On January 9, 2022 NextGen Highways issued a press release announcing continued funding from Breakthrough Energy to develop national and state-level coalitions in 2023. The primary focus of these coalitions will be to advocate for the use of existing public rights of way (ROWs) to enable the transmission development needed to meet the nation’s aggressive decarbonization and electrification goals.
“We are excited to engage with stakeholders to explore policy and planning objectives in states across the country,” said Matt Prorok, senior policy manager at Great Plains Institute, a NextGen Highways partner. “Using what we’ve learned in Minnesota together with Wisconsin’s siting success, sets the stage for meaningful policy engagement in target states.”
Visit nextgenhighways.org to learn more!
Why are NextGen Highways needed?
The lack of transmission lines has become a limiting factor for more renewable energy on the electric grid in many parts of the United States, and the lack of electric vehicle charging infrastructure has become a limiting factor to the adoption of more electric vehicles of all types (light-, medium-, and heavy-duty).
The NextGen Highways concept could contribute to solving each of these problems by efficiently co-locating electric transmission lines, electric vehicle charging infrastructure, and broadband / 5G communications infrastructure along existing highway right-of-way.
Our work over the last two years with a wide variety of stakeholders has shown that repurposing existing ROWs in this multi-purpose fashion could enable progress in several key areas:
- Make it possible to quickly site new transmission with less cost and controversy (since we’d be using land already devoted to infrastructure), which could help the electric system meet the enormous power needs of more and larger electric vehicles.
- Create thousands of new jobs laying this new infrastructure.
- Facilitate the electric sector’s transition to renewable and zero-carbon energy and the transportation sector’s transition to zero-emission vehicles, resulting in cleaner air and less noise pollution.
- Reduce the digital divide by expanding broadband / 5G infrastructure.
Momentum building on NextGen Highways
The NextGen Highways concept is gaining traction across the country. As an example, several states are now looking at opening their interstate and highway ROW to support transmission development:
- California: Caltrans is taking a look at opening up its highway ROW to allow for transmission in both highways and interstates.
- Minnesota: The Minnesota Department of Transportation, Minnesota Public Utilities Commission, and the Minnesota Department of Commerce are planning for legislative changes in 2024 that would open up highway ROW to transmission.
- Washington: The Transmission Corridors Working Group submitted a report to the governor and legislature recommending that existing transportation ROW be evaluated when considering new transmission ROW.
- West Coast: The West Coast Clean Transit Corridor working group has filed comments calling for California to develop new transmission along and within existing highway corridors to prepare for the significant power requirements that will come from freight electrification.
Check out our LinkedIn announcements (here) and Twitter announcement (here)—and don’t forget to follow us!
This post is updated from our original post on NextGen Highways on October 7, 2020.
