Aug 19, 2024
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The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved the biggest changes in more than a decade to the way U.S. power lines are planned and fund
Excerpt from this New York Times story:
Federal regulators on Monday approved sweeping changes to how America’s electric grids are planned and funded, in a move that supporters hope could spur thousands of miles of new high-voltage power lines and make it easier to add more wind and solar energy.
The new rule by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which oversees interstate electricity transmission, is the most significant attempt in years to upgrade and expand the country’s creaking electricity network. Experts have warned that there aren’t nearly enough high-voltage power lines being built today, putting the country at greater risk of blackouts from extreme weather while making it harder to shift to renewable sources of energy and cope with rising electricity demand.
A big reason for the slow pace of grid expansion is that operators rarely plan for the long term, the commission said.
The nation’s three main electric grids are overseen by a patchwork of utilities and regional grid operators that mainly focus on ensuring the reliability of electricity to homes and businesses. When it comes to building new transmission lines, grid operators tend to be reactive, responding after a wind-farm developer asks to connect to the existing network or once a reliability problem is spotted.
The new federal rule, which was two years in the making, requires grid operators around the country to identify needs 20 years into the future, taking into account factors like changes in the energy mix, the growing number of states that require wind and solar power and the risks of extreme weather.
Grid planners would have to evaluate the benefits of new transmission lines, such as whether they would lower electricity costs or reduce the risk of blackouts, and develop methods for splitting the costs of those lines among customers and businesses.
The commission approved the rule by a 2-1 vote, with the two Democratic commissioners in favor and the lone Republican, Mark Christie, opposed. Mr. Christie said the rule would allow states that want more renewable energy to unfairly pass on the costs of the necessary grid upgrades to their neighbors.
Nationwide, energy companies have proposed more than 11,000 wind, solar and battery projects, but many are in limbo because there’s not enough capacity on the grid to accommodate them. What’s more, individual developers are currently required to pay for grid upgrades to accommodate their projects in a process that is piecemeal and slow.
Some critics say that’s like asking a trucking company to pay for an additional lane on a highway that all motorists ultimately use. A better approach, they say, would be to plan ahead for broad upgrades with the costs shared by a wide set of energy providers and users.
But the question of who pays for those grid expansions has sparked furious debate.
America’s electric grids may need to expand by two-thirds by 2035 to handle future growth in clean energy, the agency said. The nation isn’t
Excerpt from this New York Times story:
The Energy Department on Monday announced $1.3 billion to help build three large power lines across six states, part of a new gusher of money from Washington to upgrade America’s electric grids so they can handle more wind and solar power and better tolerate extreme weather.
But officials warned that money won’t be enough. In a major report published the same day, the Energy Department said that the nation’s vast network of transmission lines may need to expand by two-thirds or more by 2035 to meet President Biden’s goals to power the country with clean energy.
That would help slash carbon dioxide emitted by gas and coal-fired electric plants — pollution that is heating the planet. But it would require hundreds of billions of dollars in investment and a frenzied pace of construction. “We need to seriously build out transmission,” Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said.
There is no single grid. The nation’s electric system is divided into a patchwork of regions, each overseen by different operators. But many face similar challenges.
A major one is that there isn’t enough transmission capacity to carry power from far-flung wind and solar farms to population centers. Many regions are at risk of blackouts during heat waves or powerful storms, which are expected to worsen with climate change. Aging infrastructure needs to be replaced.
The Energy Department’s report, the National Transmission Needs Study, looks at which places would benefit from new or expanded power lines. For example, customers in parts of Wisconsin and Michigan pay high prices because local grids are too congested to bring in cheaper power from elsewhere. The Mid-Atlantic’s grid is vulnerable to electricity shortfalls during winter storms because it lacks sufficient capacity to import power from its neighbors.
But there are major barriers to grid expansion. While the study found that new transmission capacity between different regional grids would have large benefits, hardly any such projects have been built in recent decades, since they can require approval from more than one state or jurisdiction, leading to disagreements over who should pay.
The federal government has limited authority to direct grid planning, in contrast to the way it oversaw the Interstate Highway System. Some regions, like Texas and the Southeast, have resisted expanding transmission ties with their neighbors. And some utilities are wary of new long-distance lines that might undercut their local monopolies.
