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NiyerEnergy asserts most transmission value accrues in the future and that…

2026-07-31 · 19:01 UTC ·@NiyerEnergy ·1 min read

Brief

NiyerEnergy argues transmission's primary value accrues in the future, so cost-causation/'beneficiary pays' framing is misleading. He claims most savings are indirect—cheaper interconnection lowers capacity and generation costs while transmission shows costs. He warns visible, multibillion-dollar projects draw scrutiny though 'small reactive lines' constitute ~80–90% of spend; Jane Flegal calls transmission platform infrastructure to be planned like highways.

Why it matters

NiyerEnergy asserts most transmission value accrues in the future and that framing the issue as cost-causation or 'beneficiary pays' is already a losing argument.

Key details

  • Savings from transmission are mostly indirect: it enables cheaper interconnection, which lowers capacity and generation costs, while transmission itself appears as a direct cost on the transmission ledger.
  • Transmission projects are highly visible and costly — a single project may be 'several billion dollars' — yet 'small reactive lines' comprise roughly 80–90% of total spend; higher voltages reduce energy losses and land use and help link baseload and energy-rich to energy-poor regions (Jane Flegal: treat transmission as platform infrastructure to be planned like highways).
Source evidence

Here's the problem with transmission.

1) Most of the value is in the future. If you're talking about cost causation or beneficiary pays, you've already lost.

2) Most of the savings are indirect. It enables cheaper interconnection, which enables cheaper capacity AND generation. So the savings show up on the generation and capacity ledgers, while the tx ledge notes a cost.

3) The cost is very legible; a single project may be several billion dollars. It's large. It's tall. It goes through backyards. Bc of economies of scale, the lines that are more expensive and more legible (in the public interest) get way more scrutiny than the small reactive lines that make up 80-90% of the spend.

4) Americans did not invent transmission, and it does not exist for clean energy. Look at a transmission map please. It's everywhere. Voltage decreases energy losses, and it also decreases land use. It helps especially for large baseload powerplants in a mesh, and to connect energy rich and energy poor regions.

Jane Flegal (@JaneAFlegal)

Electricity transmission isn’t a commodity and we shouldn’t treat it that way. It is platform infrastructure, like the highway system, and we should plan and build it ahead of demand to enable growth. More from me with @TheCLCouncil here: clcouncil.org/publications/b…

— https://nitter.net/JaneAFlegal/status/2082865596748673109#m