Despite their similar designations (“Superpower” and “Giant Power”), the two plans had fundamentally different goals. The benefits of broader electricity networks were recognized as early as the 1920s, resulting in two well-publicized proposals advocating significant modifications in the layout of power stations in the northeastern United States. Source: “Rural electricity” by Kevin Dooley is licensed under CC BY 2.0. The fact that State regulatory commissions saw this as a threat to their power resulted in the passage of a law inhibiting the more efficient deployment of electricity resources in the nation, creating an environment likely to produce more difficulties with the organization of U.S. Increased Federal Power Commission regulatory authority would partly offset the greater difficulty associated with unitary ownership of networks. Problems with the holding company system resulted in proposals to radically restructure the industry. The growing recognition of the benefits of those networks, combined with the impediments of state regulation, helps create the holding company system. That system, in turn, inhibited the development of larger and more economical networks. The rise of these networks, albeit small, helped create the conditions that led to state regulation. The economic benefits and the control problems of electricity networks have repeatedly created situations where public policy has intervened in the industry’s structure, often resulting from unintended consequences arising from the interaction of previous policy and the desirability of more extensive electricity networks.ĪC introduced the possibility of electricity networks, and the benefit of those networks prompted the entire industry to adopt this technology. The technology, but mostly the political will have been lacking.Īlthough electricity networks are a valuable economic resource for electric utilities, developing an institutional structure that can encourage the creation of efficient networks has been elusive. And yet, even with many studies and several attempts to create such a grid, it has never been achieved. The paybacks, measured in financial and reliability terms, would be fantastic. It would allow managers to transmit the tens of gigawatts of wind-generated power from the Great Plains to cities on both coasts too. A continent-wide super grid would let Pacific Northwest hydropower flow to Chicago and let Texas wind power find its way to Mississippi, Massachusetts, and Montana. power grid would make electricity cheaper and cleaner. 1.2 …and why it isn’t fully interconnectedĪ national U.S. Power experts have known for years that this is a barrier preventing all sorts of efficiencies. Instead, it is split into three regions-the western interconnection, the eastern interconnection, and Texas-that primarily operate independently and exchange very little power. The grid of 2030 will be much more automated and data-intensive than it is today, but the result of turning on a lamp will remain unchanged.įigure 1. In the US, the cybersecurity of the bulk power system is inscribed in standards developed by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC)-it is not trivial that a single federal agency is given responsibility for cybersecurity throughout the grid, along with the necessary regulatory authority. The costs of distribution and transmission networks are mainly independent of usage in the short run, but they are generally recovered through volumetric charges. The energy is then allocated to poles which step it down again and ultimately send a safe amount of electricity into American homes. This steps down the voltage and conducts the energy through smaller, lower voltage lines. After the electricity has moved a long distance, it is connected to a neighbourhood transformer. There are over 450,000 miles of these energy lines today, as well as 160,000 miles of overhead transmission lines. These are connected to transformers that step up the current voltage to be transmitted high-voltage transmission lines connect these and then carry the electricity long distances across the country. There are hundreds of power plants settled throughout the country that produce electricity. Changes in federal transmission siting policy and power system design and operation will be necessary to efficiently sustain increased generation from large-scale variable energy resources (VERs), principally wind and solar power plants. The United States electric power system has assimilated several generations of new technology and improved its performance accordingly. energy grid, it is vital to comprehend how it works on an elementary level. 1.2 …and why it isn’t fully interconnectedīefore going into some of the most amazing specifics about the U.S.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |