A new report released today finds that reconductoring and rebuilding existing transmission pathways using Advanced Conductors can help lower costs for consumers and accelerate the decarbonization of the power grid. The report, “Advanced Conductors on Existing Transmission Corridors to Accelerate Low Cost Decarbonization,” was prepared by Grid Strategies LLC for the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE), CTC Global Corporation, Lamifil Inc North America, Natural Resources Defense Council, Taihan Electric USA Ltd. and TS Conductor Corporation.
“To accelerate the transition to a renewable energy economy, we must upgrade and expand our nation’s antiquated transmission grid,” said Gregory Wetstone, president and CEO of the American Council on Renewable Energy. “Over the long-term, the construction of new interregional transmission lines to form a U.S. Macro Grid will be critical to this effort. But in the near term, we must take advantage of opportunities like reconductoring to ensure we are maximizing the capacity of our existing grid infrastructure. This technology can be deployed relatively quickly, which is important in helping the U.S. stay on track to meet our climate targets. Federal and state officials, and transmission planners and owners, should take notice of the recommended actions outlined in this report to increase the utilization of high-efficiency Advanced Conductors.”
An estimated 70% of transmission and distribution lines are well into the second half of their 50-year life expectancy, and some lower voltage components are even over 100 years old. While new transmission construction is needed to interconnect large amounts of renewable energy and decarbonize the grid, these projects often face significant challenges and can take a decade or more to bring into service. Outfitting the existing transmission grid with high-efficiency Advanced Conductors can rapidly create more capacity, providing substantial benefits in the form of emissions reductions, cost savings for consumers, and a more resilient grid, according to the report authors.
“The U.S. transmission network needs to meet 21st century challenges with 21st century solutions,” said Jay Caspary, VP of Grid Strategies LLC and a co-author of the report. “We have the technology we need to simultaneously expand the capacity of the existing grid while repairing thousands of miles of aging transmission infrastructure. As this report demonstrates, the adoption of Advanced Conductors is a fast, cost-effective way to accelerate the decarbonization of the power sector. It is time to modernize our outdated transmission planning practices to fully leverage the benefits of this under-utilized technology.”
The report also makes recommendations that the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission could adopt in their upcoming Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on transmission planning, cost allocation and interconnection queue reform, as well as recommendations for transmission planners and owners, public utility commissioners and legislators, and the U.S. Department of Energy.
To read the full report, click here.
News item from ACORE
Excellent article. The Grid Strategy’s Report makes it abundantly clear that if we are expected to increase the capacity of the grid by 60% by 2030 (Per US DOE), the use of Advanced Conductors such as ACCC (which has already been used to significantly upgrade the capacity of nearly 1,100 transmission lines in 60 + countries) is essential. Thus far only 150 transmission lines in the US have been upgraded with ACCC. We need to do much more!
Ran across an article recently, perhaps (utilitydive?) that described a “new” high voltage cable that uses a more conductive “soft aluminum” conductor core wrapped in carbon fiber for strength and resistance to heat and or load sagging. No costs were offered, but it was mentioned this new product can ‘harden’ the infrastructure by being more resistant to conduction heating as well as mechanical motion sagging caused by high winds. The soft-core aluminum conductor can handle around 2.5 times the power of the old conductors.
I have also run across the argument particularly in the U.S. Northeast that transmission power lines are more plentiful than land to put in more natural gas pipelines. Reconductoring with more efficient wiring uses already generated electricity to be dispatched from one region to another without having a buried gas line to deal with later on. IF the U.S. is going to upgrade the grid, FERC using existing federal rights of ways along railroad, interstate highways and pipelines should lay in UHVDC feeders that can be tapped into from the wholesale electricity market to shuttle electricity coast to coast and north to south. We’ve been getting way too much of this, (“What happens when the sun doesn’t shine and the wind doesn’t blow”?), narrative for too long now. The proper question is “What do you DO with the overgeneration when the sun does shine, and the wind does blow”? Infrastructure upgrading, hardening and interconnection should be a big part of the out-of-date grid this time around.