New generation and new demand drive new transmission plans. To paraphrase Mark Twain, reports of the death - or even decline - of investments in electric transmission appear to be greatly exaggerated. According to a March 2015 report from the Edison Electric Institute (EEI), U.S. utilities and their partners are involved in at least 170 transmission projects, representing $47.9 billion in transmission investments through 2025. Those numbers, EEI adds, represent only a portion of the total transmission investment it anticipates coming from its members over the next 10 years. Of those projects, EEI sees interstate transmission projects accounting for 40%, or $19.2 billion, of the total and projects supporting the integration of renewable resources representing 46%, or $22.1 billion, of the total (projects can be both types, of course). Fully, 66% of the current and planned transmission projects - an estimated value of $31.5 billion - consist of high-voltage projects of 345 kV and above.
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