The New Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (white paper)
Transmission investment has been consistently strong across the country for many years. Despite high levels of transmission investment, the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (“Infrastructure Act”) includes funding and programs designed to crank up grid transmission and distribution investment even higher, particularly when it comes to promoting interregional and interstate transmission. MISO and SPP could see incremental average annual transmission investment of approximately $410 million and $270 million, respectively. It is unclear whether all this spending will be truly incremental as some of the Act’s funding could end up being used for projects not yet designed but would have happened anyway, given the profitable nature of transmission investment. Nonetheless, if a small public power or cooperative utility happens to be the recipient of a grant or loan that prompts additional transmission investment, the impact could be a significant (albeit temporary) bump up in investment for that particular transmission owner.