The US Department of Energy’s October 2023 report, National Transmission Needs Study, notes that most transmission investment over the last decade has been on resilience. Why not? Mother Nature has hammered the grid. Yet two things will change over the next decade. First, the decarbonization will result in additional electrical load in transportation, home heating, and industry. The sheer volume of generation will grow. Second, the shift away from fossil fuels for generation will result in sources that require much more land and will be in areas distant from existing transmission lines.
My predictions:
1) Increased focus on inter-regional transmission planning and construction.
2) More hustling to shorten interconnection times from utility grade renewable power.
3) A drive to reduce transmission congestion and unscheduled power flows.
4) A closer look at transmission corridors that leverage exiting highway and railroad rights-of-way.
These activities will require better transmission and land use modeling relying on technologies such as GIS (Geographic Information Systems) in conjunction with GIS-based Imagery (including drones) and AI (Artificial Intelligence).
