Transmission investments began declining after 2015. Now, we're trying to catch back up.

The U.S. Department of Energy released its latest transmission needs report this month, and among the 200 pages of the in-depth report on the county's transmission infrastructure, I came across a little nugget. 

The following refers to a recent review the DOE made on transmission data between 2011 and 2020. 

"Most of these investments were made in the first half of the decade, with transmission investments steadily declining since 2015," the report says. 

The report, at least as much I've read of it so far, does not dive deeply into why transmission investment fell off after 2015, other than to say there were price constraints. Of course, had the U.S. kept its transmission investment steady after 2015, we would still be far behind what we need in order to achieve the renewable future we now prioritize. 

The price constraints on transmission remain a challenge but they have been lightened by the blizzard of incentives at the federal and state level to build transmission infrastructure. If you have further insight into what happened after 2015 to cause transmission investments to fall off at a time when renewable technology was beginning to pick up and transmission was in high demand, then I would love for you to comment or message me privately.