[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 12 (Wednesday, January 19, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 2769-2773]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-00883]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY


Building a Better Grid Initiative To Upgrade and Expand the 
Nation's Electric Transmission Grid To Support Resilience, Reliability, 
and Decarbonization

AGENCY: Office of Electricity, Department of Energy.

ACTION: Notice of intent.

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SUMMARY: In this notice, the Department of Energy (DOE or the 
Department) unveils its new Building a Better Grid Initiative focused 
on catalyzing nationwide development of new and upgraded high-capacity 
transmission lines. Under the Building a Better Grid Initiative, DOE 
will identify critical national transmission needs and support the 
buildout of long-distance, high-voltage transmission facilities that 
meet those needs through collaborative transmission planning, 
innovative financing mechanisms, coordinated permitting, and continued 
transmission related research and development. DOE commits to robust 
engagement on energy justice and collaboration, including with states, 
American Indian Tribes and Alaska Natives, industry, unions, local 
communities, and other stakeholders for successful implementation of 
the program.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Michelle Manary, Acting Deputy 
Assistant Secretary, Electricity Delivery Division, Office of 
Electricity, Mailstop OE-20, Room 8H-033, 1000 Independence Avenue SW, 
Washington, DC 20585; Telephone: (202) 586-1411 or 
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#296c454c4a5d5b404a405d506d4c45405f4c5b50694158074d464c074e465f"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="a7e2cbc2c4d3d5cec4ced3dee3c2cbced1c2d5dee7cfd689c3c8c289c0c8d1">[email protected]</span></a>. More information will also be available 
at https://www.energy.gov/oe/office-electricity.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    A robust transmission system is critical to the Nation's economic, 
energy, and national security. However, the United States faces 
challenges as its electric grid infrastructure continues to age--
studies from the past decade find that 70 percent of the grid's 
transmission lines and power transformers were over 25 years 
old.<SUP>1 2</SUP> In addition, insufficient transmission capacity--
especially transmission that facilitates transfer of power across 
regions--presents another critical challenge facing the grid. Upgrading 
and expanding the current transmission system will enhance grid 
reliability and resilience and enable the cost-effective integration of 
clean energy.
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    \1\ See U.S. Dep't of Energy, Infographic: Understanding the 
Grid (Nov. 2014), https://www.energy.gov/articles/infographic-understanding-grid.
    \2\ See Energy Information Agency, Major utilities continue to 
increase spending on U.S. electric distribution systems, (July 20, 
2018), https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=36675.
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    Modernizing, hardening, and expanding the grid will enhance the 
resilience of our entire electric system, and ensure that electricity 
is available to customers when it is needed most. Aging infrastructure 
leaves the grid increasingly vulnerable to attacks.\3\ The increasing 
frequency of extreme weather events is leading to energy supply 
disruptions that threaten the economy, put public health and safety at 
risk, and can devastate affected communities all over the country. 
Investment in transmission infrastructure can help protect the grid 
against supply disruptions due to physical and cyber-attacks or 
climate-induced extreme weather, minimize the impact of supply 
disruptions when they happen, and restore electricity more quickly when 
outages do occur.
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    \3\ See ICF International, Electric Grid Security and 
Resilience: Establishing a Baseline for Adversarial Threats, at 26 
(June 2016), https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2017/01/f34/
Electric%20Grid%20Security%20and%20Resilience_
Establishing%20a%20Baseline%20for%20Adversarial%20Threats.pdf.
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    Expanding transmission capacity also improves reliability by 
creating stronger and more numerous energy delivery pathways, helping 
to ensure that consumers have a dependable source of electricity to 
power their homes, schools, and businesses. When one generation source 
is physically unavailable or uneconomic, transmission enables delivery 
from other generation sources, making the system better equipped to 
meet delivery requirements under the broader range of real 
circumstances and stresses seen in recent years.
    Electric grid investment also spurs economic growth. Investment in 
the grid will create demand for well-paying jobs in construction and 
will drive innovation, commercialization, and deployment of energy 
technologies that can spur new businesses. Moreover, clean energy 
generation is increasingly the least-cost option in many parts of the 
country, and investment in transmission will play a critical role in 
unlocking the deployment of greater renewable energy generation.
    Transmission is critical to addressing the climate crisis through 
the decarbonization of the power sector and electrification of 
transportation and other sectors. The climate crisis accelerates the 
need for the United States to modernize its electric grid. To

