A report card from the American Society of Civil Engineers recently gave America’s power grid infrastructure a grade of C minus, noting that much of the grid is aging and congested. American consumers pay billions of dollars per year in higher electric bills because transmission congestion limits their access to lower-cost sources of electricity. Moreover, a lack of strong transmission ties with neighboring power systems was a primary factor contributing to the Texas blackout event in February 2021, as well as other recent electric reliability events.
The report identifies 22 high-voltage transmission projects that could begin construction in the near term if more workable transmission policies are enacted. The report estimates that these 22 projects could interconnect around 60,000 MW of new renewable capacity, increasing America’s wind and solar generation by nearly 50% from current levels.
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