The Division of Power (DOE) has awarded capability contracts of as much as $1.5 billion to 4 main transmission traces below its Transmission Facilitation Program (TFP) to assist the switch of seven.1 GW of recent capability all through Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas.
The DOE’s Grid Deployment Workplace (GDO) on Oct. 3 additionally launched its remaining 800-page Nationwide Transmission Planning Research (NTP), a vital roadmap geared to assist regional transmission organizations (RTOs), utilities, and different stakeholders plan and construct out the transmission system. The research concludes that if the U.S. have been to implement its “lowest-cost U.S. energy system portfolios” that meet future demand development and reliability necessities, it will want a transmission enlargement of as much as 2.1 to 2.6 instances the scale of the 2020 system by 2050 and an enlargement of interregional transmission on a magnitude of 1.9 to three.5.
The 4 Transmission Tasks Focus Closely on Reliability, Resilience
The 4 new transmission tasks mark the GDO’s second-round choices below the TFP, a $2.5 billion revolving fund enacted by the 2021 Infrastructure Funding and Jobs Act (IIJA). In its first spherical, unveiled in October 2023, the GDO awarded $1.3 billion in capability contracts to a few interregional tasks: TransCanyon’s 1.5-GW Cross-Tie, spanning Utah and Nevada; Nationwide Grid’s Twin States Clear Power Hyperlink, traversing New England and Québec; and Desert Southwest’s Southline Part 1, which crosses Arizona into New Mexico.
Capability contracts are an revolutionary financing strategy that permits the DOE to assist de-risk and speed up the event of those main transmission tasks that can unlock important clear power sources and grid resilience advantages throughout totally different areas. “DOE buys capability on the traces, then sells it again. When new prospects present up, we get well our funding, make investments it again into new tasks, and on and on it goes,” as Deputy Power Secretary David Turk defined to reporters.
The 4 transmission tasks unveiled on Thursday will now enter capability contract negotiations with the DOE.
Southern Spirit Transmission (Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi—potential contract worth: $360M. Sample Power’s Southern Spirit Transmission challenge will construct a 320-mile, 525-kV excessive voltage direct present (HVDC) line connecting the Electrical Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) grid with grids within the Southeastern U.S.—marking the primary time ERCOT will likely be interconnected with different regional grids.
The road will present 3 GW of bidirectional capability between Rusk County, Texas, and Choctaw County, Mississippi. In keeping with Sample Power, the challenge will use voltage supply converter (VSC) HVDC expertise to improve grid reliability—serving to to mitigate disruptions like these attributable to Winter Storm Uri in Texas in 2021 whereas bettering electrical diversification. Sample Power mentioned the challenge will protect “ERCOT’s independence by way of federal approval granted.”
“For a very long time, we’ve stared at ERCOT and thought, how can we construct extra resilience right into a system that appears extra like an island than an interconnected grid, drawing on the sources in different components of the nation,” White Home Nationwide Local weather Adviser Ali Zaidi informed reporters. “This build-out is basically transformational in breaking down the barrier between ERCOT and the remainder of the nation.”
Cimarron Hyperlink (Oklahoma)—potential contract worth: $306M. Invenergy’s Cimarron Hyperlink challenge is a 400-mile high-voltage direct-current (HVDC) transmission line connecting Texas County, Oklahoma, to Tulsa, Oklahoma. The road will transmit 1,900 MW of agency, point-to-point capability, delivering constant wind and photo voltaic power from the Oklahoma panhandle to load facilities in japanese Oklahoma and different components of the Southwest Energy Pool (SPP).
The challenge, which can have a 50-year lifespan, “will deploy the most recent technology of HVDC expertise, permitting larger management, extra modular designs, and ease of operations, in addition to the power to rapidly restore the community after a blackout,” the DOE famous. Will probably be important for bettering grid reliability in a area experiencing excessive demand development, addressing the congestion recognized in DOE’s 2023 Nationwide Transmission Wants Research (NEEDS), which is the newest iteration of its three-year transmission constraint evaluation via 2040, it mentioned.
