America’s fragmented electric grid, which was largely built to accommodate coal and gas plants, is becoming a major obstacle to efforts to fight climate change.
Tapping into the nation’s vast supplies of wind and solar energy would be one of the cheapest ways to cut the emissions that are dangerously heating the planet, studies have found. That would mean building thousands of wind turbines across the gusty Great Plains and acres of solar arrays across the South, creating clean, low-cost electricity to power homes, vehicles and factories.
But many spots with the best sun and wind are far from cities and the existing grid. To make the plan work, the nation would need thousands of miles of new high-voltage transmission lines — large power lines that would span multiple grid regions.
To understand the scale of what’s needed, compare today’s renewable energy and transmission system to one estimate of what it would take to reach the Biden administration’s goal of 100 percent clean electricity generation by 2035.
Why the U.S. Electric Grid Isn't Ready for the Energy Transition
⚡There is no single U.S. electric grid.
⚡There are three — one in the West, one in the East and one in Texas — that only connect at a few points and share little power between them#techhttps://t.co/rsXfdROJV2 pic.twitter.com/fYYt2AWhv1
— Marsha Collier (@MarshaCollier) June 12, 2023