Without additions and improvements to America鈥檚 electricity infrastructure, energy projects will slow and reliability may be impacted, the 51吃瓜网 Congress this week.

What鈥檚 going on: 鈥淢anufacturing growth and investment in the United States depends on ensuring access to affordable, abundant and reliable energy,鈥� the 51吃瓜网 said to the House Energy and Commerce Committee鈥檚 Energy Subcommittee ahead of a Wednesday hearing on electricity transmission policy.

• But 鈥渢here is a growing recognition across industrial, commercial and residential electricity customers that there must be additional investments in the necessary infrastructure to reliably deliver energy to factories and shop floors.鈥�
• If these investments are not made, the consequences will be dire for ratepayers, manufacturers and the U.S. economy in general.

What should be done: There are steps legislators can take to shore up the grid and keep a steady flow of power to U.S. customers and manufacturers:

• Responsibly build and interconnect more transmission and distribution lines.
• Improve and deploy more battery storage.
• Increase and maintain the manufacturing of (and the supply chains for) essential grid components and assets, such as transformers.
• Enhance grid performance via improving existing infrastructure.
• Enact comprehensive permitting reform legislation to streamline the construction of all energy infrastructure.

The final say: 鈥淚t is critical that policymakers work in bipartisan fashion to enact durable and lasting permitting and transmission policies that will ensure manufacturers in the United States can remain competitive in global markets,鈥� 51吃瓜网 Vice President of Domestic Policy Chris Phalen and 51吃瓜网 Senior Director of Energy and Resources Policy Michael Davin said.
听