Powering an Equitable Energy Transition: Transmission, Affordability, and Upstream Governance in California

Brightline Defense is a San Francisco-based nonprofit advancing environmental justice and clean energy policy to ensure low-income and frontline communities benefit from California’s energy transition. As electrification accelerates and electricity demand grows, transmission expansion has become central to achieving California’s climate goals. The Capstone team analyzed national transmission buildout efforts that protect affordability, community well-being, and environmental justice outcomes. Through a literature review, landscape analysis, and multi-state case studies, the team examined policy, financing, technological, and governance conditions shaping transmission deployment and identified strategic entry points for Brightline to influence state-level decisions. Findings highlight demand uncertainty from large industrial loads, fragmented financing and insurance structures, stalled grid-enhancing technologies, and the risk that transmission expansion may deepen existing community inequities. The team developed six recommendations, aligned to feasibility and time horizon, which form a phased advocacy strategy to influence planning, financing, and regulatory design to protect frontline communities and secure transmission affordability in California.