What Stimulus Bill's Clean Energy Perks Mean for Transmission

Monday, congress passed a second stimulus bill in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Alongside the $600 checks and big breaks for corporations, there’s a lot of interesting stuff about energy. Most notably, the package extends production tax credits for solar and wind, and promises development enhancements for clean energy tech. The package also includes provisions to the Senate’s American Energy Innovation Act. 

On a personal note, I find this all very encouraging after congress failed to squeeze in clean energy provisions in the first stimulus package. Hopefully we see more bi-partisian cooperation in the coming years, on energy and everything else that matters. 

But anyway, how does this relate to American transmission? I haven’t found anything on the subject mentioned in the bill, but the energy initiatives alone will necessitate transmission projects. The more wind and solar the country has, the more transmission infrastructure it will need to transport that energy to where it’s needed—we all know this. 

Transmission development has slowed to painful crawl in America over the past couple decades. However, the coming renewable revolution leaves us no choice but to ramp it up. Luckily, there already seems to be a shift in public interest in transmission. It’s anecdotal, but in the past few months I’ve seen what seems like an explosion of articles advocating for transmission from mainstream outlets. Let’s hope the attention is a sign of good things to come.