NEEDED IN U.S.: TRANSMISSION

The intermittency of renewable sources remains a factor in designing new transmission. Not a problem, a factor. Grids deal with fluctuations of demand all day long by continuous management of supply input. Renewables’ intermittency requires planning, capability and programming to accommodate higher levels.

DOE is in the process of designating National Transmission Corridors. See NEW ENERGY CORRIDORS

Poles and wires still needed to transmit renewable energy
Rick Sergel, October 17, 2007 (Asbury Park Press)

WHO
North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NAERC) (Rick Sergel (president/CEO); U.S. Department of Energy (DOE); New Jersey Board of Public Utilities;

Their are sections of the grid in the East and Midwest where overload is a regular threat. (click to enlarge)

WHAT
Poles and lines are necessary to transmit old and New Energy. Obstacles to building them are many and difficult.

WHEN
- 2003: A blackout caused by a single local failure cut power to 50 million northeasterners in 7 states and a Canadian province.
- 2007 Long-Term Reliability Assessment: Demand is growing TWICE AS FAST as capacity to generate and transmit it.

WHERE
New Jersey and more than 20 other states have passed Renewable Electricity Standards mandating a specified portion of electricity be obtained from renewable sources.

WHY
- NAERC is the organization responsible for developing/enforcing mandatory electric reliability standards.
- Current transmission infrastructure can barely handle the peak demands it now regularly confronts yet must be improved to handle the new opportunities available from renewable electricity sources.
- New wires must be strung to renewable sources typically far from highly populated centers of demand and load (use).
- New Jersey’s utility board’s recently approved 70-turbine offshore wind installation is an example: it cannot simply be plugged into NJ’s grid though the 2003 blackout proved the power is required.
- New transmission requires transit through many back yards. Everybody is connected. The system is only as strong as its weakest link.
- More transmission = more flexibility, more redundancy, more reliability, less bottlenecks, lower costs.

Multiple sources of wind energy smoothes out peak load stresses on the grid -- if there are wires and poles to get the wind to the grid. (click to enlarge)

QUOTES
- Sergel: “If you support renewables like wind and solar, you must also support the power lines needed to connect them to the grid. You can't have one without the other.”
- Sergel: “NIMBY (Not in My Back Yard) has morphed into NIMS: Not in My State.”
- Sergel: “It's important to get this right from the start, by saying "yes" to transmission as well as to renewables.”