Relating to grid-enhancing technologies and reconductoring, including study and reporting requirements

This bill relates to grid-enhancing technologies and reconductoring. The bill defines terms related to electric transmission capacity, congestion, and grid-enhancing technologies. The bill requires each public utility or transmission company that owns or operates electric transmission lines in Iowa to prepare and submit by January 1, 2027, and every three years thereafter, a public study to the Iowa utilities commission (commission) examining the feasibility of projects using grid-enhancing technologies and identifying reconductoring opportunities. The bill requires the study to provide information on feasibility, costs, implementation time, and other information deemed relevant by the commission. The study must be designed to identify projects that can achieve one or more specified purposes, including increasing transmission capacity, reducing congestion, reducing curtailment of renewable and zero-carbon resources, improving reliability, reducing siting conflicts, increasing flexibility to reduce risks surrounding technology, reducing line losses, increasing flexibility in transmission planning, and improving the ability to serve new customers or increased customer load. The bill does not apply to a municipal utility, a cooperative electric association, or a company or organization that owns a transmission line that serves a single customer or interconnects a single electric generating facility. The bill allows public utilities and electric transmission line companies to rely on existing analyses and information developed by a regional transmission organization or its subgroups to satisfy the study requirements and to include that information as necessary.