US Must Socialize Grid to Add Renewable Energy, Study Finds

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Antiquated infrastructure

Due to years of underinvestment, most of the technology is between 25 and 60 years old. Antiquated transmission infrastructure is not only limiting the utilization of renewable energy resources, but it is also hindering means of mitigating their intermittency.

Our grid was designed to deliver local power from small coal-fired utilities to the consumers near by. Even without adding stranded renewable power, transmission bottlenecks impact daily power delivery.

Like herding cats

All these convoluted sociopolitical and institutional obstacles have historically prevented the modernization of transmission infrastructure. Not just NIMBYism, but balkanized ownership, fragmented regulatory authorities, and institutional disincentives are in the way.

Unlike most other countries, the United States cannot easily restructure its electricity sector by divesting state‐owned generation assets and consolidating transmission assets into a national monopoly. FERC can only attempt to cajole this multitude of owners and interests to a common cause.

Two thirds of the population (in the Northeast, Mid‐Atlantic, and much of the Midwest, Texas, and California) have competitive power markets operated under an ISO or a RTO; the rest of the country has traditional vertically integrated utilities.

Currently all the counties, townships, and communities along the transmission line can require local approval. And if the line crosses any federal lands or waterways, it will require additional approvals from relevant federal agencies.

A major risk to a transmission project is the possible failure in obtaining site approval from multiple jurisdictions. There have been cases where transmission projects were canceled due to continued local opposition even after site approval. Many states now have renewable energy contracts stuck in this limbo.

Our generation well outpaces transmission abilities – hindering renewable adoption


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