New and better power lines can help integrate clean energy resources, but insiders say longstanding planning issues are blocking expansion.
Much of the media scrutiny on the Department of Energy grid reliability study focused on its treatment of generation resources, but just as important to ensuring clean and reliable electricity supply is the grid that connects them.
Annual spending on U.S. transmission is expected to peak at $22.5 billion in 2017 before declining, according to a recent Edison Electric Institute (EEI) review of projects. But increasingly, sector insiders are concerned that may not be enough to meet the needs of a changing power system.
As stakeholders debate potential changes to transmission planning between the regions, ITC is moving forward elsewhere. The company is completing permitting and nearing construction on its merchant high voltage direct current (HVDC) Lake Erie Connector project, Jipping said. The line would connect Ontario’s wind- and hydropower-rich system with PJM.
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