“The robust assist for this challenge on the native, state, and nationwide degree displays the vital want this grid funding serves for Oklahoma, as it can allow the development of power infrastructure that the Panhandle has lengthy sought,” mentioned Shashank Sane, government vp and Head of Transmission at Invenergy.
Avangrid’s Aroostook Renewable Mission (Maine)—potential contract worth: $425M Avangrid plans to construct a brand new substation in Haynesville, Maine, and a 111-mile, 345 kV transmission line with a capability of 1,200 MW to attach the substation to the ISO-New England (ISO-NE) system at Pittsfield, Maine. Moreover, a brand new 38.5-mile, 345 kV overhead line will join Pittsfield to the Coopers Mills substation in Windsor, Maine. The challenge is taken into account essential in unlocking Maine’s renewable power potential, significantly by overcoming present transmission constraints which have hampered the event of wind and photo voltaic sources within the area.
Southline Transmission Part 2 (New Mexico)—potential contract worth: $352M. Constructing off Part 1, which gained an award within the first TFP spherical, the Southline Part 2 challenge will assemble a 108-mile, 345 kV transmission line to ship 1,000 MW of bidirectional capability between Hidalgo County and Las Cruces, New Mexico.
“Southline Part 2 will add much-needed transmission capability to assist electrical energy supply throughout the desert southwest area, which is grappling with in depth load development and a rise in useful resource demand pushed by residential, industrial, and industrial exercise,” the DOE mentioned.
A part of a Broader Grid Modernization Technique
Biden administration officers informed reporters the second spherical of TFP choices alerts large progress to cement U.S. grid modernization. “Like many issues concerning the clear power transition, constructing new transmission is extraordinarily difficult and it’s additionally extraordinarily pressing,” Turk mentioned. “This program is a chief instance of how the Biden-Harris administration is innovating to get it finished, and it’s working.”
However the officers on Wednesday underscored that the choices are just one a part of a broader, multi-pronged technique to kickstart a transmission enlargement. Regardless of repeated calls from the facility business over a long time for a holistic modernization of the majority energy system to allow extra environment friendly and dependable energy technology and supply, motion has usually been piecemeal and catered to altering market and coverage forces.
As POWER has reported, latest developments over the previous 12 months have injected recent optimism, signaling significant progress towards the much-needed transmission enlargement. The federal authorities not too long ago launched Federal-State Trendy Grid Deployment Initiative, which fosters collaboration between the federal authorities and 21 states to handle grid challenges like rising demand and getting old infrastructure.
The DOE additionally not too long ago issued the 2023 Nationwide Transmission Wants Research, which emphasised the necessity for substantial transmission enlargement, with 54,500 GW-miles of recent transmission required by 2035 to fulfill future power calls for and assist the clear power transition. In Could, it moved to determine 10 preliminary “Nationwide Curiosity Electrical Transmission Corridors” (NIETCs)—areas experiencing or dealing with capability constraints. Moreover, the Federal Power Regulatory Fee’s (FERC’s) Order 2023 launched reforms to streamline interconnection processes, whereas FERC’s Order No. 1920 extra solidly addressed regional transmission coverage and the necessity for long-term transmission planning.
Nationwide Transmission Research Designed to Fill Hole for ‘Holistic’ Evaluation
The ultimate Nationwide Transmission Planning Research unveiled on Thursday goals to furnish business with vital information, analytical instruments, and insights to information the planning and improvement of the transmission system. As Deputy Power Secretary David Turk defined, the multi-year research examines quite a lot of future eventualities and power mixes, inspecting advantages akin to “grid reliability, particularly in response to excessive climate occasions.” However it additionally considers “shopper financial savings—the research tasks as much as $490 billion in system price financial savings by 2050—and integrating new and cleaner technology onto the grid,” he mentioned.