[[Page 2770]]

address the imminent threat of climate change, and capitalize on the 
economic opportunity of doing so, President Biden established ambitious 
goals: A carbon pollution-free power sector by 2035, and a net-zero 
greenhouse gas emissions economy by 2050.\4\ Multiple pathways exist 
for the United States to meet these clean energy goals, but all require 
upgrading and expanding the Nation's transmission infrastructure.\5\ In 
particular, they require deploying interstate high-voltage lines 
connecting areas with significant renewable energy resources to demand 
centers and linking together independently operated grid regions. The 
most cost-effective renewable resources are often located in remote 
geographic areas far from the areas with the biggest demand.\6\ 
Therefore, accelerating the shift toward a clean power sector requires 
investment in critical enabling infrastructure such as transmission to 
increase access to these renewable energy sources.\7\ Numerous studies 
conclude ``that a reliable power system that depends on very high 
levels of renewable energy will be impossible to implement without 
doubling or tripling the size and scale of the [N]ation's transmission 
system.'' \8\ A recent study found as the number of generation and 
storage projects proposed for interconnection to the bulk-power system 
is growing, interconnection queue wait times are increasing and the 
percentage of projects reaching completion appears to be declining, 
particularly for wind and solar resources.\9\ Needed investments in 
transmission infrastructure include increasing the capacity of existing 
lines, using advanced technologies to minimize transmission losses and 
maximize the value of existing lines, and building new long-distance, 
high-voltage transmission lines.
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    \4\ See Executive Order 14008 of Jan. 27, 2021, Tackling the 
Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad, 86 FR 7619 (Feb. 1, 2021), 
https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2021/02/01/2021-02177/tackling-the-climate-crisis-at-home-and-abroad; Fact Sheet: 
President Biden Sets 2030 Greenhouse Gas Pollution Reduction Target 
Aimed at Creating Good-Paying Union Jobs and Securing U.S. 
Leadership on Clean Energy Technologies (Apr. 22, 2021), https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/04/22/fact-sheet-president-biden-sets-2030-greenhouse-gas-pollution-reduction-target-aimed-at-creating-good-paying-union-jobs-and-securing-u-s-leadership-on-clean-energy-technologies/.
    \5\ See North American Renewable Integration Study, Executive 
Summary, p. 9.
    \6\ See id. at 4-5.
    \7\ See Eric Larson, et al., Net-Zero America: Potential 
Pathways, Infrastructure, and Impacts, at 13-14 (Dec. 15, 2020), 
https://netzeroamerica.princeton.edu/img/Princeton_NZA_Interim_Report_15_Dec_2020_FINAL.pdf.
    \8\ ESIG Report at 10 (providing a summary of six studies at 
Appendix B); also, see Net Zero America (previous footnote).
    \9\ See Joseph Rand, et al., Queued Up: Characteristics of Power 
Plants Seeking Transmission Interconnection as of the End of 2020, 
Briefing at 6 (May 2021), https://eta-publications.lbl.gov/sites/default/files/queued_up_may_2021.pdf.
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    Recognizing these challenges, Congress enacted and the President 
signed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) on November 
15, 2021. IIJA builds on existing Department of Energy authorities to 
provide substantial new tools and funding to the Department to 
accelerate the modernization, expansion, and resilience of the Nation's 
electric grid. DOE intends to coordinate the use of all authorities and 
funding focused on collaborative planning, innovative financing 
mechanisms, and coordinated permitting now at the disposal of the 
Department to resolve challenges and constrains facing the electric 
grid.

II. Transmission Deployment Program

    For the reasons discussed previously, DOE intends to launch a 
coordinated transmission deployment program to implement both IIJA and 
previously enacted authorities and funding. Under the Building a Better 
Grid Initiative, DOE will engage in a collaborative initiative to 
encourage and enable investment in transmission infrastructure. DOE 
recognizes the importance of engaging with other federal agencies, 
state and local governments, American Indian Tribes and Alaska Natives, 
industry, unions, local communities, environmental justice 
organizations, and other stakeholders. Working with these partners, DOE 
aims to increase coordination and transparency; to employ available 
tools and resources to support the development of nationally-
significant transmission projects; and to improve transmission siting, 
permitting, and authorization processes.
    DOE's implementation of the Building a Better Grid Initiative will 
fall into five broad categories: Coordination; enhancing transmission 
planning to identify areas of greatest need; deploying federal 
financing tools to reduce project development risk; facilitating an 
efficient transmission permitting process; and performing transmission-
related research and development.

A. Coordination

    Early and collaborative engagement is an essential element of 
building a reliable, resilient, and efficient electric grid. DOE will 
consult and work collaboratively with government entities, including 
states, American Indian Tribes, and Alaska Natives, and other 
stakeholders throughout the process of evaluating and deploying the 
Department's tools and authorities to accelerate transmission 
deployment.
    (1) Regional Convenings. In most of the country, the primary venue 
in which the future of the transmission grid is being planned is 
through regional and state-level processes led by transmission planning 
organizations such as independent system operators (ISOs)/regional 
transmission organizations (RTOs), state regulatory commissions, and 
utilities, with key involvement from transmission developers, 
independent power producers, consumer advocates, unions, public 
interest organizations, technology providers, and other stakeholders 
that contribute to the planning process to identify where and when new 
transmission lines are needed to ensure that the delivery of 
electricity remains reliable and affordable. In implementing the 
specific elements of the Building a Better Grid initiative described 
underneath, DOE intends to leverage existing regional venues where 
stakeholders are convened around transmission planning to identify 
nationally significant transmission lines, validate transmission 
modeling approaches, and provide technical analysis to states, American 
Indian Tribes and Alaska Natives, ISOs/RTOs, and utilities.
    (2) Offshore Wind Transmission Convening. DOE is partnering with 
the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management 
(BOEM) to convene key stakeholders, government partners, and ocean 
users, including American Indian Tribes and Alaska Natives, state and 
local governments, ISOs/RTOs, utilities, wind energy developers, and 
non-governmental organizations, to elucidate the central transmission 
challenges associated with meeting the Biden Administration's goal--30 
GW of deployed offshore wind (OSW) capacity by 2030 and to facilitate 
OSW development well beyond that goal--and identify potential solutions 
to those challenges. Later this year, DOE and BOEM will lead a series 
of convening workshops, in consultation with the Federal Energy 
Regulatory Commission (FERC) and other federal agencies, to develop a 
set of recommendations and associated action plan for addressing 
medium- and long-term OSW transmission challenges. These will include 
recommendations for OSW transmission development, transmission planning 
and permitting policies, as well as seeking to maximize benefits to the 
onshore transmission system by considering solutions that will reduce 
congestion and support system interconnection inclusive of

[[Page 2771]]

potential onshore transmission upgrades.

B. Planning

    Building a cost-effective transmission network that offers access 
to a diversity of energy resources within and across geographic 
regions, and that supports reliability and resilience through robust 
inter-regional transfer capability, requires deliberate planning and a 
different approach than has been used traditionally. Transmission 
planning processes have not generally been designed to identify long-
term (beyond 10-year planning cycles), flexible, and inter-regional 
solutions that will meet national interests by enhancing electric 
system resilience across regions. Modernizing transmission planning can 
provide greater certainty to drive investment to the highest-need 
transmission projects and enable development of the projects with the 
largest long-term benefit for consumers. DOE intends to consider the 
following actions to facilitate transmission planning:
    (1) National Transmission Needs Study. DOE intends to identify 
high-priority national transmission needs--specifically, to identify 
where new or upgraded transmission facilities could relieve expected 
future constraints and congestion driven by deployment of clean energy 
consistent with federal, state, and local policy and consumer 
preferences; higher electric demand as a result of building and 
transportation electrification; and insufficient transfer capacity 
across regions--by conducting a Transmission Needs Study. Consistent 
with authority provided by the Energy Policy Act of 2005 \10\ and the 
IIJA, this study will evaluate current and expected future electric 
transmission capacity constraints and congestion that could adversely 
affect consumers. DOE will consult with affected states, American 
Indian Tribes and Alaska Natives, and appropriate regional entities. 
The results of this needs assessment can inform the prioritization of 
the DOE financing authorities described in Section II.C of this 
document; designation of national interest electric transmission 
corridors (National Corridors), as described in Section II.D of this 
document, and regional transmission planning processes.
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    \10\ Federal Power Act (FPA) section 216(a); 16 U.S.C. 824p(a).
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    (2) National Transmission Planning. In addition to the Transmission 
Needs Study, DOE is leading a national-scale, long-term (a 15- to 30-
year) transmission planning analysis to identify transmission that will 
provide broad-scale benefits to electric customers; inform regional and 
interregional transmission planning processes; and identify 
interregional and national strategies to accelerate decarbonization 
while maintaining system reliability. In partnership with the Pacific 
Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and the National Renewable Energy 
Laboratory (NREL), DOE will work with stakeholders to help identify 
viable future grid realization pathways to a large-scale transmission 
system buildout that would accomplish clean energy goals. Robust 
stakeholder engagement will help define new scenarios for analysis to 
reach grid decarbonization goals cost effectively and under new high-
stress conditions. As part of this process, DOE intends to work with 
the Department of Transportation, the Department of the Interior, the 
United States Forest Service, other federal and state agencies, and 
utilities as appropriate, to integrate existing rights-of-way into the 
National Transmission Planning Study, including existing rail and 
highway rights-of-way; the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) West-wide 
Energy Corridors; and other existing federal land and utility rights-
of-way.
    (3) OSW Transmission Analysis. To inform the integration of OSW, 
DOE will conduct supportive analyses to identify transmission pathways 
and develop transmission strategies to integrate offshore wind, 
consistent with the Administration's goal of 30 GW of OSW by 2030 and 
to set the stage for a more ambitious 2050 OSW deployment target. In 
November 2021, DOE launched the Atlantic Offshore Wind Transmission 
Study, a 2-year study led by NREL and PNNL. Through robust engagement 
with diversified stakeholder groups, this work evaluates coordinated 
transmission solutions to enable offshore wind energy deployment along 
the U.S. Atlantic Coast, addressing gaps in existing analyses.\11\
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    \11\ See Atlantic Offshore Wind Transmission Study, NREL. 
https://www.nrel.gov/wind/atlantic-offshore-wind-transmission-study.html.
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    (4) Transmission Planning Technical Assistance. DOE will continue 
to develop and leverage modeling tools and capabilities to provide 
technical analysis to states and regions, and other agencies, where 
appropriate. This includes the research and capabilities created as 
part of the National Transmission Planning and the OSW Transmission 
Analysis above. The technical analysis and assistance aim to aid in 
long-term energy planning, policy implementation, and regulatory 
rulemaking, informed by core transmission planning precepts and in 
alignment with current federal and state public policy goals. The IIJA 
requires states to incorporate transmission planning as a mandatory 
feature of their energy plans and is supported with $500 million in 
increased funding for the State Energy Program.

C. Financing

    Financial risk poses a significant barrier to pursuing large scale, 
multi-region transmission projects. Transmission projects require 
large, upfront investments. For regulated utility projects, returns are 
ultimately collected over long periods through rates charged to end-use 
customers, but it is difficult for such utilities to recover costs for 
transmission projects that cross multiple service territories and 
planning regions. Merchant transmission developers face challenges 
securing transmission customers before a project is built, but customer 
commitments are often needed to reduce investment risk. The IIJA 
provided critical new authorities and appropriations that the 
Department can use to help reduce financing challenges project sponsors 
may face and catalyze private investment in transmission. DOE intends 
to deploy these authorities while also continuing to make available 
existing financing tools.
    New Programs Authorized in IIJA:
    (1) Transmission Facilitation Program. The IIJA establishes a new 
$2.5B revolving fund to facilitate the construction of high capacity 
new, replacement, or upgraded transmission lines.\12\ This program will 
prioritize projects that improve resilience and reliability of the 
grid, facilitate inter-regional transfer of electricity, lower electric 
sector greenhouse gas emissions, and use advanced technology. DOE is 
authorized to do so through three separate tools.
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    \12\ In addition, eligible projects include those that would 
connect an isolated microgrid to an existing transmission, 
transportation, or infrastructure corridor located in Alaska, 
Hawaii, or a U.S. territory.
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    <bullet> DOE is authorized to serve as an anchor customer on new 
and upgraded transmission lines in order to facilitate the private 
financing and construction of the line. Under this authority, DOE would 
buy up to 50 percent of planned capacity from the developer for a term 
of up to 40 years. A purchase of capacity will not be considered a 
``major federal action'' that would trigger environmental review 
pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). DOE will then 
market the capacity it has purchased to recover the

[[Page 2772]]

costs it has incurred once the project's long-term financial viability 
is secured.
    <bullet> DOE is authorized to make loans for the cost of carrying 
out eligible transmission projects.
    <bullet> DOE is authorized to enter into public-private 
partnerships to co-develop projects that are located in a National 
Corridor or that are necessary to accommodate an increase in demand for 
interstate transmission, among other criteria. Such co-development can 
entail the design, development, construction, operation, maintenance, 
or ownership of a project.
    DOE intends to establish procedures for the administration of this 
program and for solicitation and selection of project applications. 
Further guidance will be forthcoming for this program.
    (2) Enhancing Grid Resilience. DOE will provide formula grants, 
competitive grants, and competitive awards across a number of 
provisions of the IIJA that allow for upgrading transmission 
infrastructure. DOE intends to issue solicitations for applications by 
states, American Indian Tribes, local communities, and industry. 
Further guidance and solicitations will be forthcoming for these 
programs.
    <bullet> Preventing Outages and Enhancing the Resilience of the 
Electric Grid--The IIJA authorizes DOE to make grants for supplemental 
hardening activities to reduce risks of power lines causing wildfires, 
and the likelihood and consequence of impacts to the electric grid due 
to extreme weather, wildfires, and natural disasters. This program is 
split between $2.5 billion in matching grants for industry and $2.5 
billion in formula grants for states and American Indian tribes.
    <bullet> Program Upgrading Our Electric Grid and Ensuring 
Reliability and Resiliency--The IIJA authorizes DOE to provide $5 
billion in competitive financial assistance to states, local 
governments, and American Indian tribes. This financial assistance must 
support electric sector owners and operators with projects that 
demonstrate innovative approaches to hardening and enhancing the 
resilience and reliability of transmission, storage, and distribution 
infrastructure.
    <bullet> Energy Improvement in Rural and Remote Areas--DOE is 
authorized to provide competitive grants to small cities, towns, and 
unincorporated areas to improve resilience, safety, reliability, and 
availability of energy; and that provide environmental protection from 
adverse impacts of energy generation.
    (3) Deployment of Technologies to Increase Capacity and Enhance 
Flexibility of the Existing Grid. The IIJA provides DOE with $3 billion 
to provide matching grants for the deployment of advanced grid 
technologies to enhance grid flexibility. Building on the success of 
the Smart Grid Investment Grant Program, this program now includes 
advanced transmission technologies such as dynamic line rating, flow 
control devices, advanced conductors, and network topology 
optimization, to increase the operational transfer capacity 
transmission networks. Further guidance and solicitations will be 
forthcoming for this program.
    Existing DOE Programs:
    (4) Loan Programs. DOE's Loan Programs Office (LPO) administers a 
number of programs that can provide loan guarantees to help deploy 
large-scale energy infrastructure projects in the United States, some 
of which have already been utilized to issue over $300 million in 
Conditional Commitment for the construction and energization of a new 
transmission line. Under the Title 17 Innovative Energy Loan Guarantee 
Program and the Tribal Energy Loan Guarantee Program, the Department is 
authorized to provide loan guarantees to projects that will expand and 
improve the transmission grid. Through these programs, LPO can offer 
borrowers access to debt capital, flexible financing customized for the 
specific needs of borrowers, and valuable expertise in energy 
infrastructure project development. LPO can also reduce the risk of 
investment in long-distance transmission projects by providing 
financing support for projects that analysis shows are likely to 
support repayment of the loan, even if those projects have not yet 
secured pre-construction agreements for transmission service for their 
full capacity.
    (5) Transmission Infrastructure Program (TIP). The Western Area 
Power Administration (WAPA) administers a unique federal infrastructure 
development assistance and financing program. TIP manages WAPA's 
statutory $3.25 billion borrowing authority to provide debt financing 
and development assistance for qualifying transmission projects with at 
least one terminus in WAPA's 15-state service territory and that 
facilitate delivery of renewable energy. The program leverages WAPA's 
transmission project development expertise and WAPA's borrowing 
authority, partnering with private and other non-federal co-investment 
to support the development of critical transmission and related 
infrastructure in the West.

