Electricity allows our communities to function; clean electricity allows our communities to thrive. Shifting the electric grid from fossil-based to healthier forms will require a massive coordinated effort that prioritizes a modern, resilient grid, and energy transmission. What exactly is transmission? Simply put, transmission moves energy. Renewable energy projects like wind and solar create the energy. Power lines and transmission towers then move that energy to the areas that need it. Building renewable and cleaner forms of energy generation means nothing if we do not have sufficient transmission infrastructure to carry it from its source to homes and businesses.
To safeguard our environment for future generations and provide affordable and reliable energy to our communities, electric transmission capacity must more than double within this decade. This infrastructure development must be resilient and reliable in the face of increasing severe weather events and will have significant, potential impacts on our lands, wildlife, cultural resources, and more.
The National Wildlife Federation is committed to ensuring that the values and perspectives of varied local communities, and the well-being of wildlife and our natural environment are central to accelerating America’s clean grid buildout.
To ensure everyone in the country has access to reliable, clean, and affordable electricity, we will need to roughly triple transmission capacity over the next two decades. The National Wildlife Federation’s transmission policy platform makes recommendations for how we can swiftly increase grid capacity while minimizing impacts on people and wildlife. Recommendations include avoiding wildlife impacts, creating local benefits, using the least harmful locations, and improving existing lines. Read the full report and recommendations here.
Through the fields and into the deep, we can meet the evolving needs of wildlife and the power grid.
Optimizing the Energy Grid
Updating and expanding our nation’s energy grid will help clean up the air we breathe, cut electricity bills, and ensure the lights stay on during extreme weather. It is also essential if we want to hold off the worst of climate change. To do this, we need to triple our electricity transmission capacity within 20 years — and we are not on track to meet this goal.
Building a Grid from Scratch
Transmission can unlock the transformative potential of responsibly developed offshore wind power.
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