Outdated electrical grid needs to be ‘smarter’

For the first time in seven decades, a U.S. president has drawn attention to the need for investment in the electrical grid: this time in expanding and modernizing an established grid. Franklin Roosevelt, as part of a larger effort to address the Great Depression, dramatically increased public spending, investing in electrification of rural areas. Now decades later, President Barack Obama has assumed office in the midst of another dismal economy. The federal government is providing billions of public dollars, including a $4.5 billion investment in the transmission grid. Utilities across the country had invested $200 billion in generation of electricity over the past decade, while only about $40 billion in new transmission. These investment levels were seriously out of balance even before the current emphasis on developing renewable sources of generation such as wind power.

There are already more than 150,000 miles of transmission lines nationwide. The system, however, developed under the direction of vertically integrated utility companies trying to ensure that generated energy could be transmitted to consumers within their own operating areas. A national planning approach intended to serve national interests has never existed. A western interconnect gradually evolved linking together lines in the western half of the country. A similar interconnect developed in the eastern part of the country, and then a separate system in Texas. No central connection, however, ties it all together.

Thousands of miles of lines either require replacement of older cables or call for complete redesign in order to accommodate increased energy use, especially in the most heavily populated areas of the country. Emphasis is also being placed on investment in renewable energy sources such as wind power in order to reduce carbon emissions. Much of this will be generated in the midsection of the country. Newer, more modern and efficient lines will be needed in order to transmit this electricity to population centers along the Eastern Seaboard and elsewhere.

Existing lines need to be made “smarter,” making it possible for utilities to better predict reliability of the system and also to allow consumers to have more information related to usage. In order to have a “smart” grid, though, there must first be a basic, adequate national grid, planned through national coordination and oversight, keeping priorities centered around national interests.

The U.S. Department of Energy is now empowered by law to coordinate the initial stages of that planning process. Sufficient capital is available for tremendous investment in lines already planned for 2009 through 2015. What is needed from the federal government now is: coordination of an integrated national plan; assistance in siting decisions (helping to secure right of way for new lines); and clarification concerning product standards nationwide. Over the coming decade alone, summer peak electricity demand is expected to increase by at least 20 percent per year even without taking into consideration significant new investment in wind energy and other renewable sources.

Expanding the grid normally takes anywhere from 10 to 15 years to go from conception of a planned transmission line to having it running. We cannot afford to wait that long. Arguments among states have to be put aside. Planning cannot continue to be based on an impromptu process. There is a paramount need for an integrated national plan. Why? To ensure system reliability under ever-increasing demand, and to ensure that we can efficiently move electricity from the wind power states in the upper Midwest toward the population-heavy urban centers in the East (and the West), and in turn to strengthen national security. If we want, for example, to have 20 percent of our power from renewable sources such as wind by 2024, we will need at least 15,000 circuit miles of new, extra-high-voltage transmission lines.

Expanding and modernizing the electrical grid deserves attention as a solid investment in America’s economic strength. Producing results offers an opportunity for the federal government to demonstrate that it can play a positive role in the coordination of a national plan that effectively serves U.S. interests.

J.P. Cunningham of Carrollton has 25 years experience in the electrical industry.