Overcoming gridlock

America’s power system faces unprecedented strain. Electricity demand is surging across the country due to transportation electrification, heavy industry, and the explosive growth of data centers. Simultaneously, the transition toward renewable energy requires massive expansion of transmission lines to move power over long distances. Unfortunately, the nation’s aging power grid is failing to keep pace.

Researchers Madeline Yozwiak, David G. Victor, and M. Granger Morgan outline the severe structural bottlenecks exacerbating the power crisis and present three strategies to overcome it in a newly published paper in Science.

The deficit in power transmission capacity is stark. Evidence shows that large, interconnected networks lower consumer costs and prevent catastrophic blackouts, yet the continental U.S. has built only about 500 miles of high-voltage transmission lines per year over the last half-decade. This represents just 10% of the 5,000 annual miles of new capacity that studies suggest will be needed to triple the interregional grid by 2050 and meet future energy needs.

The costs of not addressing the power crisis are severe, threatening national economic competitiveness, energy affordability, and grid resilience during extreme weather. Failure to connect regional grids may also make local markets vulnerable to power shortages while inflating energy prices for consumers. 

The underlying issue is a landscape of decentralized players and fragmented regulatory processes. Stakeholders at the local, state, and regional levels are all granted powerful veto rights to interregional power-sharing. Additionally, incumbent utilities often face economic incentives to limit regional connections that could undercut local market power.

The authors suggest three actionable solutions to break the impasse and incentivize power modernization.

Maximize use of existing regulatory authority and advanced technologies

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and the Department of Energy (DOE) should exercise existing statutory powers to designate National-Interest Transmission Corridors and facilitate permitting across state lines.

Local political resistance to upgrades can be avoided by deploying modern technology. Reconductoring existing power lines with advanced wires that don’t sag or converting alternating current (AC) lines to direct current (DC) can triple power capacity. Voltage-Sourced Converter High-Voltage Direct Current (VSC-HVDC) allows utilities to bury long high-capacity cables along existing highway and railroad rights-of-way, bypassing typical siting barriers.

Learn from international precedents

The U.S. lags behind international peers in adopting modern transmission approaches. Assisted by the Trans-European Networks for Energy, operators in peer countries have successfully navigated political veto points and deployed underground high-voltage direct current (HVDC) technologies at scale. With the rise of renewable energy, grid operators in Britain and Australia have improved stability with the use of power electronics and HVDC. India, China, and other countries rely on HVDC lines to manage renewable energy overloads.

The U.S. should leverage existing institutions to establish a cross-national forum to adapt proven global regulatory and technological strategies. Led by the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC), and assisted by the Regulatory Assistance Project, the DOE, the Electric Power Research Institute, and others, the forum would support efforts to remove regulatory barriers to coordinated national power transmission improvements.

Establish a Presidential-Congressional Transmission Commission

Without a united national strategy, regional fragmentation will continue to stall high-value projects. Congress and the White House should establish a dedicated commission modeled on successful bipartisan task forces that put together all key players to make necessary tradeoffs.

The Presidential-Congressional Transmission Commission would have four main focuses: a) drafting federal and state laws to cut through regulatory red tape and speed up grid building, similar to current “abundance” policies to reform other infrastructural permitting processes; b) determining if FERC should be granted broader authority to approve major power line corridors; c) working with groups like NARUC to identify and promote promising reforms; and d) identifying the most effective market incentives to guide private investment while preserving limited government resources.

The fundamental challenge isn’t technical, it’s jurisdictional. Authority is divided among federal, state, and private entities, each with distinct priorities. When every stakeholder possesses the power to say no, even high-value projects that benefit the entire nation struggle to move forward.

Madeline Yozwiak, David G. Victor, and M. Granger Morgan, paper's authors

Yozwiak, Victor, and Morgan warn that muddling through with the current patchwork system will fail to solve the crisis, risking long-term damage to the nation’s economy and electric reliability. Stakeholders recognize what needs to change, but they struggle to navigate competing mandates. The authors note, “The fundamental challenge isn’t technical, it’s jurisdictional. Authority is divided among federal, state, and private entities, each with distinct priorities. When every stakeholder possesses the power to say no, even high-value projects that benefit the entire nation struggle to move forward.”