Reaching current U.S. decarbonization goals will require a doubling or tripling of the current transmission capacity to deliver that power to where it’s needed. Today, there are already over 1.3 terawatts of proposed wind, solar and battery energy storage storage projects in interconnection queues in the process of connecting to the grid. Whether due to a lack of consensus in regional transmission planning, challenges with permitting and/or cost recovery, the development of needed transmission capacity has lagged.
In addition, there is often a lack of understanding that a massive nationwide transmission expansion is required to cost-effectively transform the U.S. power system on a timeframe consistent with those goals. Coordination and cooperation could certainly be improved within and among regions across the country to better meet our national policy goals.
Integrating offshore wind into a nationally connected grid is also necessary to meet U.S. goals, particularly for the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic coastal regions where there are significant offshore wind resources and insufficient land available for wind development. East Coast states have already set goals to procure more than 30 GW of offshore wind, with state-specific decarbonization studies suggesting well over 100 GW of East Coast wind generation is needed by 2050. Moreover, with additional transmission capability, the generating potential of Canada’s wind and hydroelectric resources could provide dispatchable clean resources and grid flexibility for the Northeast, upper Midwest, and Pacific Northwest.
New York is fortunate to have access to plentiful renewable energy resources. In fact, Con Edison Transmission plans to invest over $1 billion over the next decade to develop electricity transmission to bring clean renewable energy from where it is produced to where it is needed to serve customers. Advocating a “transmission first” approach, Con Edison Transmission supports building transmission capacity before renewables are ready to simplify and streamline interconnection processes, recognizing that transmission development and siting generally takes longer than comparable processes for generation. Moreover, pre-building transmission including by the local utility can send better signals to prospective resources on suitable places to connect on the system.
Clean electricity generation is only possible with grid enhancement to enable reliable and resilient delivery systems. If we want to share our high-quality resources with neighboring regions, regional and interregional systems, including consideration of a macro grid concept, will work best. The benefits of expanded regional and interregional transmission are innumerable and vital to meet customers’ energy needs.
