To the Editor:
A report released recently by the Center for Rural Affairs, Opportunity on the Line: Transmission infrastructure remains largest obstacle to meaningful expansion of renewable energy, finds that expansion of the electric transmission grid is key to building a clean energy future.
And an improved grid is necessary to bring more wind energy online, creating rural jobs in the transmission and wind industries.
Clean energy transmission plays an important role in providing opportunity for rural economic development while securing a clean energy future. Tapping the vast renewable resources at our disposal requires a commitment to building high-capacity transmission infrastructure in regions rich in wind potential.
The electric power transmission network was not designed to penetrate lightly populated regions of the upper Midwest and Great Plains, a region brimming with wind energy potential. Instead, the grid was designed to connect large, individual generating units with discrete population centers.
It is abundantly clear that those states with the greatest wind resources – and therefore the greatest development potential – are leaving a lot on the table when it comes to economic development and energy independence within their respective states.
According to the report, an examination of the transmission infrastructure now in place throughout the 10 states rated by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory as having the highest potential for wind development emphasizes this point. Lines of 400 kV or larger are needed in greater numbers if Midwest and Great Plains states hope to commit to integrating significant amounts of wind power into their energy portfolio.
Of the 37,736 miles of lines greater than 400 kV, only 2,348 – 6 percent – are located in the top 10 states for wind energy potential. Astonishingly, of the 3,710 miles of lines capable of carrying capacity greater than 600 kV, only nine miles are located in states that lead the nation in capacity potential, accounting for less than 1 percent of the total.
More efficient use of infrastructure now in place is a critical first step, a goal made especially important as coal-fired power plants throughout the region continue to close.
Commitment to an improved, expanded grid must come next. It is imperative that utilities come to terms with the situation at hand and begin to address the most obvious of the capacity shortfalls now stymieing development.
A copy of the complete report can be viewed or downloaded at files.cfra.org/pdf/OpportunityontheLine.pdf.
Energy Policy Advocate at the Center for Rural Affairs