Reality Check: The United States Has the Only Major Power Grid without a Plan

The US power grid is described as highly fragmented, consisting of three isolated interconnections (Eastern, Western, and ERCOT) and 12 transmission planning regions, lacking a national-scale development plan unlike the EU or China. This fragmentation hinders the coordinated response needed for extreme weather events, such as Winter Storm Uri and Winter Storm Elliott. The author advocates for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to mandate both a minimum amount of inter-regional transfer capability based on a simple metric and a robust, scenario-based inter-regional planning process to ensure resource sharing and cost-effective resilience.

• The US electric grid is fragmented into three separate, electrically isolated sections: the Eastern, Western, and ERCOT interconnections. Within these, transmission planning is further isolated, with only six of the 12 planning regions operating as full Regional Transmission Organizations (RTOs) with the authority to conduct regional planning; the other five in the West and Southeast are loose associations of utilities that plan primarily for local territories.
• Unlike the European Union and China, which have continental or national-scale grid development plans, the United States lacks a comprehensive macro grid plan. This fragmentation makes the grid vulnerable to climate-driven extreme weather, such as Winter Storm Uri in 2021, which resulted in over 210 deaths, power loss for nearly 70 percent of Texans, and at least $80 billion in costs.
• Increasing inter-regional transfer capability—the ability to move power between regions—could provide significant economic and resilience benefits. For example, adding one gigawatt of transmission capacity between ERCOT and the Southeastern US could have saved nearly $1 billion and maintained heating for hundreds of thousands of people during Winter Storm Uri.
• To address these vulnerabilities, the author recommends that FERC implement a hybrid approach: mandating a minimum amount of inter-regional transfer capability based on a simple, actionable metric and establishing a robust, forward-looking, scenario-based inter-regional transmission planning process.

APA

RMI (2023). Reality Check: The United States Has the Only Major Power Grid without a Plan. https://rmi.org/resources/the-united-states-has-the-only-major-power-grid-without-a-plan/

Chicago

RMI. Reality Check: The United States Has the Only Major Power Grid without a Plan. 2023. https://rmi.org/resources/the-united-states-has-the-only-major-power-grid-without-a-plan/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=RMI |title=Reality Check: The United States Has the Only Major Power Grid without a Plan |date=12 January 2023 |url=https://rmi.org/resources/the-united-states-has-the-only-major-power-grid-without-a-plan/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rmi2023reality, author = {{RMI}}, title = {{Reality Check: The United States Has the Only Major Power Grid without a Plan}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2023}, month = jan, url = {https://rmi.org/resources/the-united-states-has-the-only-major-power-grid-without-a-plan/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }