Renewables in the queue: capital landing and the present crisis in power transmission

Knuth, Sarah; Ventrella, Jennifer

Abstract

As renewable energy investment continues to boom internationally, where this capital is landing – and, conversely, where and why it is failing to land – are equally important questions. This paper examines renewable power transmission as a crucial yet under-researched influence. Ability to interconnect to grids and to do so in a timely manner, the affordability of that access and the state of the grid once projects are connected all shape how profitable new generation will be. Financial expectations about those conditions may determine whether projects are built at all. Transmission grids thus have an important capacity to either enable or block renewable capital landing. Moreover, grid assets are increasingly becoming an object of speculative investment in their own right. We explore these questions via current dilemmas in the fragmented US grid. Ballooning costs and delays in interconnecting new renewables are a mounting crisis, shaped by neoliberal legacies of electricity deregulation/market liberalisation and underinvestment and exacerbated by expanded Biden-era subsidies for renewable generation. They have become a leading cause of US project abandonment. Ongoing US transmission debates speak to the vital role of the state despite mainstream narratives of an ‘after-subsidy’ renewables transition, in a derisking capacity but also beyond.

Citation

Knuth, S., & Ventrella, J. (2025). Renewables in the queue: capital landing and the present crisis in power transmission. Finance and Space, 2(1), 77-94. https://doi.org/10.1080/2833115x.2025.2481071

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Feb 21, 2025
• Online Publication Date: Apr 23, 2025
• Publication Date: 2025
• Deposit Date: May 29, 2025
• Publicly Available Date: May 29, 2025
• Journal: Finance and Space
• Print ISSN: 2833-115X
• Electronic ISSN: 2833-115X
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis Group
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 2
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 77-94
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/2833115x.2025.2481071
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/3967034