The rate of grid expansion needs to double to bring wind and solar online and would cost $700 billion. Advocates want utilities and grid operators to build infrastructure that aligns with the states’ clean energy goals.
For years, many states have set ambitious goals and incentives to promote renewable electricity projects. Now, more of those states are turning their attention to the transmission lines, substations and transformers needed to get that electricity from wind farms and solar plants into homes and businesses.
Congress has invested billions in boosting clean energy. But the money won’t lower emissions as much as predicted without “more than doubling” the last decade’s rate of grid expansion, Princeton University researchers noted last year. That expansion is needed to support the new renewable energy projects coming online, as well as the growing number of electric vehicles, heat pumps and other technologies requiring electricity.
Jon Wellinghoff, former chair of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the CEO and founder of GridPolicy Consulting, which works with governments and companies to support clean energy deployment, agreed that expanding the grid needs to be a top priority.
Alex Brown, Stateline.org
Jan. 26, 2023