The research, developed via a collaboration between GDO, the Nationwide Renewable Power Laboratory (NREL), and the Pacific Northwest Nationwide Laboratory (PNNL), is designed to fill a obtrusive hole in transmission planning recognized by the 2023 NEEDS research. It requires a extra “holistic” examination of transmission that takes into consideration the dynamic nature of maximum occasions, technology and demand mismatches, and regulatory and institutional boundaries. At its core, the Nationwide Transmission Planning Research’s findings current a tangible, knowledgeable argument for why extra transmissions ought to be constructed.
The research stands other than earlier analyses as a result of it inherently contains interregional transmission in its nationwide perspective. “Interregional transmission options are usually not usually included in bottom-up planning actions taken by present transmission planning organizations,” it notes. “Nevertheless, with out a nationwide or multiregional perspective, stakeholders might miss viable transmission enlargement alternatives that may result in important potential systemwide financial savings.”
However as well as, it thought of business-as-usual alongside “formidable” eventualities that assume extra stringent decarbonization insurance policies for a lot of areas in addition to rising applied sciences, together with for transmission, technology, and storage. GDO, NREL, and PNNL word they arrived at their findings via an exhaustive research of 96 modeled future grid eventualities using a multimodel analytic framework.
Key Findings from the Nationwide Transmission Planning Research
Here’s a high-level have a look at the research’s key findings:
Transmission Enlargement and Price Financial savings. Underneath present insurance policies, the U.S. transmission system might want to develop 2.1 to 2.6 instances its 2020 dimension by 2050, with interregional transmission rising 1.9 to three.5 instances. Coordinating interregional transmission may save the U.S. electrical energy system “tons of of billions” of {dollars} whereas lowering carbon dioxide emissions by 10 to 11 billion metric tons via 2050.
Web Advantages of Giant-Scale Transmission. If the U.S. goals for a 90% discount in greenhouse fuel emissions by 2035 and 100% by 2050, accelerating transmission enlargement can yield between $270 and $490 billion in internet financial savings. Each greenback spent on transmission leads to $1.60 to $1.80 in decreased system prices, protecting gas, technology, and storage wants, the research says. “The advantages of transmission enlargement to system prices scale with the extent of electrical energy demand and fee of decarbonization,” it stresses.
Broad Transmission Enlargement. To realize the biggest advantages, transmission should develop 2.4 to three.5 instances by 2050. Excessive-voltage direct present (HVDC) applied sciences, together with superior multiterminal converters, are slated to play a vital function in long-distance transmission, significantly throughout central U.S. areas. However the largest advantages of transmission are realized when interregional transmission is probably the most substantial, “together with constructing throughout the interconnection seams.” On the flip aspect, if transmission stays constrained, “increased price portfolios with extra nuclear technology, hydrogen, and carbon seize capability” will likely be required, particularly when carbon emissions are restricted.
Grid Reliability and Useful resource Adequacy. Coordinated transmission utilization permits all eventualities—even these with 90% of power from renewable sources—to fulfill useful resource adequacy requirements. “When transmission areas coordinate to attain useful resource adequacy, system prices via 2050 are lowered by $170 billion to $380 billion.” As well as: “Excessive-resolution grid simulations reveal hourly demand and provide may be balanced in energy methods with very excessive shares of renewable power,” the research notes. “In eventualities with bigger transmission enlargement, imports and exports between areas play a considerable function in serving to grid operators steadiness provide and demand in all hours.”
Excessive Alternative Transmission (HOT) Interfaces. The research identifies potential transmission enlargement alternatives between areas, often called HOT interfaces, which could possibly be prioritized for additional planning and improvement. These tasks promise important system flexibility and value reductions, it suggests.
Want for Enhanced Coordination. It doesn’t matter what the long run brings, when it comes to coverage, market, or expertise circumstances, efficient grid planning would require institutional coordination, superior modeling, and accessible information to deal with future uncertainties like excessive occasions and technological developments. The research underscores the significance of collaborative approaches to understand the advantages of large-scale transmission enlargement.
—Sonal Patel is a POWER senior editor (@sonalcpatel, @POWERmagazine).
