Scrolling through my newsfeed this morning, I came across a piece of new transmission strife in the great state of Iowa. Basically, state senate Republicans are fighting a state supreme court decision that ruled a 2020 law giving preference to local utilities for transmission projects. Here’s how the case is described in the Des Moines Register article:
“The fight stems from a 2020 law that related to competitive bidding requirements for electric transmission lines, giving the "right of first refusal" for new projects to companies with existing infrastructure, like MidAmerican Energy and ITC Midwest.
The law passed after an overnight debate in the final hours of the 2020 legislative session and was later challenged in court by two companies, LS Power Midcontinent and Southwest Transmission, that said it unfairly prevented them from competing for future transmission projects.”
Local utilities and the law makers who back them argue that the law would ensure better, more reliable transmission development. They say utilities already operating in the state understand the needs of customers and the environmental challenges present in the state.
There are countless examples across different industries of outsiders messing up projects due to their ignorance of local circumstances. This is why big companies have localization teams. That being said, sometimes outsiders do things better because they are, well, better. At a time when the stakes for transmission development are so high, state’s should be encouraging competition, not protecting the status quo.