The Macro Grid Initiative is a joint effort of the American Council on Renewable Energy and Americans for a Clean Energy Grid to promote investment in a 21st century transmission infrastructure that enhances reliability, improves efficiency and delivers more low-cost clean energy.
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In This Update:
- New Research: Consumer, Employment, and Environmental Benefits of Electricity Transmission Expansion in the Eastern U.S.
- ACORE’s Grid Forum to Focus on Transmission Opportunities and Challenges
- National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) Interconnections Seam Study Goes Public
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“Just as a generation of workers built the interstate highway system, a new generation of clean energy workers can rebuild our economy by expanding renewable energy and creating a national macro grid.”
– Representative Kathy Castor, Chair of the House Select Committee
on the Climate Crisis, in The Hill
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New Research: Consumer, Employment, and Environmental Benefits of Electricity Transmission Expansion in the Eastern U.S.
Vibrant Clean Energy (VCE) and Grid Strategies released new research showing that transmission investments in the eastern United States can cost-effectively reduce electric sector CO 2 emissions 95% by enabling the region to obtain over 80% of its electricity from wind and solar by 2050. According to the analysis, increased access to low-cost renewable resources reduces average electric bill rates by 3 cents/kWh, translating to more than $300 in annual household savings. These infrastructure investments would create 6 million net new jobs, increasing electric sector employment nearly 5-fold to more than 7.6 million over the next several decades.
The study evaluated four scenarios, with varying degrees of CO 2 emission reductions and relative shares of wind and solar deployment. Many of the same transmission upgrades were built across all four scenarios, indicating these investments will be needed regardless of future wind and solar cost trends. The cost of transmission was less than half a cent per kWh in all scenarios yet yielded savings many times greater than that. The model also used battery storage to increase the utilization of transmission lines. That modeling demonstrated that storage is a transmission complement, and not a substitute, reinforcing the findings of similar studies.
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ACORE’s Grid Forum to Focus on Transmission Opportunities and Challenges
ACORE’s 2020 Grid Forum, which will be held virtually on November 17-18 this year, will look at business opportunities, policy and regulatory issues, and technology challenges associated with expanding and upgrading the transmission needed to integrate higher levels of renewable resources. Keynote speakers include FERC Commissioner Richard Glick; Congressman Sean Casten; CEO of MISO John Bear; President of the NRECA Board of Directors Curtis Wynn; and Chair of the CAISO Board of Governors Angelina Galiteva. And mark your calendars—on Day 2 of the conference, the Macro Grid Initiative will be publicly releasing a new survey from Iowa State University of Macro Grid projects around the world. Tickets for the ACORE Grid Forum are currently buy-one-get-one free. To register, please click here.
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National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) Interconnections Seam Study Publicly Available
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) conducted the Interconnections Seam Study to analyze the costs and benefits of optimized nationwide transmission expansion. NREL analyzed several scenarios to determine the costs and benefits of transmission connecting the U.S. electricity grids, including the benefits of building a nationwide, high-voltage direct current (HVDC) network.
Each scenario was run under two separate policy cases – the current policy case and a case where carbon pricing grows at a rate of $3/metric ton of CO 2 per year reaching $40/metric ton by 2038. Under the carbon pricing case, the benefit-to-cost ratio for transmission expansion crossing the seam ranged from $2.48-$3.30 per $1 invested over a 15-year period. Additionally, the study found annual production cost savings to range from $0.8 billion to $2.5 billion over a 15-year period under the current policy case and from $1.9 billion to $3.8 billion over a 15-year period under the carbon pricing case.
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In Case You Missed It...
- How a New Generation of Clean Energy Workers Can Help Us Build Back Better, Rep. Kathy Castor (D-FL), Chair of the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis
Salient quote: “… America has abundant sources of wind and solar energy, including in the Sunshine State. Thanks to decades of innovation, solar and wind power are the most affordable ways to power homes and businesses. Clean energy generates zero-emission electricity, which means it can reduce carbon pollution and help us solve the climate crisis, but the lack of infrastructure is holding us back. We can change that, and power our homes and businesses on abundant, lower-cost renewables.”
- Prospect of Republican Senate Majority Narrows Democrats’ Clean Energy Policy Options, Jeff St. John, Greentech Media
Senators Murkowski and Whitehouse “agreed that bipartisan support exists for federal policies that could boost clean energy, such as increased R&D spending on energy technologies to help balance an increasingly renewable-powered grid, and investing in infrastructure such as transmission capacity to integrate the country’s growing amounts of wind and solar power.”
- On the Value of Time-Diversified Renewable Energy Using Interregional HVDC Transmission, Robert H. Schulte and Frederick Fletcher, Electricity Journal
Salient quote: “The natural intermittency of renewable energy (solar and wind) and its mismatch in timing compared to the hourly requirements of electricity customers, and the resulting need for development of long duration (ten hours or more) energy storage are currently popular topics. But a potential major solution for these issues would not require physical storage at all. Instead, interregional high voltage direct current (HVDC) electric transmission could be used to move time-diversified renewable energy from where it is produced to where it is needed.”
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Welcome New Macro Grid Vision Statement Supporters
BlueGreen Alliance and Facebook have recently signed on to support the Macro Grid vision statement: "Expanding and upgrading the nation’s transmission network will deliver jobs and economic development, a cleaner environment, and lower costs for consumers."
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As the Macro Grid Initiative (MGI) continues to plan a series of public conversations on the role of expanded and updated transmission in the ongoing energy transition, we invite organizations to join us. To learn how to become a supporter of the MGI, email macrogrid@acore.org.
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