The state of Vermont has one of
the greenest grids in the US. Two thirds of their electricity comes
from renewable energy sources, like solar, wind, or hydroelectric plants. The current goal is
to be at 75% by 2032. Which is why it was pretty surprising
when a new solar project here was denied. This area doesn’t
have a lot of people, but it does have plenty of
potential for renewable energy. The power plants here, in addition to
a regular power supply from Canada, already put about 450 megawatts
of electricity onto the grid — and by grid, I mean
these power lines — but the grid’s capacity is
around… 450 megawatts. So the grid just wouldn’t be able to
handle any more power generated here. If we want a greener
future in the US, we’ll need to build more
renewable energy plants. But to actually use that electricity,
we’ll also need to build more of these. This is a map of where everyone
in the continental US lives; the density of each county. Here’s New York City,
LA, Chicago… And here’s where every
big power plant is currently. Appropriately, they tend to
be where the people are. In Washington, DC, where I live,
we get nearly all our electricity from surrounding states’ power plants—
mostly nuclear and natural gas. Electricity goes from the power plant,
through big high-voltage transmission lines, to a substation, where the electricity
is dispersed onto smaller, lower-powered distribution lines,
that send it into my house. Like Vermont, DC also
plans to be greener. The goal is to have 100% renewable
sources making our electricity by 2032. It’s part of a national goal, too. President Biden wants to reduce
emissions in the US 50% by 2030, with nearly half of US power
coming from solar plants by 2050. That means switching out those
natural gas plants for wind turbines. Coal plants,
for solar farms. Lowering emissions also means
switching from gas cars to electric cars. Heating our buildings not with natural
gas, but with electric heat pumps. Cooking on
electric stoves. Basically, we’re going to be
using a lot more electricity: Anywhere from 40-100%
more than we currently use. So, back to the map. If we’re going to replace all
these polluting energy plants, we can’t just build a
wind turbine in their place. They need to be where it's,
you know, windy. This is a model,
created by Princeton, mapping out possible places
in the continental US where wind and solar projects
could, in theory, be built. Aside from some offshore wind farms,
it's mostly in the middle of the US. Another study found that these states
have most of the wind and solar potential, yet the people living there would only
make up 30% of the electricity demand. In a decarbonized future, we’re going to
need to get electricity from here to here. And, we’re going
to move a lot of it. That’s where high-voltage
transmission lines come in. ROB GRAMLICH: I think the infrastructure
is the most important thing. It doesn't get a lot of attention
but it really is the key. This is where the US currently has
high-voltage transmission lines. The Princeton model shows this is
where new lines will need to be built if the US uses all
renewable energy by 2050. But it’s not a
simple process. Every wire in your house has plastic over it,
because if two electrical lines get too close… But high-voltage power lines are
the bare active wire. No plastic. They’re insulated
by the air. Basically, if they’re kept far enough
apart from each other, it’s safe. But they also have to be kept
far away from… everything. Trees included. This is actually how some of the
California wildfires were started: Trees coming in contact with the
super-big high-voltage transmission lines. And those are what
we’ll need more of, as we lengthen the distance from
energy source to energy need. We’ll also need to make many
current ones even bigger. Because bigger
means more power. Physically, the cables
are thicker — the bigger the cable, the more
power can run through them. And because they’re bigger, they have
to be really far apart for insulation, and built higher up. It makes them kind
of a pain to build -- partly because of
how large they are, but also how much private
land they have to cross. GRAMLICH: Very often, the developer
can get 99% of the landowners to agree, but then there's
that last 1%, and that can take forever,
and can crater the whole thing. So experts say we should start building
now, even before we build the plants. GRAMLICH: You can do a
generation project in a year. The transmission, three, if you're
lucky, but it can go over ten. We don't want to do this in a reactive mode,
where we build a lot of stranded generation. We want to proactively build the transmission
to where we know the resources are. And the thing about wind and solar
resources is, we know where they are. A greener grid in the US
means thinking nationally: Building more
transmission lines, so when it’s sunny in Arizona,
it can power Chicago. And at night, Illinois wind
can power Phoenix. To do that efficiently, the US will need
a new, interconnected, high-voltage grid. Princeton found it would take nearly $320
billion in investments in the next 10 years. Almost as much as investments in
solar and wind plants themselves. Congress is working on an infrastructure
bill that contains some funding, but really only a fraction
of what’s needed. GRAMLICH: I'm optimistic about our ability
to do it, because we have done it before. I am nervous
about the execution, between legislation, regulation,
and industry follow-through. The US is currently on track to have 42% of
our energy come from renewables by 2050. If current proposals turn into real policy,
we could be closer to 80%. But just making greener
electricity isn’t enough. We have to be
able to move it. GRAMLICH: Transmission is
important for the clean energy future. We're just not going to
decarbonize without it.