D. Permitting

    The siting and permitting of interstate and inter-regional high-
voltage transmission generally requires action by many different 
authorities governing the federal, state, local, and Tribal lands, as 
well as private lands, that facilities will pass through. Projects 
involving multiple agencies are subject to a wide array of processes 
and procedural requirements for compliance with legal mandates and 
multiple authorizations. The time required to meet these legal mandates 
can be reduced through effective planning processes that take advantage 
of existing rights-of-way, which as outlined previously, DOE intends to 
incorporate into its planning activities. As an example, DOE is 
coordinating with BLM as the agency updates its designated West-wide 
Energy Corridors. But where such rights-of-way are not available, 
siting and permitting processes can significantly slow development and 
should be conducted efficiently, with clear expectations and 
predictable timelines and processes. These aims should occur without 
sacrificing important analysis, protection of environmental, cultural, 
and other important values, or robust public engagement. DOE intends to 
coordinate with states and with federal permitting agencies to help 
facilitate the siting and permitting process, including through 
consideration of the following actions:
    (1) Federal Permitting Coordination. The Federal Permitting 
Improvement Steering Council (FPISC), established pursuant to Title 41 
of the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act (``FAST-41''), and 
made permanent by IIJA, facilitates coordination and oversight 
procedures for federal environmental review and permitting process 
related to eligible large-scale infrastructure projects. IIJA provided 
additional authority to FPISC to include projects on the permitting 
dashboard. DOE will work with relevant agencies to evaluate and 
recommend whether to include nationally-significant transmission 
projects on the dashboard. In addition, DOE works with interagency 
partners to bolster pre-application planning for transmission projects 
through its Integrated Interagency Pre-Application Process, which 
allows transmission project developers a mechanism for early 
coordination and information sharing with permitting agencies.\13\ DOE 
intends to encourage developers to take advantage of the pre-
application process in order to streamline federal permitting action.
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    \13\ FPA section 216(h); 42 U.S.C. 824p(h).
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    (2) Public-private partnership projects. The previously-described 
Transmission Facilitation Program,

[[Page 2773]]

