Report: How California utilities value advanced transmission tech

California's three big utilities, ordered by a 2024 state law to study grid upgrade technology, found 85 possible near-term projects that could squeeze more power through existing transmission lines without building new ones. The tools include dynamic line rating, which uses sensors and software to let a line carry more power when weather conditions allow, and advanced reconductoring, which swaps old wires for higher-capacity ones. Utilities identified 23 lines as candidates for the first approach and 62 for the second.

Most of that potential sits in Southern California Edison's territory, which covers central California down the southern coast. SCE searched broadly across its whole system for good candidates and found value in upgrading nine of eleven lines it studied, some in as little as one or two years. Pacific Gas and Electric and San Diego Gas and Electric took a narrower approach, checking only a handful of lines already flagged for other reliability work, and found fewer opportunities as a result.

None of this guarantees the projects will get built. Analysts who reviewed the reports say utilities are still using old planning habits and cautious regulatory approaches that slow adoption, even though the technology itself is proven and, in some cases, has been used elsewhere for over a decade. For homeowners, faster and cheaper transmission upgrades could eventually help hold down electricity costs and improve reliability, particularly as California's power demand grows from data centers and clean energy goals. But that depends on whether utilities and regulators actually expand these programs beyond the pilot projects described in this first round of reports.