Even as technologies like wind, solar and electric cars spread, nations are falling far behind in building the power lines needed to support
Excerpt from this story from the New York Times:
Even as clean energy technologies like solar panels, wind turbines and electric vehicles spread rapidly across the globe, most countries are falling perilously behind in building the power lines and electric grids needed to support them, the International Energy Agency said Tuesday in an extensive analysis.
The report estimated that nations around the world will need to build or upgrade roughly 50 million miles of power lines by 2040 if they want to meet the goals they have set for adding vast amounts of renewable power, switching from gasoline-powered cars to plug-in vehicles and replacing gas furnaces with electric heat pumps.
That’s a staggering task, equivalent to nearly doubling the size of the world’s existing electric grids in just two decades. Countries would need to double their investment in transmission lines and other infrastructure, to $600 billion per year by 2030, the report said. Yet with the notable exception of China, investments in grids have been declining in many countries.
“Electric grids are really a blind spot for clean electricity everywhere,” Fatih Birol, director of the International Energy Agency, said in an interview earlier this year. “Policymakers are all thinking about building new renewable power plants but they haven’t paid the same attention to building grids. It’s like being focused on building the fastest, most beautiful car you possibly can, but then you forget to build the roads for it.”
Wind and solar power often require long-distance transmission lines to connect breezy and sunny regions in remote rural areas with population centers. Both of those sources are projected to account for 80 percent of new electric capacity between now and 2040, as countries seek cleaner sources of electricity to cut emissions and tackle climate change.
Some energy experts say battery-powered vehicles will increasingly help keep the lights on and support electric grids, rather than straining
Excerpt from this story from the New York Times:
In early March, strong winds brought down trees and power lines in the Nashville area, leaving thousands of homes without power. But about 20 miles outside the city an electric pickup truck fed energy to John and Rachelle Reigard’s home, keeping their lights on.
“You can look at all the houses around us, and they’re all off,” said Mr. Reigard, who bought the pickup, a Ford F-150 Lightning, more than a year ago. “A lot of people ask the question: ‘How do you have power?’”
The Reigards are part of a small group of pioneers using the batteries in their electric vehicles as a source of backup power for their homes. Energy and auto experts expect many more people to do the same in the coming years as auto and energy companies make it easier for people and businesses to tap the energy in electric cars for more than driving.
Electric grids are increasingly straining and buckling during extreme weather linked to climate change, including in lengthy heat waves, intense storms and devastating floods. Many people have bought generators or home solar and battery systems, often at great expense.
To some people, electric vehicles are a better option because they can serve multiple functions. Another big advantage: The battery in an F-150 Lightning or the electric Chevrolet Silverado pickup, which is expected to go on sale this year, can store a lot more energy than home batteries that are sometimes installed with rooftop solar panels. Pair an electric truck with a home solar system, the thinking goes, and a family could keep the lights on for days or even weeks.
The use of electric vehicles as a source of power has intrigued electric utility executives, including Pedro Pizarro, who heads the board of the Edison Electric Institute, the industry’s main trade organization, and is the chief executive of Edison International, which provides power to millions of homes and businesses in Southern California.
The significant adoptions of the renewable sources for the energy generation are due to the elimination of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases or the...
T&D World (19/09/2018)
Digital Substation Cybersecurity Challenge
… Mechanisms for compliance of importance to utilities include IEC 62351 for Power System Data and Communication Security and potentially also the IETF standards for communications. Cioraca believes that IEC 62443 relating to the security of industrial control systems, including design guidance and technical requirements, also will be of increasing importance for the certification of suppliers and equipment.
USDA Loans Almost $250M To Light Up Electric Grid In Rural Ga.
USDA Loans Almost $250M To Light Up Electric Grid In Rural Ga.
Six electric utilities in Georgia will receive close to $250 million in loans from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.The loans will allow utility companies to expand their electric grids in rural communities and for some to build smart grids. It will allow us to serve new office parks, new subdivisions as they come online because growth is beginning to pick up again – Bonnie Jones, Jackson EMC…
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