Power Infrastructure Resiliency & Eff.(PIRE).

GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
SESSION 2025
H 1
HOUSE BILL 814

Short Title: Power Infrastructure Resiliency & Eff.(PIRE). (Public)
Sponsors: Representatives K. Hall, Zenger, Gable, and T. Brown (Primary Sponsors).
For a complete list of sponsors, refer to the North Carolina General Assembly web site.
Referred to: Energy and Public Utilities, if favorable, Commerce and Economic Development,
if favorable, Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House
April 8, 2025
*H814-v-1*
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1
AN ACT PROMOTING THE USE OF ADVANCED CON DUCTORS AND GRID 2
ENHANCING TECHNOLOGIES. 3
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts: 4
SECTION 1. G.S. 62-2 reads as rewritten: 5
"§ 62-2. Declaration of policy. 6
(a) Upon investigation, it has been determined that the rates, services and operations of 7
public utilities as defined herein, are affected with the public interest and that the availability of 8
an adequate and reliable supply of electric power and natural gas to the people, economy and 9
government of North Carolina is a matter of public policy. It is hereby declared to be the policy 10
of the State of North Carolina: 11
… 12
(11) To promote, to the maximum extent practicable, the deployment of advanced 13
conductors and grid enhancing technologies to transport the regulated public 14
utilities' electric energy supply in the most efficient means practicable. To that 15
end, to require transmission planning to be coordinated with energy planning 16
and the fixing of rates in a manner to result in the least cost mix of generation 17
and transmission capital expenditure that is achievable. 18
…." 19
SECTION 2. G.S. 62-100 reads as rewritten: 20
"Article 5A. 21
"Siting of Transmission Lines. 22
"§ 62-100. Definitions. 23
As used in this Article: 24
(1) The term "begin to construct" includes Advanced conductors. – Any 25
conductor that has a direct current electrical resistance at least ten percent 26
(10%) lower than aluminum conductor steel reinforced lines of a similar 27
diameter. 28
(1a) Begin to construct. – Includes any clearing of land, excavation, or other action 29
that would adversely affect the natural environment of the route of a 30
transmission line; but that term does not include land surveys, boring to 31
ascertain geological conditions, or similar preliminary work undertaken to 32
determine the suitability of proposed routes for a transmission line that results 33
in temporary changes to the land. 34
General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2025
Page 2 House Bill 814-First Edition
(2) The word "county" means any County. – Any one of the counties listed in 1
G.S. 153A-10. 2
(2a) Grid enhancing technology. – Any hardware or software technology that 3
enhances the performance or improves the efficiency of a transmission 4
system. Includes energy storage as a transmission asset, dynamic line ratings, 5
advanced power flow control technology, topology optimization, and flexible 6
alternating current transmission systems. 7
(3) The word "land" means any Land. – Any real estate or any estate or interest 8
in real estate, including water and riparian rights, regardless of the use to 9
which it is devoted. 10
(4) The wo rd "lines" means distribution Lines. – Distribution lines and 11
transmission lines collectively. 12
(5) The word "municipality" means any Municipality. – Any incorporated 13
community, whether designated as a city, town, or village and any area over 14
which it exercises any of the powers granted by Chapter 160D of the General 15
Statutes. 16
(6) The term "public utility" means any Public utility. – Any of the following: 17
a. A public utility, as defined in G.S. 62-3(23). 18
b. An electric membership corporation. 19
c. A joint municipal power agency. 20
d. A city or county that is engaged in producing, generating, transmitting, 21
delivering, or furnishing electricity for private or public use. 22
(7) The term "transmission line" means an Transmission line. – An electric line 23
designed with a capacity of at least 161 kilovolts." 24
SECTION 3. G.S. 62-101 reads as rewritten: 25
"§ 62-101. Certificate to construct transmission line. 26
… 27
(c) A certificate is not required for construction of any of the following lines: 28
(1) A line designed to carry less than 161 kilovolts;kilovolts. 29
(2) The replacement or expansion of an existing line with a similar line in 30
substantially the same location, or the rebuilding, upgrading, modifying, 31
modernizing, or reconstructing of an existing line for the purpose of increasing 32
capacity by no greater than seventy-five percent (75%) of the existing lines or 33
widening an existing right-of-way;right-of-way. 34
(2a) The upgrading, modifying, modernizing, or reconstructing of an existing line 35
for the pur pose of increasing capacity solely through the deployment of 36
advanced conductors and/or grid enhancing technologies for any of the 37
following purposes: 38
a. Increasing transmission capacity. 39
b. Increasing transmission efficiency. 40
c. Reducing system congestion. 41
d. Reducing curtailment of energy generation resources. 42
e. Increasing reliability. 43
f. Increasing resiliency. 44
g. Increasing capacity to connect new generation resources. 45
(3) A transmission line over which the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission 46
has licensing jurisdiction, if the Commission determines that agency has 47
conducted a proceeding substantially equivalent to the proceeding required by 48
this Article;Article. 49
(4) Any transmission line for which, before March 6, 1989, a public utility or 50
other person has surveyed a proposed route and, based on that route, has 51
