![]() Last year, Congress approved hundreds of billions of dollars for solar panels, wind turbines, electric vehicles and other technologies to tackle global warming. A recent draft analysis by the Department of Energy found “a pressing need for additional electric transmission” - especially between different regions. Study after study has found that broader grid upgrades would be hugely beneficial. Good Luck Plugging Them In.Īn explosion in proposed clean energy ventures has overwhelmed the system for connecting new power sources to homes and businesses. Has Billions for Wind and Solar Projects. ![]() “Utilities plan for local needs and build lines without thinking of the bigger picture,” said Christy Walsh, an attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council. ![]() While utilities and grid operators now spend roughly $25 billion per year on transmission, much of that consists of local upgrades instead of long-distance lines that could import cheaper, cleaner power from farther away. In recent decades, the country has hardly built any major high-voltage power lines that connect different grid regions. “Highways, gas, pipelines - all that is paid for and permitted at the federal level primarily.” “It’s very different from how we do other types of national infrastructure,” said Michael Goggin, vice president at Grid Strategies, a consulting group. The electric system was cobbled together over a century by thousands of independent utilities building smaller-scale grids to carry power from large coal, nuclear or gas plants to nearby customers.īy contrast, the kinds of longer-distance transmission lines that would transport wind and solar from remote rural areas often require the approval of multiple regional authorities, who often disagree over whether the lines are needed or who should pay for them. There is no single entity in charge of organizing the grid, the way the federal government oversaw the development of the Interstate Highway System in the 1950s and ‘60s. But the problems start with planning - or rather, a lack of planning. There are enormous challenges to building that much transmission, including convoluted permitting processes and potential opposition from local communities. Both maps show utility-scale renewable projects, but do not include distributed installations, like rooftop solar. Source: National Renewable Energy Laboratory | The 2035 map is based on the “All Options” path from NREL’s 100% Clean Electricity by 2035 Study. Transmission capacity would need to more than double in just over a decade: To understand the scale of what’s needed, compare today’s renewable energy and transmission system to one estimate of what it would take to reach the Biden administration’s goal of 100 percent clean electricity generation by 2035. To make the plan work, the nation would need thousands of miles of new high-voltage transmission lines - large power lines that would span multiple grid regions. That would mean building thousands of wind turbines across the gusty Great Plains and acres of solar arrays across the South, creating clean, low-cost electricity to power homes, vehicles and factories.īut many spots with the best sun and wind are far from cities and the existing grid. Tapping into the nation’s vast supplies of wind and solar energy would be one of the cheapest ways to cut the emissions that are dangerously heating the planet, studies have found. The last map shows how those three regions are further divided into dozens of regional operators and local utilities.Īmerica’s fragmented electric grid, which was largely built to accommodate coal and gas plants, is becoming a major obstacle to efforts to fight climate change. ![]() The second map shows how those lines are physically broken up into three grids - the Western, Eastern and Texas Interconnections - with only a few ties between them. The first one shows all the power lines across the United States. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |