Governments Promote Technology Solutions to Ease Grid Strain
Image courtesy of woodleywonderworks under Attribution 2.0 Generic Deed, resized to 700 x 391 pixels.
As the U.S. power grid faces an increased reliability risk going forward, government agencies are heavily weighing technology solutions to ease the future pain. Between the projected increase in data centers, EVs, AI electricity consumption, crypto mining, and similar forces, it’s clear that the old solutions will not work in this new paradigm. Let’s take a look at this problem through the lens of government.
Commonly Proposed Government Technology Solutions
It’s quite clear that the status quo is not going to cut it going forward, which means that current technology solutions need to evolve. In fact, according to a 2023 survey of Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) filings, U.S. grid operators have doubled their 5-year annual power demand forecast.
The only way to meet these projections is to increase grid capacity to reduce grid congestion – something that captured the attention of regulators after a 2022 analysis concluded that grid congestion increased consumers’ energy bills by nearly $21 billion.
In order to help alleviate these concerns, state and federal policymakers are increasingly pointing to the deployment of advanced transmission technologies (ATTs) which include grid-enhancing technologies and advanced conductors. The reason for this enhanced interest level is that ATTs can be deployed faster and cheaper than ‘hard’ infrastructure assets like transmission lines and substations.
For example, advanced conductors can transmit up to 110% more power than conventional wires, which means that replacing traditional lines with these ‘new and improved’ lines nationwide could increase energy transmission capacity by 400% and save over $85 billion in costs.
So far, Montana, Arizona, Colorado, Maine, Minnesota, New York, and Virginia have passed policies designed to expand ATT deployment. There has also been activity at the federal level passed by the Biden administration, and in May 2024, FERC issued Order 1921 which requires grid operators to consider the utilization of grid-enhancing technologies for future planning purposes.
The bottom line is that emerging technology solutions like ATTs, which include grid-enhancing technologies and advanced conductors, are the only clear path to a more reliable future.
