America Was Built on Reliable Infrastructure. It’s Time to Build Again.
Over two centuries ago, a young nation declared that it would govern itself — that it would build something unprecedented, something worthy of future generations. And so it did — a system built on democracy, and a system of roads, canals, railroads, and bridges that stitched thirteen colonies into a continental economy.
We have every reason to be proud of what that generation built, and every generation since. But pride alone won’t power our homes, charge our electric vehicles, or keep the lights on during the next major storm. For that, we need to build again.
The infrastructure that powered the American Century is aging. The average transmission line in the United States is over 40 years old. Our grid was designed for a different era, one in which power flowed in a single direction from a handful of large generators to passive consumers. That model is evolving. Today, energy is generated on rooftops and in fields. It flows in multiple directions. It must respond instantly to the demands of an electrifying economy, and it must be resilient enough to withstand a changing climate.
Factories are reopening and reshoring, driven by an industrial policy that requires competitive energy costs. Communities are growing as new businesses invest, housing development expands, and local economies create new opportunities. Millions of Americans are switching to electric vehicles and heat pumps — good for consumers and the climate, but multiplying the demands on an already strained grid.
The good news is that we know exactly what to do. The United States needs to dramatically accelerate the buildout of transmission infrastructure — the high-voltage lines that move electricity from where it is generated to where it is needed. We need to modernize substations, deploy grid-enhancing technologies, and streamline the permitting processes that today can delay a critical transmission project by a decade or more. We need interstate collaboration, because electrons don’t stop at state borders and neither should our ambitions.
We also need to continue to invest in the fundamentals. Poles, wires, transformers, and substations are the foundation of the grid. By strengthening these essential assets, we can improve reliability today while creating the capacity needed to support growth and innovation tomorrow.
At Avangrid, this is the work we show up to do every day. We operate across 25 states — from New York and New England to Oregon and the wind-rich heartland — serving more than 3.4 million customers and generating over 10.5 gigawatts of power. New York is home to some of our deepest roots. Our utilities NYSEG and RG&E have served upstate communities for more than 170 years, and since 2023 we have invested more than $580 million across 265 grid projects statewide.
We recently completed major transmission upgrades on NYSEG’s Line 932 — ahead of schedule and under budget — the first milestone in our Powering New York program. We are also building a new 90-mile high-voltage transmission line from Long Island into New York City and Westchester County, delivering energy where it’s needed most.
Companywide, we’re investing billions in grid modernization through 2030. These investments mean shovels in the ground, lineworkers on the job, and communities better connected than before.
There is something deeply American about it. Every generation of this country has faced a moment when the infrastructure of the past was no longer sufficient for the ambitions of the future, and every generation rose to meet that moment. The Erie Canal. The Transcontinental Railroad. The Rural Electrification Act. The Interstate Highway System. Each was a bet on what America could become, and each paid off beyond what anyone dared to predict.
We are at one of those moments again. A modern grid is the foundation of economic competitiveness, national security, and energy independence. It is the platform on which the next century of American ingenuity will run.
The founders built a republic. Their successors built a continent. This generation’s charge is to build the grid — the connective tissue of a clean, reliable, and resilient energy future.
We need all of us to build — utility companies, labor, and policymakers, working side by side.
America has never been afraid to build. Let’s get to it.
Kim Harriman, Deputy CEO, Avangrid
