White House Releases Memo to Improve Transmission Permitting and Siting

On June 7, 2013, the White House released a memo sent to the Secretaries of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Energy and Interior to help facilitate the modernization of the country's electricity transmission grid.

The memo calls on the Secretary of Energy to develop a Transmission Corridor Assessment Report that would include recommendations on renewable energy integration and grid resiliency. The report is to be done in two parts, the first of which will focus on recommendations for Western states and be submitted by December 1, 2013. The second report would focus on the remaining states and be submitted by April 1, 2014. The memo also calls for the completion of Western corridor and non-Western corridor studies and for the agencies to develop an "integrated, interagency pre-application process for significant onshore electric transmission projects requiring federal approval."

The reports being completed by the above agencies will help inform future decisions on renewable energy integration and grid reliability. Companies looking to site and integrate transmission facilities should be looking for opportunities to engage the above-mentioned agencies to offer input on issues important to their projects.