Renewable Energy Transmission Highways
Multiple transmission proposals have been introduced during this legislative session. Information about the status of the proposals is available on the American Wind Energy Association’s legislative web page.
Policy recommendation:
The wind industry supports federal policies that would bring about the construction of a high-voltage interstate transmission highway system for renewable energy, as envisioned in DOE’s 20% wind report.
Perhaps the biggest obstacle to the long-term growth of wind power and other renewables in the U.S. is the lack of available transmission. Simply put, we don’t have enough transmission capacity to deliver electricity from the rural, windy areas where it is generated most abundantly and cost-effectively to the populated areas where most electricity is consumed. The wind industry supports federal policies that would bring about the construction of a high-voltage interstate transmission highway system for renewable energy, as envisioned in DOE’s 20% wind report. Our agenda includes federal legislation, regulatory initiatives by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the Department of Energy, and federal financial support. The cost would be an increase in annual transmission investment from approximately $8 billion today to $11 billion, but this investment would quickly be offset by lower electricity costs and reduced fuel costs, and would lead to greater energy independence.
For more information, please review the detailed policy recommendation.
Additional recommendations from the American Wind Energy Association and the Solar Energy Industries Association were released in February 2009 in their joint white paper, Green Power Superhighways: Building a Path to a Clean Energy Future.
|
| Tools |
(click to enlarge)
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
“I also think that we're going to have to rebuild our infrastructure, which is falling behind… making sure that we have a new electricity grid to get the alternative energy to population centers.”
Barack Obama, September 26, 2008, Presidential Debate at the University of Mississippi |
|
|
|
