Bracken Hendricks on a National Clean-Energy Smart Grid

What is the national clean-energy smart grid?

At the Center for American Progress, weÕre trying to look at the entire electricity infrastructure for the country. It starts with large-scale renewable power produced in the tremendous wind resources of the great planes, stretching from the panhandle of Texas up to the Dakotas, or in the solar or geothermal resources in the desert of the Southwest. But we have no way to get this energy to the coasts or industrial Mid-West where itÕs needed. WeÕre talking about building a national clean-energy smart grid. And thatÕs composed of two parts: the first is a large-scale multi-state high voltage transmission structure. These will be long-distance transmission lines that that get that renewable energy to market. And the second piece is a smart grid that connects our homes to the electrical sub stationsÑitÕs a distribution network. The entire electrical infrastructure we have was built for another set of challenges. We need to upgrade it in technology and we need to plan around our tremendous renewable energy base if weÕre going to have a transition to a low-carbon economy.

Why do we need a national clean-energy smart grid?

Today we need to build an energy infrastructure thatÕs more secure, more reliable, and that is planned around low-carbon clean energy resources. Right now we have a wonderful energy resource system in this country, but it was built in another era for a different set of challenges. Today we need a national system that connects across state lines and really builds the most effective and most efficient infrastructure to get clean energy resources to market. We need improved reliability and improved security so that we can have dependable access at the lowest cost to clean energy, to drive down the cost of taking action in response to global warming. And to help provide American business and American innovators with a secure and dependable source of low-cost clean energy.

How do we implement a national clean-energy smart grid?

Today, there is a tremendous opportunity to rebuild our energy infrastructure around efficiency and clean renewable energy to make it more secure and more reliable. But itÕs going to take three things for the long-distance interstate transmission system. It is going to take planning, siting and cost allocation. We need to be able to plan across state lines, at the scale of an entire region, to think about our national energy needs and our national renewable energy supplies. We need stronger siting authorities, so that we plan these resources as if theyÕre truly planned as a centerpiece of bringing a clean energy transition so that we can actually get these lines built. They need to be built with strong input of states and communities at the table at the very earliest level, but once we determine that these lines are needed, and that they can be done in a sensitive and effective and efficient way, they need to be able to marshal the resources and make sure that they get built. And lastly, we need a system of cost allocation thatÕs very broadly based. That means that no single state, no single region, should pay for a line thatÕs designed to benefit the entire country. This is a national challenge and we need a national solution.