Planning the Power Grid
Setting a New Standard for Energy
We need to plan for the power grid of tomorrow, but tomorrow is already here. Our transmission system is facing reliability and capacity challenges at a time of increasing electricity demand, and it will take an urgent, collaborative approach to keep up.
The solution begins with uniting on a long-term vision for the future grid and identifying the transmission needed to facilitate that future. Let’s get started.
What Planning the Grid of Tomorrow Means
A collaborative approach to transmission planning is needed to ensure reliability and meet rising demand, but it doesn’t stop there. Planning today can help to shape the future grid and the broader economy, in the same way the planning the interstate highway system shaped American economy in the 20th century. Regardless of the vision we hold for our future, transmission planning today holds the key.
Capacity Improvements
Adding transmission capacity can help to facilitate the growing demand for renewable resources and distributed generation while ensuring these resources can be added to the grid at the lowest possible cost.
Grid Hardening
Building transmission infrastructure that can withstand increasingly extreme weather and natural and human-made threats.
System Redundancies
Adding redundancies can ensure we have a grid that is flexible and can respond to whatever the future brings.
Interregional Connections
Linking transmission systems across regional boundaries allows sharing of power, additional access to lowest cost generation resources and additional flexibility in times of system stress.
Moving from Regional to Interregional Planning
The U.S. power grid is not a monolithic entity—it’s actually three different grids, run by a patchwork of different utilities, independent system operators (ISOs) and regional transmission organizations (RTOs). See Key Energy Terms.
These ISOs and RTOs have made great strides in recent years on conducting more holistic, regional planning of large-scale transmission projects, as opposed to strictly state-level planning. But we must do more to prepare for our energy future.
The most pressing need now is for RTOs and utilities to continue to press ahead with collaborative regional planning efforts that have shown success. In addition, we must work together to plan and build a truly interregional grid that connects new generation to where it’s needed most.
Transforming Transmission Planning
Encouraging regional and interregional transmission planning will require coordination on a massive level. It also will require federal policy changes, such as FERC Order 1920, that:
- Ensure a regular cadence for regional and interregional planning efforts and facilitate stakeholder input necessary to model the future grid.
- Require input from all stakeholders (RTOs, state, utilities, etc.) earlier in the planning process to limit objections later on.
- Allocate costs fairly among all stakeholders and beneficiaries.
- Remove disincentives to collaborative planning, such as competitive solicitations, which only add conflict and delay to the planning process.
- Reform permitting and siting procedures to reduce unnecessary litigation.
By fully implementing positive updates like Order 1920, we can strengthen our power grid while also putting downward pressure on electrical rates by providing wider access to the lowest cost generation. That’s beneficial for all of us.