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Power to the plains: Grain Belt showcases problems facing transmission lines
- June 1, 2022: Vol. 9, Number 6

Power to the plains: Grain Belt showcases problems facing transmission lines

by Henry Carver

The United States desperately needs new power lines. To get an idea of U.S. transmission development stagnation, consider this fact pointed out in an Atlantic article last year: “Since 2009, China has built more than 18,000 miles of ultrahigh-voltage transmission lines. The U.S. has built zero.”

The transmission standstill has a number of consequences. First of all, it raises consumer prices. Second, for basically the same reasons an underdeveloped transmission system raises prices, it slows the country’s transition to green energy. All the wind and solar power in the world is no good if it can’t be delivered to the metropolitan areas that need it most.

Cumbersome regulations and NIMBYism are mostly to blame for the nation’s stagnant transmission system. A 2018 report by the nonprofit Americans for a Clean Energy Grid identified 22 shovel-ready projects that had been in existence for a decade or more. To get such projects off the ground, the report’s authors suggested streamlining project siting and permitting, passing a tax credit for transmission projects, and direct investment by the federal government.

Despite recent noise from the Biden administration about speeding up the sitting process, the same problems are still knocking off and slowing down transition projects.

The most recent and notable example is that of the Grain Belt Express. The transmission line, which would span nearly 800 miles across four Midwest states, from Kansas to Indiana, connecting into the PJM Interconnection grid, is at risk of being thwarted by House Bill 2005. The bill, brainchild of big ag groups across the region, would give any county in the line’s path the right to block construction.

The project represents a special economic opportunity for the region’s rural communities, which have struggled in recent times. The cheap wind power would provide significant savings to the small municipalities. What’s more, emissions would be brought down as well.

An E&E article quoted Jeff Bergstrom — general manager for municipal utilities in Marshall, Mo., a city of 13,000 in the north-central part of the state — summing up the project’s importance: “The savings from this project would be very important for our community. Growth has been tough. We’ve lost load, we’re losing jobs. Cheap renewable energy is key to not only maintaining the businesses we have, but to give us some type of hope for growth.”’

 

This article, authored by Henry Craver, has been republished with permission from CyberTech/Energy Central, a news and information provider to the global power industry. Read the original and complete article here.

 

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