Advanced Reconductoring to Accelerate U.S. Grid Capacity
Memo to Peter Lake, White House National Energy Dominance Council. November 17, 2025.
Andrew Igdal, Joshua D. Rhodes, PhD, and Michael E. Webber, PhD — The University of Texas at Austin.
Executive Summary
Domestic electricity demand is rising rapidly for many reasons, including economic growth, increased industrial activity, and concentrated large loads from facilities such as data centers. Many existing transmission corridors are congested and lead times for new transmission lines are much longer than for new power plants. This mismatch in timelines inhibits the power sector’s ability to serve that load growth. Peer-reviewed and third-party analyses find that reconductoring — replacing wires on existing structures — can add large amounts of capacity faster, at far lower total cost, and with fewer permitting hurdles than building new transmission lines. As such, reconductoring should be one of the first actions considered for congested corridors and as a way to accelerate grid expansion.
Key Findings
- Advanced conductors (e.g., ACSS/TW, ACCC, TS, C7) and high-emissivity coatings (e.g., E3X) can unlock ~25–100%+ rating increases and reduce losses, often without tower replacements or new right-of-way.
- Peer-reviewed analysis in PNAS concludes that large-scale reconductoring with advanced composite-core conductors can effectively double transmission capacity within existing right-of-way, with limited additional permitting.
- Reconductoring can provide $180B in system cost savings by 2050 because of reduced grid congestion and increased resilience through interregional energy trade.
- A greenfield parallel 161-kV line costs $200M+ with ~5 years permitting, while reconductoring the same corridor costs under $10M in conductor materials and can be completed in months.
// updates
- publicationAdvanced conductors memo to the White House