A wave of power projects capable of adding tens of gigawatts per year through 2030 is stuck waiting for regulatory approval, according to a new report from the Niskanen Center. The analysis argues that inefficient review processes are blocking scores of viable energy projects from connecting to the grid, and that straightforward policy reforms could unlock this supply within three to five years. The biggest opportunity to meet rising U.S. electricity demand isn't inventing new technologies—it's clearing the backlog of projects already ready to build.
The report identifies three main bottlenecks slowing down deployment of renewable energy, battery storage, and natural gas plants—all mature technologies that private companies are prepared to construct at scale. Grid operators currently study the electrical impact of each new power plant before allowing it to connect, a process meant to protect stability that has become massively clogged and now limits how much new capacity can be added each year. Federal environmental reviews and state-level authorizations also create delays that prevent plants from breaking ground even when financing and grid studies are complete. Existing transmission lines also lack sufficient spare capacity—what the report calls "headroom"—to accommodate additional generation without triggering lengthy infrastructure upgrades.
The report recommends that Congress direct the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to speed up interconnection reform by consolidating grid study processes, rewarding project readiness, and expanding automation through software. It also calls for streamlined federal environmental reviews and updated state and local authorization procedures, supported by technical assistance and peer exchange programs for governments that want to enable timely project development. On transmission constraints, the authors highlight reconductoring—retrofitting existing powerlines with advanced conductors—as a fast solution that involves minimal construction, little permitting oversight, and can create room for more power plant additions.
The analysis treats two popular alternatives—load flexibility and colocation—as helpful complements rather than substitutes for expanding supply. Load flexibility shifts when customers use electricity to avoid grid stress, while colocation connects large users directly to a dedicated power plant, bypassing the broader network. According to the report, these options aren't yet proven at scale, and "we still do not know whether large customers, grid operators, and other vital stakeholders can align enough to make these options viable." They can help in specific contexts—the report cites PJM's mid-Atlantic grid as an example where strong demand meets tough building conditions—but because they don't meaningfully grow the supply network themselves, they work best when layered onto an expanding system that supports economic growth across all sectors.
The report frames its recommendations as a near-term agenda distinct from long-term solutions like major interregional transmission lines or large volumes of clean firm power plants, which can't realistically reach scale before the 2030s. Even those future technologies will remain constrained without serious permitting reform, the authors warn. For the rest of this decade, the path to what the report calls "grid dominance" runs through expanding the network of power plants that use mature technologies built by experienced practitioners. The measures proposed would continue delivering benefits into the 2030s while scoring easy wins now by turbo-charging projects stuck in the pipeline—an agenda, the report concludes, for more power, much faster.