WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥 Federal energy regulators on Monday approved a long-awaited rule to make it easier to transmit renewable energy such as wind and solar power to the electric grid 鈥 a key part of President Joe Biden鈥檚 goal to eliminate carbon emissions economy-wide by 2050.
The rule, under development for two years, is aimed at boosting the nation's aging power grid to meet surging demand fueled by huge data centers, electrification of vehicles and buildings, artificial intelligence and other uses.
The increased demand comes as coal-fired power plants continue to be retired amid competition from natural gas, and other energy sources face increasingly setting up what experts say could be a crisis for electric reliability.
The grid is also being tested by more driven by climate change.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved the new rule, 2-1, with Chairman Willie Phillips and fellow Democratic commissioner Allison Clements voting in favor. Republican Mark Christie opposed the rule, dismissing it as a gift to solar and wind power operators.
The sprawling, 1,300-page rule, which addresses transmission planning and cost allocations, will enhance the country鈥檚 aging grid and ensure U.S. homes and businesses keep the lights on for decades to come, Phillips said.
鈥淭his rule cannot come fast enough,'' he said at a packed commission meeting at the agency's Washington headquarters. "There is an urgent need to act to ensure the reliability and the affordability of our grid.''
The U.S. power grid 鈥渋s at a make-or-break moment'' and is being tested every day, Phillips said, citing 鈥漰henomenal load-growth from a domestic manufacturing boom, unprecedented construction of data centers fueling an AI revolution and ever-expanding electrification鈥 of vehicles and buildings.
At the same time, aging infrastructure, shifting economics and a range of state and federal policies are leading traditional resources to retire, he said. "On top of all of this, extreme weather events have become the norm, and the electric grid is routinely being pushed to the brink.''
At the same time, construction of high-voltage power lines declined to a record low in 2022, "and much of that construction was simply Band-Aid fixes, rather than building a visionary grid of the future,'' Phillips said.
Many power companies and Republican-led states don鈥檛 want to spend money on new transmission lines or upgrades for renewable energy, creating conflicts with Democratic states that have ambitious clean-energy goals.
Christie, the lone Republican on the three-member panel, said the rule 鈥渦tterly fails to protect consumers鈥 and ensure reliable, low-priced power for American homes and businesses.
鈥淚nstead, this rule is a pretext to enact a sweeping policy agenda that Congress never passed,鈥 he said. The rule will likely result in 鈥渁 massive transfer of wealth from consumers to for-profit special interests,鈥 primarily wind and solar operators, he said.
The rule is intended to streamline how power lines are sited and how costs are shared between states. It could accelerate construction of new transmission lines for wind, solar and other renewable power and add huge amounts of clean energy to the grid. Biden has set a goal of a carbon-free power sector by 2035, and net-zero carbon emissions economy-wide by 2050.
To meet those targets, the U.S. needs to more than double current regional transmission capacity and increase by five-fold the transmission lines between regions, according to an .
Under current rules, a large queue of utility-scale renewables cannot be connected to the grid because of a lack of available transmission capacity. The rule updates the agency's planning process and seeks to determine how costs will be divided when transmission crosses state lines and goes through multiple operators of regional power grids.
White House climate adviser Ali Zaidi said the FERC rule adds momentum to what he called the 鈥砲istoric progress鈥 led by Biden on clean energy. The new rule 鈥渨ill improve regional transmission planning, break down barriers to grid buildout and support the delivery of more affordable and reliable power,鈥 Zaidi said,
The new rule "is as common-sense as it is historic,'' Clements said, adding that it calls for more advanced planning and consideration of reliability and affordability of new power sources and fosters cooperation with states.
鈥淲hether you鈥檙e planning a family vacation or the nation鈥檚 electricity system, planning early, taking a clear-eyed view of the options and making smart investment decisions will result in more affordable and reliable outcomes,'' she said.
Christie challenged the agency action.
Whether the policies promoted in the final rule 鈥渃an be described as green, purple, red or blue is irrelevant,'' Christie said. 鈥淭he point is that FERC as an independent agency has no business promoting the policies of any one party or presidential administration, especially when the effort to do so goes far beyond FERC鈥檚 legal authority.''
Clements responded by calling the rule "straight down the middle'' as a legal matter.
Democrats and clean-energy advocates hailed the new rule as a way to bring clean and cost-effective electricity onto the grid.
鈥淏uilding more multi-state transmission lines unclogs the traffic jams on America鈥檚 electricity superhighways and unlocks our ability to keep up with our growing energy needs,'' said Heather O鈥橬eill, president and CEO of Advanced Energy United, which represents renewable providers.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said the rule will build on clean-energy incentives in approved by Democrats in 2022.
The law, known as the Inflation Reduction Act, has been 鈥渁 huge success,'' Schumer said Monday, 鈥渂ut much of that success would be lost without the ability to bring power from places that generate renewable energy to communities all across the country.'' FERC's actions "will mean more low-cost, reliable clean energy for the places that need it most,'' he said.
