Power Advisory analysis outlines transmission investments and policy reforms needed to meet rising demand, support reliability, and contain costs for consumers
BOSTON, MA – June 9 – RENEW Northeast (RENEW), a non-profit association uniting the renewable energy industry and environmental interest groups to support renewable energy development in New England, today released “High Voltage, High Stakes: Building the Grid New England Needs,” a new white paper prepared by Power Advisory that sets out the transmission investments and policy actions the region needs to meet rising electricity demand, support reliability, and contain costs for consumers.
The paper documents the scale of the challenge ahead. ISO-NE’s 2050 Transmission Study finds that hundreds of miles of new transmission will be needed as economic growth and electrification of heating and transportation more than double regional demand. The U.S. Department of Energy’s National Transmission Needs Study identifies the need for up to a tenfold increase in interchange capacity between New England and New York, and Massachusetts’ Clean Energy and Climate Plan calls for doubling transmission capacity with Canada to over 10 GW. The paper assesses three current initiatives — the Longer-Term Transmission Planning (LTTP) procurement now underway, the multi-state Northern Maine Renewable Energy Development Program, and the Northeast States Collaborative on Interregional Transmission — and recommends compressing LTTP timelines, expanding procurement scope to enable interregional projects, and using Voluntary Agreements to allocate costs of interregional transmission with New York and cross-border transmission with Atlantic Canada. Many of these reforms can be advanced through FERC Order 1920 compliance.
“New England’s clean energy future runs through its transmission system,” said Francis Pullaro, President, RENEW Northeast. “States and ISO-NE have made unprecedented progress, but the scale and pace of the work ahead require sharper tools, faster timelines, and tighter coordination with our neighbors. This paper lays out the concrete actions needed to deliver the grid that New England consumers, businesses, and our climate goals require.”
“New England has the planning frameworks in place — the LTTP, the Voluntary Agreement mechanism, and the Northeast States Collaborative all give the region real tools to work with,” said Peter Shattuck of Power Advisory, a co-author of the report. “What’s needed now is to compress timelines, fully account for the benefits of interregional and cross-border transmission, and commit to a multi-year procurement schedule. The cost of waiting is significant.”
About RENEW: RENEW Northeast (www.renew-ne.org) unites environmental advocates with developers and operators of the region’s largest clean energy projects to coordinate their ideas and resources with the goal of increasing environmentally sustainable power generation in New England from the region’s abundant renewable energy resources. Follow RENEW on LinkedIn.
Media Contact: Francis Pullaro, President, RENEW Northeast | fpullaro@renew-ne.org