The Department of Energy will issue permitting decisions for proposed transmission lines on federal land within two years of applications being filed, about twice as fast as current averages, under a final rule issued Thursday.

The rule creates the Coordinated Interagency Transmission Authorizations and Permits program. In a change from current practice, it establishes DOE as the lead agency on transmission line permitting applications and requires developers to develop a public participation plan for their projects, which will improve project success rates, DOE Secretary Jennifer Granholm said in a media briefing Wednesday.

Under the program, DOE will work with other federal agencies to prepare a single National Environmental Policy Act environmental review document to support each agency’s permit decision making for transmission projects, the department said. 

Currently, it can take more than a decade to get new transmission lines approved and built, according to Ben Norris, vice president of regulatory affairs at the Solar Energy Industries Association. “Coupled with updating grid infrastructure and resolving the growing interconnection queue, streamlining transmission approvals is an urgent, near-term priority for the U.S. solar and storage industry,” Norris said, noting that a dozen federal agencies can be involved in permitting.

State transmission siting authorities can participate in the CITAP program to take advantage of DOE’s resources, including using the environmental review document in their decision-making processes, according to the department.

Making DOE the lead permitting agency — a measure included in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 — “should really help get transmission built when multiple federal agency permits are required, which is often the case, particularly in the Western U.S.” said Rob Gramlich, president of Grid Strategies, a transmission-oriented consulting firm.

The CITAP program is part of DOE’s “holistic, multifaceted approach” to grid improvements and expansions, which will help meet the Biden administration’s new goal of upgrading 100,000 miles of transmission lines in the next five years using advanced grid technologies, Granholm said.

DOE is holding a webinar on the CITAP program on May 15.

On Thursday, DOE also made it easier to build certain energy storage, solar and rebuilt or upgraded transmission projects on federal land by limiting the scope of their environmental reviews.

“DOE is taking these steps to reduce the cost and time for environmental analysis incurred by DOE, project developers, and the public for these projects,” the department said.

DOE backs LS Power’s Nevada-Idaho project

Meanwhile, DOE said Thursday it has tentatively agreed to enter into an up to $331 million contract to buy capacity on a 500-kV power line between Idaho and Nevada being developed by an LS Power subsidiary.

The 2-GW, bi-directional Southwest Intertie Project-North, set to run about 285 miles from Twin Falls, Idaho, to Ely, Nevada, could help deliver wind power from Idaho to California. It could also provide grid access to about 1 GW of geothermal and solar resources for customers in the Pacific Northwest, according to DOE.

“The selection of SWIP-North for a potential capacity contract provides an anchor that will allow us to move forward more quickly with procurement activities and securing slots for long-lead equipment, thereby proceeding to construction and placing the project in service faster than otherwise possible,” Paul Thessen, LS Power Development president, said in a press release.

Great Basin Transmission, an LS Power subsidiary, plans to start building the roughly $1.1 billion project next year and bring it online in 2027. It will connect to the One Nevada transmission line, which leads to the Desert Link line — both LS Power projects — and ultimately the Eldorado substation, which provides access to California.

The California Independent System Operator’s board in December conditionally approved the SWIP-North project as part of the grid operator’s annual transmission plan. The ISO would fund about 77% of the project and Idaho Power would fund the rest, according to a presentation by the grid operator’s staff.

CAISO would have about 1,120 MW and NV Energy would have about 953 MW of the southbound capacity on the line. Heading north on the line, NV Energy would have about 848 MW, CAISO would have about 573 MW and Idaho Power would have 500 MW.

Besides providing access to wind farms in Idaho, the project will provide resource diversity, create a parallel path to the California Oregon Intertie line, cut congestion costs on that line, reduce renewable energy curtailment and enable the export of excess solar from California, CAISO staff said in a memo on the project.

The project was selected as part of the initial solicitation issued by DOE for access to the department’s Transmission Facilitation Program, a $2.5 billion revolving fund that was part of the bipartisan infrastructure law.

DOE selected four projects in October as initial participants under the program, but one of the projects — the Twin States Clean Energy Link, a line between New Hampshire and Québec planned by National Grid — was canceled.