General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2025
House Bill 814-First Edition Page 3
acquired rights -of-way for it by voluntary conveyances or has filed 1
condemnation proceedings for acquiring those rights-of-way which, together, 2
involve twenty-five percent (25%) or more of the total length of the proposed 3
route;route. 4
(5) An electric membership corporation owned transmission line for which the 5
construction or upgrading has had a proceeding conducted which the 6
Commission determines is substantially equivalent to the proceeding required 7
by this Article;Article. 8
(6) Any line o wned by a municipality to be constructed wholly within the 9
corporate limits of that municipality. 10
…." 11
SECTION 4. G.S. 62-102 reads as rewritten: 12
"§ 62-102. Application for certificate. 13
(a) An applicant for the certificate described in G.S. 62-101 shall file an application with 14
the Commission containing all of the following information: 15
(1) The reasons the transmission line is needed;needed. 16
(2) A description of the proposed location of the transmission line;line. 17
(3) A description of the proposed transmission line;line. 18
(3a) Descriptions of any advanced reconductoring and/or grid enhancing 19
technologies to be utilized and a summary of the costs and benefits, including, 20
but not limited to, all of the following: 21
a. Increasing transmission capacity. 22
b. Increasing transmission efficiency. 23
c. Reducing system congestion. 24
d. Reducing curtailment of energy generation resources. 25
e. Increasing reliability. 26
f. Increasing resiliency. 27
g. Increasing capacity to connect new generation resources. 28
(3b) A description of any alternatives, including alternative configurations of 29
advanced reconductoring and/or grid enhancing technologies, evaluated but 30
not selected for the proposed transmission line and a summary of the costs and 31
benefits of these alternatives. 32
(4) An environmental report setting forth:forth all of the following: 33
a. The environmental impact of the proposed action;action. 34
b. Any proposed mitigating measures that may minimize the 35
environmental impact; andimpact. 36
c. Alternatives to the proposed action. 37
(5) A list of all necessary approvals that the applicant must obtain before it may 38
begin to construct the transmission line; andline. 39
(6) Any other information the Commission requires. 40
…." 41
SECTION 5. G.S. 62-110.9 reads as rewritten: 42
"§ 62 -110.9. Requirements concerning reductions in emissions of carbon dioxide from 43
electric public utilities. 44
The Utilities Commission shall take all reasonable steps to achieve a seventy percent (70%) 45
reduction in emissions of carbon dio xide (CO2) emitted in the State from electric generating 46
facilities owned or operated by electric public utilities from 2005 levels by the year 2030 and 47
carbon neutrality by the year 2050. For purposes of this section, (i) "electric public utility" means 48
any electric public utility as defined in G.S. 62-3(23) serving at least 150,000 North Carolina 49
retail jurisdictional customers as of January 1, 2021, and (ii) "carbon neutrality" means for every 50
ton of CO2 emitted in the State from electric generating faci lities owned or operated by or on 51
General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2025
Page 4 House Bill 814-First Edition
behalf of electric public utilities, an equivalent amount of CO2 is reduced, removed, prevented, 1
or offset, provided that the offsets are verifiable and do not exceed five percent (5%) of the 2
authorized reduction goal. In achieving the authorized carbon reduction goals, the Utilities 3
Commission shall: 4
… 5
(3) Ensure any generation and resource changes maintain or improve upon the 6
adequacy and reliability of the existing grid. The Carbon Plan shall require the 7
electric public utility to produce a report demonstrating it evaluated a range of 8
cost-effective transmission and distribution solutions, including advanced 9
reconductoring and/or grid enhancing technologies as defined in G.S. 62-100, 10
joint projects with neighboring and ot her regional utilities, other upgrades to 11
existing facilities, and other best practices. The report should include 12
descriptions of any advanced reconductoring and/or grid enhancing 13
technologies to be utilized and a summary of costs and benefits, and a 14
description of any alternatives, including alternative configurations of 15
advanced conductoring and/or grid enhancing technologies, evaluated but not 16
selected in the Carbon Plan and a summary of the costs and benefits of these 17
alternatives. The electric public utility shall also include all of the following 18
in the report: 19
a. Updates to the utility's transmission plan under the utility's open access 20
transmission tariff pursuant to the federal jurisdictional planning 21
process. In this report, the utility shall, when applicable, describe 22
planned transmission improvements specific to siting of new resources 23
expected to impact interconnection constraints or other operations of 24
the systems. The utility shall also describe how it evaluated alternate 25
transmission technologies when developing solutions for identified 26
transmission needs for interconnecting new generation resources. 27
b. A description of how transmission factored into the utility's evaluation 28
of the range of future scenarios included in the 15-year time period of 29
the utility's resource plan, including the retirement of the utility's coal 30
generation. 31
c. A discussion of transmission considerations for facilities included in 32
the utility's preferred resource plan for which there are particular sites 33
specified. 34
…." 35
SECTION 6. This act is effective when it becomes law. 36