Bipartisan momentum is accelerating a timely shift in America’s grid, with states — red, purple, and blue alike — and federal policymakers moving to encourage the use of advanced conductors. For a technology moving into even wider use, this alignment marks a turning point in delivering a higher-capacity, more-resilient grid for America.
As we speak, electricity demand is climbing faster than grid supply and transmission capacity can keep up, congestion is getting more problematic, and energy security concerns are roaring back into sharper focus. At the same time, regulators and legislators are increasingly recognizing that advanced conductors can help the grid meet all these challenges — while keeping costs down.
This moment of bipartisan alignment around a clear solution is enabling state and federal policies, along with technology and market forces, to work together to strengthen the U.S. grid for 21st-century energy demands.
A narrowing window for action
The clock is ticking on America’s grid. FERC’s five-year peak demand forecast has surged fivefold, fueled by data center growth, domestic manufacturing expansion, and accelerating electrification. Extreme weather is adding strain across regions, raising both outage risk and economic exposure.
What’s more: roughly 70% of U.S. transmission lines are more than 25 years old, with many nearing the end of their intended service life. These lines were never designed for today’s load profiles, but they’re now being asked to carry more power, more often. Meanwhile transmission expansion has struggled to keep pace, growing at under 1% per year and contributing to $11.5 billion in congestion costs in 2023 alone.
Taken together, these pressures narrow the range of practical choices — and the window for implementing them. Large new transmission projects are still important, but they take time. That makes near-term policy focus on solutions that can deliver meaningful gains using infrastructure already in place, opening the door for states to move quickly and lead from the ground up.
States lead the way
Across the country, states are moving first, and fast. Over the past two years, legislatures and regulators have begun updating transmission policy to drive grid performance in the nearest term, not just a decade from now.
Some states laid early groundwork. Montana’s 2023 HB 729 signaled what was coming by offering utilities a higher rate of return for deploying advanced conductors, explicitly rewarding performance-focused upgrades. Others followed with planning requirements that pushed advanced conductors into the mainstream of utility decision-making.
Momentum built through 2024. Virginia and Minnesota required utilities to consider grid-enhancing technologies, including advanced conductors, as part of integrated resource planning. California enacted SB 1006, directing utilities to evaluate where reconductoring with advanced conductors could deliver near-term capacity gains. Massachusetts passed legislation requiring advanced transmission technologies to be considered in new transmission projects.
The wave surged even higher in 2025, spreading across regions and political lines. Utah created a framework to speed the evaluation and deployment of grid-enhancing technologies. Indiana strengthened requirements for utility planning. South Carolina paired new transmission planning rules with growing in-state manufacturing capacity for advanced conductors. Maryland and Connecticut went further still, tying approval processes for new transmission projects directly to the use of advanced transmission technologies.
By late 2025, more than twenty states had passed or were advancing legislation related to grid-enhancing or advanced transmission technologies, with at least 10 enacting new laws in that year alone.
Federal policy reinforces the direction
Back in Washington, federal policy is shoring up state policies.
The High-Capacity Grid Act, introduced in December 2025, directs the use of best-available conductors for new interstate transmission lines and major rebuilds. Rather than prescribing a single solution, it sets a performance bar, nudging utilities toward technologies that deliver higher capacity and resilience.
FERC (the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) has taken a complementary approach. Order 1920, issued in 2024, strengthens long-term regional transmission planning and cost allocation, while requiring planners to evaluate grid-enhancing technologies such as advanced conductors. Importantly, this makes advanced conductors now part of every baseline analysis.
Boosting capacity and resilience with advanced conductors
This policy momentum exists for one simple fact: advanced conductors offer a practical way to strengthen the grid without waiting for entirely new lines. Their high-strength, low-sag designs improve performance in both summer heat and winter ice, helping lines carry more power while reducing risks tied to sag and mechanical stress. For utilities, familiar installation methods ease adoption, allowing crews to work with tools and techniques they already know.
Advanced conductors are especially effective in reconductoring projects. By upgrading existing lines within established rights-of-way, utilities can often double or triple capacity in a fraction of the time required to build new transmission. That speed matters especially now as demand rises faster than infrastructure.
All told, large-scale reconductoring with advanced conductors has the potential to save consumers tens of billions of dollars over the next decade, while dramatically accelerating the pace of transmission capacity expansion nationwide.
From policy to a stronger grid
America’s grid is under pressure from its own success — economic growth, electrification, and rising energy demand are all signs of progress. Meeting that demand means ensuring infrastructure can keep up.
Advanced conductors are emerging as the right solution at the right time. With states leading, federal policy reinforcing the direction, and broad bipartisan consensus around proven technology, the path forward is clear.
It’s time to turn regulatory momentum into tangible improvements, harnessing advanced conductors to forge a transmission network ready for the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.