“The sweeping push to replace fossil fuel plants with clean energy is forcing US power grids to the brink of a twin crisis, making electricity unaffordable while raising the specter of more frequent blackouts, a member of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said.”
This is not how I wanted to start my week. That being said, the grim outlook layed out in this BNN Bloomberg article isn’t really news to anyone who follows the power industry in the USA. The country is in the middle of a renewable revolution that promises to mitigate climate change. Unfortunately, as it’s currently being undertaken, the renewable transition also compromises service reliability and increases costs.
As the article explains, there are a number of reasons reliability is decreasing while prices go up. A dearth of investment in natural gas infrastructure, premature fossil fuel generation retirement, and worsening weather all play a role.
Transmission development, or lack thereof, is also to blame. Here’s what the article says:
“More transmission lines are needed to better move power across the country, however, states need to step up their scrutiny before approving lines to ensure consumers aren’t slammed with excess costs, he said. State regulators are in the best position to site and approve lines, not federal regulators, he added. The problem is that numerous states don’t have the authority to review certain local projects, Christie said based on recent testimony from state representatives.
FERC already has authority to approve a transmission line over the objections of state officials, and the Energy Department is working to declare “national interest” transmission corridors. Lawmakers in Congress are weighing permitting reform legislation that would strengthen federal transmission siting even more. “I do not think, as a matter of policy -– if Congress wants my opinion -– that we should be in the siting of transmission lines,” Christie said.”
Whether you agree with Christie’s solution or not, it’s hard to argue with the diagnosis. America has a transmission crisis. The country simply is not building enough big lines fast enough. Consider this fact pointed out in an Atlantic article last year: “Since 2009, China has built more than 18,000 miles of ultrahigh-voltage transmission lines. The U.S. has built zero.”
Even before the big energy crunch, when generation was cheaper than ever, our putrid infrastructure kept electricity prices high. This is illustrated in this graphic.
And for basically the same reasons an underdeveloped transmission system raises prices, it slows the country’s transition to green energy. All the wind and solar power in the world is no good if it can’t be delivered to the metropolitan areas that need it most.
Cumbersome regulations and NIMBYISM are mostly to blame for the nation’s stagnant transmission system. A 2018 report by the nonprofit Americans for a Clean Energy Grid identified 22 shovel-ready projects that had been in existence for a decade or more. To get such projects off the ground, the report’s authors suggested streamlining project siting and permitting, passing a tax credit for transmission projects, and direct investment by the federal government.
Unfortunately, this problem doesn’t seem to be going away. Check out this recent service announcement from the BLM in California: "BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT INVITES PUBLIC INPUT ON PROPOSED TRANSMISSION LINE IMPROVEMENTS IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA."
Who do you think is going to show up to this community input session? Your typical Californian who would appreciate all the aforementioned benefits of better transmission? No, that citizen simply isn’t privy to these developments. The people who give input in these situations are disproportionately from the minority who oppose vital infrastructure for one reason or another.
Meanwhile, why America invites curmudgeons to delay and derail important transmission projects, China steams ahead with another giant line:
"The third power transmission line from south China's Guangdong Province to the Macao Special Administrative Region was put into operation on Friday, which will increase the transmission capacity by 30 percent.
It is a 10.3-kilometer-long underground cable, connecting Guangdong's Zhuhai City and Macao.
"Following the operation of this line, the network of power transmission by three lines in the south, middle and north is now established between Guangdong and Macao, enhancing the reliability of power supply from the mainland to Macao," said Chen Shengran, general manager of the China Southern Power Grid International Corporation. "Even in case of an extreme situation, such as typhoon or earthquake, when one of the lines is cut off and cannot work, the other two can still keep the power grid in safe and stable operation."'