REWIRE Act

The bill defines several key grid terms, including “advanced transmission conductors” and “grid-enhancing technology.” Advanced conductors must carry more power, lose less energy, and expand less with heat than common older wires. It also defines metrics and modeling tools used to plan and measure grid reliability. It amends the Federal Power Act to say that certain grid capacity increases inside existing rights-of-way or on already disturbed or developed land are “categorically excluded” from having to prepare an environmental assessment or environmental impact statement under the National Environmental Policy Act. This includes repair, maintenance, replacement, upgrades, minor relocations, added storage, reconductoring (replacing existing wires with new conductors), and installation of grid‑enhancing technologies at or near existing transmission or distribution facilities and substations. The bill tells the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to issue or revise rules within one year to improve the return on equity (allowed profit rate) for investments in advanced transmission conductors. FERC must still make sure all rates based on these rules are “just and reasonable” and not unduly discriminatory or preferential, as required by existing law. It updates the State Energy Program statute so that state energy conservation plans can explicitly include reconductoring with advanced transmission conductors and installing grid‑enhancing technologies. This makes those activities clearly eligible under that program. The bill directs the Secretary of Energy, working through one or more National Laboratories and in consultation with FERC and the Electric Reliability Organization, to create a program to model and evaluate electric grid performance. The program must develop probabilistic models for transmission planning, resource adequacy, and integrated resource planning that reflect regional needs and account for uncertainties such as weather, congestion, and the costs of reconductoring and grid‑enhancing technologies. The models must help simulate metrics like loss of load expectation, expected unserved energy, capacity value, planning reserve margin, transmission losses, congestion, and cost, and identify where advanced technologies could help. The Secretary of Energy must also set up regional collaboratives between National Laboratories and colleges or universities. When possible, these collaboratives should include schools with existing grid demonstration and modeling capabilities, a focus on rural grid planning, or active statewide data‑sharing programs with utilities. Finally, the bill requires the Secretary of Energy to create, within one year, an application guide for developers, utilities, grid operators, states, and other eligible entities that want to use advanced transmission conductors and grid‑enhancing technologies, including through reconductoring. The guide must be updated every year. On request, the Department of Energy must provide technical assistance and maintain a clearinghouse of past projects and lessons learned for these technologies.

The bill aims to make it faster and simpler to upgrade the existing electric grid without building entirely new corridors. By easing environmental review for certain work in existing rights-of-way and on already disturbed land, it could reduce permitting time for replacing old lines with higher‑capacity wires, adding storage, or installing control technologies. This might help address growing electricity demand and reliability concerns without expanding the physical footprint of transmission corridors. The bill could influence how utilities and developers choose technologies by directing FERC to adjust the allowed return on equity for advanced conductors. Better financial treatment might encourage more use of higher‑capacity, more efficient wires and grid‑enhancing technologies, but the exact effect would depend on the rules FERC adopts and how utilities respond. The new modeling program at National Laboratories and the regional collaboratives are intended to improve how grid planners evaluate reliability, costs, and risks such as extreme weather. This could change how grid investments are planned and prioritized, especially in regions with fast‑changing resource mixes or stressed infrastructure. The technical assistance and project clearinghouse may lower information and planning barriers for states, utilities, and developers considering advanced grid upgrades, though the scale of impact will depend on how widely these tools are used.

• Declares that grid capacity‑increasing activities inside existing rights-of-way or on already “previously disturbed or developed” land are categorically excluded from preparing environmental assessments or environmental impact statements under NEPA.
• Applies this categorical exclusion to repair, maintenance, replacement, upgrades, minor relocations, additions, energy storage near facilities, reconductoring, and installation of grid‑enhancing technologies at existing transmission and distribution facilities and substations.
• Sets a technical performance threshold for “advanced transmission conductors,” including at least 10% lower resistance, at least 70% higher potential energy carrying capacity, and at least 50% lower thermal expansion compared with traditional ACSR conductors of similar size and weight.
• Requires FERC, within one year of enactment, to issue or revise rules under Federal Power Act section 219 to improve the return on equity for investments in advanced transmission conductors.
• Keeps in place the requirement that FERC ensure all rates using these rules are “just and reasonable” and not unduly discriminatory or preferential.
• Amends the State Energy Program law to expressly allow state plans to include reconductoring with advanced transmission conductors and installation of grid‑enhancing technologies as eligible activities.
• Directs the Department of Energy, via National Laboratories, to develop probabilistic models for transmission planning, resource adequacy, and integrated resource planning that incorporate regional conditions and uncertainties, including weather and congestion.
• Requires these models to support analysis of metrics such as loss of load expectation, expected unserved energy, capacity value, planning reserve margin, transmission losses, congestion, and cost.
• Instructs DOE to form regional collaboratives between National Laboratories and higher‑education institutions, prioritizing partners with existing grid demonstration, rural grid planning, or statewide data‑sharing capabilities.
• Mandates that DOE create and annually update an application guide and provide technical assistance and a project clearinghouse for entities implementing advanced conductors and grid‑enhancing technologies.

• The NEPA categorical exclusion applies broadly to a wide range of activities (repair, maintenance, upgrades, minor relocations, storage additions, and grid‑enhancing technology installations) as long as they are within existing rights-of-way or on previously disturbed or developed land, not only to reconductoring.
• The bill embeds detailed technical definitions and planning metrics (such as ELCC, LOLE, EUE, and planning reserve margin) in statute, which could shape how future modeling and regulatory discussions are framed.
• The FERC return‑on‑equity changes are limited to investments in “advanced transmission conductors” that meet specific performance thresholds, not all conductor replacements or grid projects.
• DOE’s technical assistance program is open to a broad set of “eligible entities,” including states and grid operators, not just utilities and private developers.
• Regional collaboratives are encouraged to emphasize rural grid planning and digital twin or co‑simulation capabilities, which may influence where early demonstration and modeling focus occurs.