WASHINGTON, D.C. – In a joint letter to Congress today, a diverse coalition of more than 40 national and regional organizations and companies requested robust funding for electric transmission deployment and research in the Department of Energy (DOE)’s Fiscal Year 2025 budget.
In the letter, the groups highlight how upgrading and expanding the nation’s transmission network has taken on new immediacy.
“For the first time in two decades, demand for electricity is rising,” the groups explain. “Capacity exists to support this increasing demand and with the right investments can be brought online quickly.”
The groups underscore the national security benefits of a modernized transmission system, noting reports of a sharp uptick in direct cyber and physical attacks on the grid.
The letter signatories ask Congress to consider specific funding requests for DOE’s Grid Deployment Office, Office of Electricity, and Loan Programs Office, along with additional borrowing authority for the Transmission Facilitation Program. Such funding “is critical to unleashing domestic clean energy resources, safeguarding against emerging threats, catalyzing billions in private capital investment, creating thousands of good-paying jobs, and delivering low-cost energy to families and businesses,” the groups write.
The signatories on the letter include Advanced Energy United, Advanced Power Alliance, Advancing Modern Powerlines (AMP) Coalition, Alliance for Clean Energy New York, American Clean Power Association, American Council on Renewable Energy, Berkshire Hathaway Energy, Business Council for Sustainable Energy, Ceres, Clean Energy Buyers Association, Clean Grid Alliance, Conservative Energy Network, CTC Global, EarthGrid, Grid Action, Grid United, Hannon Armstrong Sustainable Infrastructure, Innergex, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local Unit 1245, Interwest Energy Alliance, Invenergy LLC, League of Conservation Voters, Longroad Energy, MAREC Action, National Electrical Manufacturers Association, National Wildlife Federation, Natural Resources Defense Council, NextEra Energy Transmission, Niskanen Center, Oceantic Network, Onward Energy, Pattern Energy, RENEW Northeast, Renewable Northwest, Sierra Club, Silicon Valley Leadership Group, Solar Energy Industries Association, Sol Systems, Southern Renewable Energy Association, SouthWestern Power Group, Third Way, VEIR, and Working for Advanced Transmission Technologies (WATT) Coalition.
Click here to download a copy of the coalition letter.