The $ 1 trillion infrastructure bill is a step towards the US network we need

Any effective plan to combat climate change depends on basic technology: long wires stretched across tall towers.

The U.S. needs to add hundreds of thousands of miles of transmission lines in the coming decades to connect the fragmented energy systems of the regions together in a compatible network capable of supporting the massive arrival of renewables.

A national short-line spur line and long-distance high-voltage wire network would supply wind, solar and hydroelectric power where it is available throughout the country. Heat waves or winter storms can help provide reliable backup when they cause regional energy shortages, and demand will continue to increase as homes and businesses rely more and more on electricity to power their vehicles, heating systems and so on.

It’s a great approach with some serious flaws. To begin with, it would cost hundreds of billions of dollars to build the necessary power lines this decade. Princeton head examination they have found that they will need an additional $ 350 billion to develop the necessary transmission capacity for the U.S. over the next nine years. According to a scenario that will supply half of the country’s electricity from wind and solar by 2030, the nation is on track to leave it without emissions by the middle of the century.

Even if the government and companies release the necessary funds, the challenge is even more difficult: states, regions, cities, and towns across the nation should quickly sign off on a number of new transmission lines. The U.S. has become horrible at allowing multi-state projects.

A range of efforts cheap, clean delivery Canadian hydroelectric power, wind from the Great Plains, and a mix of renewables from the southwest they have been immersed or marginalized in legal struggles for years, often because a single region prevented them from cutting wires from their land. Large network projects under construction also require a decade to work on the approval process.

There may be some support along the way. Approximately $ 1 trillion infrastructure package moving forward in a Senate with the support of both parties provides billions of dollars for transmission lines. It also includes some provisions that may be even more important than money, improving and clarifying federal power over project approvals.

However, the package allows for a small investment advance and any changes that will be required.

‘Left behind’

The US does not have a single network. It has three ages, disconnected systems, largely built in the middle of the last century, with limited capacity to exchange electricity in larger states and regions. This is a problem, as the power plant can be located hundreds of kilometers from the main cities with the highest demand for electricity.

Isolated grids mean that electricity from fluctuating sources such as the sun and wind can only be sent so far, wasting part of the output and lowering prices, when generations exceed regional demand, especially in windy and sunny areas. the share of these sources grows). For example, California cannot send excess solar energy to the Midwest in the middle of a summer day, nor can it force wind power, for example, from Oklahoma, when the sun begins to dive on the West Coast.

Operators in an integrated grid can take the lowest electricity cost in a much larger area and move it to high-demand locations, said Doug Arent, executive director of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. This includes the fact that renewable sources are being pumped out of electricity at any given time wind in Wyoming or the sun in Florida.

The long-distance, high-voltage transmission line allows more solar, wind, hydro, and geothermal plants to be supplied in regions equipped with weather, geology, or waterways, ensuring larger customer bases in potential cities. one or two zones away.

Recently Presentation by Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory we noted that it already has more than 750 gigawatts of power generation proposals in line in five U.S. regions, waiting for transmission connections that could reach customers for electricity. Most of them are solar and wind projects. (By way of comparison, The entire US fleet large-scale plants can generate just over 1,100 gigawatts.)

Other countries are moving forward on the field. China is created as the world’s leading leader in high-voltage transmission, it is building thousands of miles of these lines to connect power plants to cities across the nation. But while China developed 260 gigawatts of transmission capacity between 2014 and 2021, all of North America added only seven, according to a survey Directed by Iowa State University.

“The U.S. is behind it, but it has every reason to be caught,” said James McCalley, a professor of power systems engineering at Iowa State University and analysis of the national network it was published at the end of last year in a note.

Part of what is needed

So how would the U.S. begin to close that gap?

First, he will need more money. Although the Biden administration is proud of its $ 73 billion infrastructure package for “clean energy transportation,” these funds are distributed in a variety of clean energy efforts, including research and development and demonstration projects in areas such as carbon capture and clean hydrogen.

The current version of the infrastructure package leaves only between $ 10,000 and $ 12 billion to specifically lift transmission towers and wires, said Rob Gramlich, president of the energy consulting firm Grid Strategies.

Princeton research is part of the amount that the U.S. will have to put into work over the next nine years. Although federal spending is designed to unlock private capital, the U.S. would have to invest tens of billions more to reach the necessary scales this decade, says Jesse Jenkins, author of research at Princeton and an assistant professor at the university.

It also establishes a $ 2.5 billion revolving loan program for projects, which effectively makes the Department of Energy an initial customer of new transportation lines. This federal funding can help move forward with long-term transmission projects that will be needed, but only before the developer aligns customers. Observers say the problem of chicken and eggs between building more electricity generation and building lines to transport it could alleviate the perpetual problem.

Eventually, the federal government will be able to sell these rights to clean the power plants that need access to these lines.

Jenkins says it is a promising policy tool that “needs another zero on that budget line.”

Granting permits

Although money is scarce, the proposed infrastructure bill addresses the logjam of approval.

In many parts of the United States, the long-standing challenge has been to grow the capacity to generate electricity and power demand faster than the transmission systems needed to support it. People and businesses want cheap and reliable electricity, but few take the necessary transmission towers and wires, especially as they provide electricity and economic benefits to remote areas. They tend to be aesthetic, environmental social justice and critiques of business competition as well.

“If we are to meet our climate goals, we need to find ways to support these big transmission projects, and we have historically made an effort,” said Lindsey Walter, deputy director of the Third Way climate and energy program. , Washington DC center-left center, in an email.

An energy law in 2005 sought to address these tensions Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Ability to enter and log into projects that may alleviate transmission limitations in certain areas of the so-called national electric transportation corridor. But so far, the Department of Energy has designated only two such sites, in the mid-Atlantic and Southern California.

In addition, the Federal Court of Appeals eventually, FERC’s authority was limited, finding that the state or other jurisdictions had the right to log in to the projects if they applied for more than a year. The court ruled that he was not able to accept the state of the petitions under the law.