U.S. Sens. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) and Dave McCormick (R-Pa.) have introduced the Reconductoring Existing Wires for Infrastructure Reliability and Expansion (REWIRE) Act, which aims to accelerate the deployment of advanced transmission technologies.
The bipartisan bill comes as Congress is working on permitting legislation. It seeks to streamline environmental reviews for projects like reconductoring or installing grid-enhancing technologies (GETs) on existing rights of way.
“We’re up against the clock when it comes to meeting America’s growing energy needs,” Welch said in a statement March 2. “Increasing the capacity of the grid by accelerating the permitting process and incentivizing practices like reconductoring will not only allow us to connect new and affordable clean energy to the grid — it’ll also save consumers money.”
Demand is projected to rise by as much as 5.7% by 2030. This requires about 5,000 miles of new, high-capacity transmission lines each year, but in 2024 the country saw only 322 miles constructed, the senators’ offices said.
“Electricity demand in Pennsylvania and across America is rising rapidly, and that requires innovative solutions to strengthen our electric grid and cut through the bureaucracy that’s holding us back,” McCormick said in a statement. “The bipartisan REWIRE Act is exactly the kind of common-sense fix we need by using the infrastructure we already have, bringing down costs and stopping years of unnecessary permitting delays from standing in the way of real progress.”
The REWIRE Act would encourage upgrading existing transmission with advanced conductors that can double the capacity of existing transmission lines, which is far cheaper and quicker than building new lines from scratch.
The bill would create a categorical exclusion from the National Environmental Policy Act for projects that increase grid capacity within existing rights of way such as reconductoring, GETs or deploying energy storage.
It would direct FERC to improve the return on equity for reconductoring projects to encourage wider adoption of advanced transmission conductors. The bill would allow state energy offices to use federal funds from the Department of Energy to conduct feasibility studies for reconductoring and GETs projects.
The bill proposes regional collaboratives between DOE, national laboratories and universities to evaluate grid performance and identify good opportunities for deploying advanced transmission. DOE would be authorized to create a national clearinghouse of advanced transmission applications, case studies and best practices to spread the information nationally.
The REWIRE Act has a lengthy list of supporters including American Clean Power, American Council on Renewable Energy, Bipartisan Policy Center Action, Conservative Energy Network, CTC Global, Electricity Consumers Resource Council, EQT Corporation, Grid Action, GridWise Alliance, National Electrical Manufacturers Association, PPL Corporation, the Solar Energy Industries Association and others.
“The REWIRE Act is a smart, bipartisan step to unlock more capacity from the grid we already have,” Grid Action Director Christina Hayes said in a statement. “Reconductoring and advanced transmission technologies can deliver meaningful reliability gains and additional transfer capability faster and more cost-effectively by working within existing rights of way.”
The demand growth the industry is facing requires both the kind of near-term upgrades that would be encouraged by the bill, along with a buildout of completely new transmission, she added.
“The REWIRE Act is exactly the kind of pragmatic, bipartisan policy needed to unlock grid capacity quickly and affordably,” CTC Global Chief Policy Officer Theodore Paradise said in a statement. “By accelerating reconductoring with advanced conductors in existing rights of way, the bill lowers costs, strengthens reliability and delivers meaningful transmission capacity on timelines the grid urgently needs.”
