America’s electricity needs are rising — and fast. New manufacturing facilities, data centers, population growth and broader economic expansion are placing greater demands on the grid. Meeting that demand will require significant investment in generation, transmission and other critical infrastructure.
The real challenge isn’t our ability to build these projects. It’s whether we can build them with enough certainty and predictability to attract investment, support economic growth and deliver affordable, reliable power to customers.
But getting projects built is already a long and complex undertaking. Developers must secure grid interconnection work with communities and other stakeholders, complete environmental and technical studies, coordinate with permitting agencies, secure customer agreements, and procure equipment. Each step depends on a process they can navigate with confidence.
Currently, the existing federal permitting process often takes too long and creates too much uncertainty, discouraging the investment needed to move critical energy projects forward.
That’s what makes the recent bipartisan permitting reform package in the Senate so important. Dubbed the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act (BAAJA), the bill includes provisions intended to streamline approvals for energy and infrastructure projects by establishing clearer review timelines, improving coordination among federal agencies, and providing greater certainty once permits are issued. Significantly, it also proposes reforms to transmission planning, siting and interconnection to help strengthen the grid and bring new power supplies online more quickly.
At ENGIE, we continue to review the bill’s provisions but applaud the bipartisan work that has gone into it. By helping bring more power from a range of energy sources online faster, these reforms could improve reliability, keep energy costs down and provide the additional electricity needed to support U.S. economic growth and competitiveness, including the rapidly growing power needs of artificial intelligence. We encourage Congress to continue negotiations on permitting reform when it returns after the election.
The economic case for a more permitting reform is clear. According to the American Clean Power Association, the bipartisan permitting reform package would provide greater certainty for energy and transmission development, unlocking more than $800 billion in investment while expanding access to low-cost domestic energy and improving grid reliability.
For ENGIE and other energy developers, clear timelines and permitting pathways provide the confidence needed to invest. Without that clarity, projects can stay on the sidelines, delaying infrastructure investment, job creation and economic development in communities across the country. A more predictable process can help unlock capital, move projects forward and ultimately lower energy costs for consumers.
The stakes are practical and immediate: Americans need affordable, dependable electricity. Businesses need confidence that enough power will be available to support growth. Communities need infrastructure that can hold up under increasingly difficult operating conditions. Permitting reform can help by cutting unnecessary delays and giving developers greater certainty.
Transmission has become one of the most important parts of the permitting conversation.
While generation often gets most of the attention, transmission is what moves electricity from where it’s produced to where it’s needed. A stronger, better-connected grid improves reliability, reduces congestion and gives system operators more flexibility during periods of high demand or extreme weather.
The transmission provisions under discussion on Capitol Hill aim to address some of the longstanding barriers that have slowed major interstate projects. The proposal would strengthen long-term planning, improve coordination among regions, clarify how project costs are shared based on the benefits received and create more predictable permitting pathways for major transmission investments.
These changes matter because transmission supports every energy source. Whether electricity comes from natural gas, nuclear power, wind, solar, hydropower or emerging technologies, it still has to travel across the grid to reach customers. Expanding transmission is one of the most effective ways to strengthen reliability, connect new resources and give customers access to the lowest-cost power available.
Permitting reform won’t solve the challenge on its own.
The United States also needs to keep looking at policies that encourage investment in critical grid infrastructure. Senator Martin Heinrich’s proposed Grid Resiliency Tax Credit Act is one example. It would create an investment tax credit for large-scale transmission projects and grid-enhancing technologies, with the goal of attracting private investment in the infrastructure needed to meet growing electricity demand while improving reliability and affordability.
Together, more predictable permitting and policies that encourage investment can help create the conditions needed to modernize the grid at the scale required.
The recent bipartisan negotiations are an encouraging step in that direction. No matter how the current legislation changes in the months ahead, the conversation should continue after the election. America’s energy future depends on generation, storage, transmission and new technologies working together. But none of that happens unless we can build.
America can’t power its future with a permitting process stuck in the past.
