New Report from ACORE says Transmission Makes the Grid More Resilient to Extreme Weather

A new report, released by the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE) says transmission makes the power system more resilient to extreme weather.

The report details the value additional transmission would have provided during five severe weather events in Texas, the Northeast, and the Midwest between 2014 and 2021.

For example, according to the report, each additional gigawatt (GW) of transmission capacity connecting the Texas power grid (ERCOT) with neighboring states in the Southeast could have saved nearly US$1 billion and kept the heat on for approximately 200,000 Texas homes during Winter Storm Uri in February of 2021.

ACORE President and CEO Gregory Wetstone commented in an article in T&D World.

“As severe weather events become more frequent, our balkanized power grid is increasingly unable to deliver reliable electricity to consumers who need it,” said Wetstone. “This report demonstrates that we are already paying an enormous price for our lack of interregional transmission and that the benefits of a robust transmission grid would quickly surpass the cost of constructing new lines. It is time to implement pro-transmission policies to enable the investments we need to strengthen our grid, lower costs for consumers and reduce power outages during extreme weather events.”

Read the T&D World story here.

View the report from ACORE here.