Americans for a Clean Energy Grid (ACEG) released its new version today High capacity transmission permit trackera publicly accessible tool that shows state and federal permitting status for major planned transmission projects across the country as policymakers grapple with years of delays in building new network infrastructure.
The U.S. electricity transmission system faces lengthy, fragmented permitting processes that can stretch critical network upgrades over years and multiple agencies. Modernizing that process is essential to unlock new lines that keep power reliable and affordable as demand from AI, industry and electrification increases.
The High-Capacity Transmission Permitting Tracker provides the first centralized snapshot of permitting progress for approximately 200 large-scale high-voltage transmission lines in the United States. Each project record contains the permitting phase, responsible authorities, relevant files and core project characteristics, such as tension, length, planning authority and expected in-service date.
“Transmission projects in the U.S. can go through fragmented state and federal permitting processes for years,” said Christina Hayes, executive director of ACEG. “By providing transparency where the country’s largest network projects are located, this instrument gives policymakers and stakeholders a clearer picture of what is moving, what is stuck and where there are real opportunities for improvement.”
The Permitting Tracker was informed by the hard-won lessons from past transmission efforts that underscored how opaque and lengthy the process can be, including projects like the Boardman-to-Hemingway Line, SunZia Line and other major high-voltage proposals that faced years of legal, regulatory and siting challenges in multiple jurisdictions. While these projects demonstrate progress in permitting processes, these long-term experiences have revealed how even projects critical to reliability and affordability can stall without a clear understanding of where the decisions lie, which agencies are involved, and what hurdles remain.
The permit tracker was developed by ACEG in collaboration with Grid Strategies and builds on the database of planned transmission projects published by Our Grid Future, a project of Horizon Energy Systems in collaboration with the Great Plains Institute. The status information of the tracker is integrated into the Our Grid Future interactive mapallowing users to explore projects geographically and by phase.
Users can view projects by entering permit status to see which lines are not yet in the permitting phase, are currently under review, or have completed both major state and federal permitting steps.
Because the underlying dataset records planned transmission lines, many projects have not yet begun permitting. ACEG and Grid Strategies will update the tracker regularly as new projects are assessed and permitting milestones are achieved. Over time, ACEG plans to use the tracker to highlight case studies and emerging patterns that can inform ongoing discussions about transmission planning and permitting modernization.
News item from Americans for a Clean Energy Grid
