Breaking the transmission logjam: The consortium to expand transmission capacity 

U.S. electricity demand is surging. To meet this new demand in a way that is both affordable and reliable, the U.S. must rapidly expand its transmission capacity. Doing that is proving to be very difficult.

Why it matters: Transmission delivers electricity from where it is produced to where it is needed. The U.S. Department of Energy predicts the nation must roughly triple its interregional transmission capacity before about 2050.

State of play: Complex regulatory frameworks, fragmented regional planning, and public resistance to new land rights-of-way have slowed progress to a crawl. And the financial incentives for traditional, regulated investor-owned utilities often encourage piecemeal local upgrades rather than investing in the large-scale regional and interregional transmission networks the country needs.

Action: To address these challenges, Carnegie Mellon University is anchoring the Consortium to Expand Transmission Capacity(ExTx), a multi-institutional, interdisciplinary effort to identify and overcome the barriers to grid expansion. The group brings together experts from UC San Diego, USC, UC Berkeley, Penn State, Carleton University, and Pacific Northwest National Labs to analyze technical, legal, and public perception hurdles to transmission buildouts. Initial work by members of the consortium includes:

  • Analyzing the opportunities and limitations facing different entities that might build new transmission.
  • Researching the potential to build new transmission using highway and railroad right of way.
  • Studying the opportunities to expand transmission capacity by reconductoring existing lines.
  • Assessing the legal, regulatory, and other impediments to building new transmission between states, beginning with Oregon to Idaho and New Mexico to Arizona and New Mexico to Texas, and then expanding to several others.

What’s next: The ExTx Consortium, led by Granger Morgan, professor of engineering and public policy, is performing neutral, data-driven analysis and developing communication materials to help regulators and power companies better explain the need for transmission expansion to the public.

Initial support for this activity is provided by a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.