The Missing Machine is a visual exploration of the power transmission grid - a vital but often-overlooked component of the transition to clean energy. The world’s power grids have been called the largest and most complex machines humanity has ever built. Yet new transmission lines are increasingly challenging to build in the United States - especially the long-distance multi-state lines needed to connect clean energy from more remote areas to the grid.

Both our economy and our emissions trajectory are increasingly dependent on access to large amounts of electricity. From AI to manufacturing, much of American economic growth is being driven by sectors that rely on timely and reliable power. At the same time, some of the most attractive places to build clean energy like solar and wind are often far away from major demand centers.

New and upgraded transmission lines will be essential in connecting supply to demand: leading studies estimate that we need to double the current capacity of the US transmission grid by 2050 to meet the power demands of an increasingly electrified economy while shifting to 100 percent clean energy.

Unfortunately, we’ve all but stopped building new transmission lines in the US: 2023 we completed around 250 miles of new lines, compared to nearly 5,000 miles in 2013. There are many reasons for this slowdown, but complex permitting, local opposition, and piecemeal state and federal policy all contribute. If we don’t build more transmission capacity going forward, power in the US will be more expensive, less reliable, and dirtier than it should be.

I am hoping that photography can make this topic more accessible: both to energy wonks and to those who’ve never thought about power lines. America needs to fall in love with building infrastructure again, and photography speaks to the heart in a way that reports and graphs cannot.