energy, or CHARGE, Act would establish reforms through the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission regulations or the Federal Power Act to take a proactive approach for planning and building the future electric grid.

As part of the CHARGE Act, FERC would develop a process for transmission planning and cost-allocation to ensure grid-enhancing technologies and alternative transmission routes are used by transmission providers. As a result of this process, more power is expected to be delivered over transmission networks while ensuring minimum dynamic line ratings, power flow control, topology optimization, and storage-as-transmission.

Reforms established through the legislation would lower prices, improve reliability, and enhance data accessibility in order to reduce emissions. The legislation would require open competition for new electricity generation projects and ensure that state subsidies for renewable energy resources do not preclude these resources from participating in wholesale markets. To ensure equity and efficiency, the legislation would form a new Office of Transmission within FERC to coordinate transmission activities. Further, an advisory committee would be formed to improve governance and stakeholder engagement of grid operators.

According to the bill, the current U.S. transmission planning lacks cost-effective solutions due to the fragmentation of planning across jurisdictions and localized transmission. The historic structures and regulations of the electric power system lead to under planning, underinvestment, and inflexible grids. Therefore, much of the transmission infrastructure needs replacing or upgrading. New public policy mandates and a rapidly changing mix of power generation require proactive planning for electricity transmission. In order to meet state and federal decarbonization goals, the new initiatives should also consider long-term demand changes and additions of renewable energy sources to the grid.