America's path to renewable energy depends on a grid that isn't one grid, and transmission lines that bring objections

America's electric grid is, well, sort of a myth. "There is no single U.S. grid. There are three — one in the West, one in the East and one in Texas — that only connect at a few points and share little power between them," note Nadja Popovich and Brad Plumer of The New York Times. "America's fragmented electric grid, which was largely built to accommodate coal and gas plants, is becoming a major obstacle to efforts to fight climate change. . . . Tapping into the nation's vast supplies of wind and solar energy would be one of the cheapest ways to cut the emissions that are dangerously heating the planet, studies have found. . . . But many spots with the best sun and wind are far from cities and the existing grid. To make the plan work, the nation would need thousands of miles of new high-voltage transmission lines — large power lines that would span multiple grid regions."

The Times explains, "To understand the scale of what's needed, compare today's renewable energy and transmission system to one estimate of what it would take to reach the Biden administration's goal of 100 percent clean electricity generation by 2035. Transmission capacity would need to more than double in just over a decade:

New York Times maps; for larger versions, click on the image.

"There are enormous challenges to building that much transmission, including convoluted permitting processes and potential opposition from local communities," the Times reports. But . . . there is no single entity in charge of organizing the grid, the way the federal government oversaw the development of the Interstate Highway System in the 1950s and '60s."

The projects face long and winding roads. "Already, a lack of transmission capacity means that thousands of proposed wind and solar projects are facing multiyear delays and rising costs to connect to the grid," the Times reports. "In many parts of the country, existing power lines are often so clogged that they can't deliver electricity from wind and solar projects to where it is needed most, and demand is often met by more expensive fossil fuel plants closer to homes and businesses. This problem, known as congestion, costs the country billions of dollars per year and has been getting worse."

Work has started, the Times notes: "The Biden administration has billions of dollars to help fund transmission projects. Congress has given the federal government new authority to override objections from state regulators for certain power lines deemed to be in the national interest. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, an independent agency that regulates interstate transmission of electricity, gas and oil, is exploring ways to encourage grid operators to do more long-term planning and to strengthen ties between regions. Some lawmakers have proposed bills that would give the commission more power to approve the routes of major new lines that pass through multiple states, the way it does with gas pipelines. . . . But these efforts still face plenty of resistance. Utilities are sometimes wary of long-distance transmission lines that might undercut their local monopolies."

What if we can't move forward on grid changes? "If the country continues to struggle to build long-distance transmission, it might need to opt for more expensive measures to fight climate change instead, a recent study by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory found," the Times reports. "That could mean building more advanced nuclear plants or gas plants that capture their emissions, which could, in theory, be built closer to population centers."