enacted as part of IIJA, includes authority for the Secretary to enter 
into public-private partnerships for the design, development, 
construction, operation, maintenance, and ownership of transmission 
facilities. In addition, the Secretary, acting through the 
Administrators of the Southwestern Power Administration (SWPA) or WAPA, 
has the authority to design, develop, construct, operate, maintain, or 
own, alone or in partnership with third parties, transmission system 
upgrades or new transmission lines and related facilities within states 
in which WAPA and SWPA operate.\14\ In exercising these authorities, 
DOE can help facilitate transmission development in areas where state 
or local permitting requirements would otherwise make a project 
difficult or impossible to complete. In carrying out either type of 
project, the Secretary may accept and use contributed funds from 
another entity, such as a transmission developer, to carry out the 
Department's work on upgrades or on new projects. DOE may solicit 
interest in these public-private partnership projects, with a 
particular focus on projects that would fulfill transmission needs 
identified by the transmission planning actions outlined previously.
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    \14\ Energy Policy Act of 2005 section 1222; 42 U.S.C. 16421.
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    (3) Designation of Route-Specific Transmission Corridors. The 
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has authority, clarified by 
the IIJA, to issue permits for the construction or modification of 
electric transmission facilities in National Corridors designated by 
the Secretary of Energy.\15\ IIJA also clarified that National 
Corridors can be any area experiencing or expected to experience 
electricity transmission capacity constraints or congestion that 
adversely affects consumers.\16\ DOE can designate a National Corridor 
after taking into consideration the Transmission Needs Study discussed 
previously and other information. In order to facilitate the efficient 
consideration of projects seeking a FERC-issued permit, DOE intends to 
provide a process for the designation of National Corridors on a route-
specific, applicant-driven basis. DOE intends to give particular 
consideration to proposed National Corridors that, to the greatest 
degree possible, overlap with or utilize existing highway, rail, 
utility, and federal land rights-of-way. Further, in order to enable 
effective use of both DOE's route-specific National Corridor process 
and FERC's permitting process, DOE and FERC intend to work together, as 
appropriate, to establish coordinated procedures that facilitate 
efficient information gathering related to the scope of activities 
under review pursuant to these authorities. By harmonizing, to the 
greatest extent practicable, pre-filing and application processes, DOE 
and FERC can work with applicants to identify and resolve issues as 
quickly as possible; share information in a timely fashion; and 
expedite reviews conducted pursuant to these authorities, the National 
Environmental Policy Act, and other requirements.
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    \15\ FPA section 216(b); 16 U.S.C. 824p(b).
    \16\ Section 216(a) of the FPA; 16 U.S.C. 824p(a).
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E. Transmission Research, Development, and Demonstration (RD&D)

    DOE continues to conduct RD&D to further develop and reduce the 
costs of technologies that enable the transmission system to be used 
more efficiently, including grid enhancing technologies, improved 
transmission conductors, and grid-related energy storage facilities. 
The National Laboratories' research programs, in partnership with 
industry, are investing in the next generation of components and 
systems. DOE's FY22 budget request prioritizes solicitations to support 
transmission technology development including transformers, high 
voltage direct current converter stations, and storage.
    DOE is also developing and improving analytical tools to more 
effectively support transmission deployment. DOE, in collaboration with 
several National Laboratories, is developing the North American Energy 
Resilience Model (NAERM), a national-scale energy planning and real-
time situational awareness tool. DOE is working to enable and expand 
NAERM's capabilities to facilitate effective transmission planning. 
Currently deployed transmission planning tools include the Energy Zones 
Mapping Tool, an online mapping tool that can be used to identify 
potential energy resource areas and energy corridors, and the 
Transmission Resilience Maturity Model that enables utilities to 
measure the maturity of their transmission resilience programs and 
identify improvements to increase the resilience of their transmission 
systems.
    Moving forward, the Department will keep the public informed of its 
planned activities and progress related to this Building a Better Grid 
Initiative to expand and improve the Nation's electric transmission 
grid. DOE is committed to robust engagement and collaboration with 
states, American Indian Tribes and Alaska Natives, industry, unions, 
local communities, environmental justice organizations, and other 
stakeholders. For additional information, interested parties may reach 
out to DOE's Office of Electricity using the contact information 
provided in this Notice.

Signing Authority

    This document of the Department of Energy was signed on January 11, 
2022, by Jennifer M. Granholm, Secretary of Energy. That document with 
the original signature and date is maintained by DOE. For 
administrative purposes only, and in compliance with requirements of 
the Office of the Federal Register, the undersigned DOE Federal 
Register Liaison Officer has been authorized to sign and submit the 
document in electronic format for publication, as an official document 
of the Department of Energy. This administrative process in no way 
alters the legal effect of this document on publication in the Federal 
Register.

    Signed in Washington, DC, on January 12, 2022.
Treena V. Garrett,
Federal Register Liaison Officer, U.S. Department of Energy.
[FR Doc. 2022-00883 Filed 1-18-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P


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