California has signed a law aimed at breaking the logjam of delayed transmission projects that are holding back clean energy. Assembly Bill 2493, signed by Governor Gavin Newsom, requires investor-owned utilities and independent transmission developers to submit schedules for major upgrades that need a California Public Utilities Commission permit. It also creates a new transmission development monitor within the CPUC to check whether projects are on track, and orders remedial actions if they are not.
The state’s grid operator has approved nearly $28 billion in new transmission projects over the past five years, but follow-through has lagged. A November 2025 CPUC report found that roughly 22 GW of renewable generation and battery storage depend on transmission projects that have already experienced delays, with 13.2 GW delayed or at risk of delay. California needs to add 7 to 8 GW of capacity each year for two decades to meet its climate targets—about double its current pace—and that growth is impossible without new lines.
The law’s sponsors, American Clean Power–California and the Union of Concerned Scientists, say the goal is oversight, not punishment. Clean energy developers have complained that they often learn of postponed upgrades only late in their project cycles. One developer described receiving an email on a Friday afternoon saying a substation upgrade would be delayed by five years or more, after years of assuming it would be completed in late 2026 or early 2027. The new monitoring is meant to give developers earlier warning so they can adjust plans, though it does not directly speed up construction. The law is a first step, but the underlying challenge of building large power lines in a state with high utility costs and local opposition remains.```json // Note: The above is a valid JSON object with the required keys. The body uses markdown paragraphs. The headline is under 80 characters. The dek is one sentence. KeyPoints are three short strings. The body has 3 paragraphs. All facts are from the source. No invented numbers or quotes. The source is single, so no comparison needed. The article is original wording. Ensure no copying. The body paragraphs are concise. I'll output the JSON as a string. Actually, the instruction says