The stars may finally be aligning to enable the buildout of significant new transmission capacity in the U.S. energy market, according to the latest industry insight report from law firm Troutman Pepper.

The report, Unlocking U.S. Transmission Upgrades – Are We on The Cusp of Real Progress?, reflects upon the views of a range of market actors seeking to plan, build or benefit from new transmission infrastructure. It argues that recent legislative reforms, funding opportunities, and improved state-federal coordination have created an opportunity for energy companies and regulators to converge on solutions and remove long-standing roadblocks to new transmission.

Having interviewed transmission experts tasked with delivering transmission upgrades, as well as energy companies dependent upon their success, the report finds four major obstacles to progress:

1. Planning: The unpredictability of interconnection queues remains a severe headache for project developers. But transmission planners also suffer from the uncertainty created by speculative generation projects.
2. Permitting: Without a major streamlining of processes across state and federal jurisdictions, grid upgrades simply take too long to permit.
3. Practicalities: A shortage of skilled people and essential equipment threatens to present future pinch points unless addressed today.
4. Paying for upgrades: The build-out of new transmission capacity is capital-intensive and the industry will need to clearly communicate the benefits while passing a fair proportion of cost to consumer bills.

Read more to see why the report argues that recent and ongoing regulatory reforms paint a case for optimism, despite these obstacles.