Connecting People to Clean Power

The video series In Focus gives researchers at Resources for the Future (RFF) a platform to share insights related to current events in energy and the environment. The series launched in 2022; since then, In Focus videos have tackled topics that range from climate optimism to carbon dioxide removal.

Transcribed here is a video featuring Molly Robertson, a senior research associate at RFF. Robertson discusses how challenges in transporting electricity on the US electric grid may affect the clean energy transition. Renewable energy sources such as wind and solar often need to be located far from the centers of demand for electricity, and the construction of new transmission lines that connect electricity to consumers tends to be slow: costs and complex permitting processes can present obstacles to grid expansion. Robertson shares various policy solutions that can help facilitate the build-out of new transmission lines—relevant insights, given that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the federal agency that regulates the transmission of electricity across states, is working on a new regulation that could help accelerate the expansion of the grid.

This In Focus video was originally released on May 13, 2024. The transcript has been edited for length and clarity.

The clean energy transition is likely to strain infrastructure on the electric grid in the United States in a couple of key ways.

The first way relates to electrification. We anticipate that the grid system will experience a lot more demand as sectors like transportation and buildings transition to using electricity, so the existing electric grid and existing transmission lines will have to transport a lot more electricity.

The other way relates to cleaning up the mix of sources of electricity generation and the power sector itself. As we move to a clean energy system, we’re going to see a lot more wind and solar on the grid.

New wind and solar can’t just be plugged into the grid wherever the connections to the grid already exist or where demand for electricity is highest. You have to look for places where the sun and the wind are available to be captured. We’re going to have to build generation in the places where that generation is most beneficial and transport the electricity. That siting means that we’ll need more transmission lines that don’t currently exist.

Policymakers increasingly are becoming interested in solving this problem. A lot of proposals have been raised that potentially could deploy additional transmission lines. The first is tax credits for new transmission lines. A second is minimum electricity-transfer requirements between regions that would require new transmission to be built. The third is enhanced planning processes that would require regional transmission operators to think far in advance about transmission needs, where new generation and new electricity demand will grow, and how to connect those critical points of generation and demand.

We’re still waiting to see exactly how transmission policy will shape up, but a lot of people are thinking critically about how to solve these problems.