Thanks to a lot of data centers coming online, electricity demand is set for explosive growth in the coming years. By some estimates, demand could grow an incredible 15% by 2029. If it doesn’t meet that demand, the United States risks higher energy costs, falling behind in the AI race, and an unreliable power supply.
It’s an all-hands-on-deck moment requiring every available electron, including cheap, renewable power that’s needed miles away from where it was generated.
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We Need More Transmission, Now
To meet this moment, the United States needs to generate more electricity and get it to the people who need it. That means going after every available electron, including those from affordable and reliable renewables like wind and solar.
Two big transmission projects show the promise of building out transmission and the dangers of failing to do so.
The Bureau of Land Management recently approved a transmission line from a proposed solar farm to the electric grid in California. Together with the solar farm and associated storage, the line will “transmit and store up to 117 megawatts of solar energy daily,” BLM says. The Bureau acknowledged that approving the project was in line with President Trump’s stated goal of “energy dominance.”
In the Midwest, another major transmission project is shaping up. The Grain Belt Express is a proposed 578-mile high voltage direct current transmission line stretching from Kansas to Missouri. As it continues to clear regulatory hurdles, some political opposition has emerged from Missouri’s Attorney General, who asked the Department of Governmental Efficiency to investigate a loan guarantee granted to the project by the previous administration.
Infrastructure projects like this should be completed fairly for all involved, but putting barriers in the way of a transmission project that adds power to the grid where it’s needed is the exact opposite of what’s needed right now and gets in the way of American energy independence and dominance.
A Working Grid Benefits Everyone
The Grain Belt Express would bring energy from Kansas to Missouri, but would benefit Kansans, too, the Kansas Corporation Commission found. It would unlock billions of dollars in development in Kansas while making the grid more reliable and energy cheaper there, too.
Getting more reliable, affordable energy onto the grid makes it work better for everyone, from homeowners to businesses to the data centers needed to win the AI and advanced computing race. That means more long-distance transmission wires where needed.
It can also mean other solutions, like grid-enhancing technologies and closer-to-home technologies that reduce the need for transmission, like home solar panels, energy storage, and virtual power plants. These latter options have the added perk of directly benefiting homeowners and businesses for the energy they share with or the demand they remove from the grid.
Solar and battery storage is the most affordable way to quickly get energy generation on to the grid. It accounted for 81% of additions in 2024 and is expected to represent more than 80% of new generation capacity added to the grid in 2025, too.
The challenges facing the grid are real.To shore it up and meet rising energy demand, we need to move quickly.
To meet the moment, we’ll need every available electron, but we’ll also need to get them where they’re needed.
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Neil ChatterjeeChief Governmental Affairs OfficerNeil is Palmetto's chief governmental affairs officer and former chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
