Giant wind turbines spinning lazily over rolling plains and solar panels soaking up rays in sunny deserts are prominent fixtures of the growing renewable energy landscape. Nonetheless, the electric grid was not designed to move power over hundreds of miles from these remote generation sites to bustling urban centers hungry for clean electricity. Connecting far-flung renewable energy hubs with cities demanding more sustainability will require a massive build-out of long-distance transmission infrastructure. Like the interstate highways that reshaped transportation and commerce decades ago, new energy “superhighways” aim to revolutionize how electricity flows between regions, unlocking widespread access to wind, solar and other renewables.
Linking Supply and Demand
The best onshore wind and solar generation potential lies in the rural heartlands, away from densely populated coastal cities. But transmitting power over such vast distances brings major challenges. Alternating current electricity only travels efficiently for a few hundred miles before starting to lose force. Existing transmission infrastructure moves electricity between local hubs, but it lacks the capacity to transport high volumes across state lines.
To unlock abundant renewables to displace fossil fuel plants, the grid needs major transmission upgrades using ultrahigh-voltage direct current (UHVDC) systems. This technology sends power as direct current without resistance loss over extreme distances efficiently and reliably. UHVDC can transmit electricity across a thousand miles with only 3-4% loss. Erecting new long-haul connections creates vital energy superhighways between cheap, world-class renewable resources and eager urban load centers.
Streamlining Siting Difficulties
Proposals for large aboveground transmission projects often face public opposition and bureaucratic logjams. Multi-state projects trigger complex legal fights over permits, costs and rights-of-way. Lengthy reviews delay development even as grids struggle with congestion. Storm impacts and reliability issues demonstrate need, but towers marring views spur local resistance.
However, burying high-voltage DC lines underground better protects reliability while bypassing aesthetic and environmental criticisms. Although more costly initially, the experts at Commonwealth explain that underground transmission restores landscapes for agriculture or recreation post-construction across remote areas. More jurisdictions are approving permits for underground lines to accelerate build-out. Efficient siting policies paired with thoughtful engineering will unlock vital links opening renewables to metropolitan markets.
Maximizing Existing Infrastructure
Beyond building new corridors, emerging technologies retrofit existing infrastructure to maximize capacity. Dynamic line rating uses weather sensors and monitoring tools to trace real-time conditions affecting transmission load tolerances. Instead of relying on fixed assumptions, grid operators get continual guidance on exactly how much more power lines could handle based on actual ambient temperature, wind speeds or solar exposure.
Additionally, advanced conductors make wires themselves more efficient. New composite metals and superconductors inhibit electrical resistance, allowing increased power across the same structures. Upgrading aging transmission hardware enables greater renewable energy delivery while limiting civil disruptions of new tower construction across communities.
Empowering Rural America
Much of rural America suffers from declining populations and economic stagnation as industries change or consolidate to urban hubs. Renewable energy represents a major opportunity to reinvigorate rural towns with waves of investment, growth and skilled jobs. Nevertheless, realizing this revitalization depends on transmission to open access to metro buyers.
Constructing multi-state clean power superhighways brings huge amounts of infrastructure spending into rural communities desperate for development. Landowners earn steady payments for siting rights-of-way. Small towns positioned near routes or maintenance hubs then attract permanent technicians and contractors. Connected grids supply low-cost power to re-shore factories as renewed vitality reverses regional declines.
Conclusion
Linking exceptional wind and solar resources with eager urban customers necessitates a coast-to-coast clean power infrastructure overhaul. New long-haul energy corridors promise wide-ranging benefits, sustainably energizing society by opening abundant renewable riches to population centers for generations to come.
