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Need for Speed: An Analysis of Speed to Market and Cost Results of Competitive Transmission: Part 2—Timing
In the second in a five-part series an R Street study by Kent Chandler and Olivia Mazagole published on May 26, 2026, evaluates whether competitive transmission development processes meaningfully affect the speed with which transmission infrastructure is planned and placed into service.
Specifically, this analysis examines whether the empirical evidence supports critics of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Order 1000 that argue that competitive solicitations create unnecessary delay.
Through regional case studies of the Southwest Power Pool (SPP), MISO, PJM, the New York Independent System Operator (NYISO), the California Independent System Operator (CAISO), and the Independent System Operator of New England (ISO-NE), the R Street study compare competitive and incumbent projects across two key timing metrics: the total time required to move a project from identified need to in-service completion and whether projects meet their initially estimated in-service dates. Together, these case studies provide a broader understanding of how transmission processes perform in practice and how timing outcomes compare.
The R Street study finds that Order 1000 transmission competition does not lead to significant delays. “In fact, even with solicitations and evaluations, the few competitive projects that have been placed into service have done so faster than, or on a timeline comparable to, similar incumbent projects.”
The study concludes that “[w]hile competitive solicitations take time to conduct—more than a year, in some instances—they do not delay needed transmission. Even taking into account the solicitation processes, competitive transmission planning and development timelines are consistent with incumbent timelines, and in many regions the competitive projects in service today were put into service faster than utility-developed transmission projects. If the length of competitive solicitations is a concern for policymakers, they should focus on changes or amendments to those processes to speed them along. If the length of solicitations is reduced, competitive projects would have an even greater advantage over incumbent developed transmission projects. However, transmission development delays are consistent between competitive and incumbent projects and across regions, indicating industry-wide factors that could benefit from further analysis.”
Read the full study here.
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