“WIRES welcomes the Department of Energy’s Better Grid Initiative and its effort to help speed development of the long-distance transmission our nation critically needs to ensure grid resilience, integrate new cleaner energy generation, and harden the grid against increasingly severe climate and cyber impacts,” said Larry Gasteiger, Executive Director of WIRES. “We anticipate that this Initiative will complement FERC’s own ambitious efforts to address the challenges associated with planning, interconnection, and the cost allocation for interregional transmission. We agree with DOE and Sec. Granholm that among transmission’s many benefits is the important economic stimulus and family-supporting jobs generated by the build out and maintenance of this critical infrastructure. For example, the recent WIRES report, Repowering America: Transmission investment for economic stimulus and climate change, found that building $83 billion in transmission infrastructure would yield $42B in GDP, create 442K jobs and boost direct local spending by nearly $39B in the construction phase, and in the ongoing asset life provide an annual GDP increase of $1.6B and support 9K jobs.
About WIRES
WIRES is a non-profit trade association of investor-, publicly-, and cooperatively owned transmission providers, transmission customers, regional grid managers, and equipment and service companies. WIRES promotes investment in electric transmission and progressive state and federal policies that advance energy markets, economic efficiency, and consumer and environmental benefits through development of electric power infrastructure. For more information, visit wiresgroup.com.
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For WIRES media inquiries, please contact:
Heather Robb
President, Heather Robb Communications
heather@hrobb.com