Americans for a Clean Energy Grid in December released its new High-Capacity Transmission Permitting Tracker, a publicly accessible tool that shows the state and federal permitting status for major planned transmission projects nationwide.
"America’s electric transmission system faces lengthy, fragmented permitting processes that can stretch critical grid upgrades across years and multiple agencies. Modernizing that process is essential to unlock new lines that keep power reliable and affordable as demand surges from AI, industry, and electrification," Americans for a Clean Energy Grid said in announcing the tracker.
It sais the High-Capacity Transmission Permitting Tracker provides the first centralized snapshot of permitting progress for roughly 200 large-scale, high-voltage transmission lines across the United States.
Each project record includes permitting stage, responsible agencies, relevant dockets, and core project attributes, such as voltage, length, planning authority, and anticipated in-service date.
The permitting tracker was developed by ACEG in partnership with Grid Strategies and builds on the planned transmission project database published by Our Grid Future, a project by Horizon Energy Systems in association with Great Plains Institute.
The tracker’s permitting status information has been integrated into the Our Grid Future interactive map, allowing users to explore projects geographically and by permitting stage.
Users can display projects by permitting status to see which lines have not yet entered permitting, are currently under review, or have completed both major state and federal permitting steps.
Because the underlying dataset captures planned transmission lines, many projects have not yet begun permitting.
ACEG and Grid Strategies will update the tracker regularly as new projects enter review and permitting milestones are reached.
Over time, ACEG plans to use the tracker to highlight case studies and emerging patterns that can inform ongoing discussions about transmission planning and permitting modernization.
The interactive permitting tracker map, developed by Horizon Energy Systems with Great Plains Institute, is available here.
ACEG is a non-profit, broad-based public interest advocacy coalition focused on the need to expand, integrate, and modernize the North American high-capacity grid.
