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SOLAR ENERGY INDUSTRIES ASSOCIATION

Green Power Superhighways: a 21st Century Solution

Overview
The United States is home to vast quantities of clean energy resources like solar power.  Yet it lacks a modern interstate  transmission grid to deliver carbon‐free electricity to customers in highly‐populated areas of the country.   In order to meet our national climate, energy security, and renewable energy goals, we need to invest in Green Power Superhighways now.

Problem
America’s electricity needs are growing, as is the need to generate electricity from carbon‐free technologies. In addition to  distributed solar resources like rooftop PV and solar water heating, expanding and upgrading the transmission grid is the key to bringing vast quantities of renewable power to customers.  Renewable portfolio standards and climate goals cannot be met without a dramatic shift in where and how transmission is planned and built.

Green Power Superhighways – key to a robust transmission grid – will allow plentiful domestic sources of renewable energy to power our homes and even our transportation sector, reducing carbon dioxide emissions as well as volatility in energy prices.  Tapping the massive quantities of renewable resources that are currently stranded in our country’s most remote areas will also cultivate economic development in regions where it is sorely needed.  A major expansion of the interstate renewable transmission system will also reduce electricity costs for consumers, improve reliability, and link solar‐rich parts of the nation to the transmission grid.

Over the last 100 years, the transmission grid in the United States has been built as a patchwork collection of local systems, designed and planned to meet local needs.  As the needs of customers have changed, so has the way the electric industry does business.  What haven’t changed are the rules in place for planning, building, and paying for the transmission grid.  Solar generators are stuck playing by the rules crafted in an era of coal‐fired power plants.  What we need now is an
investment in infrastructure to connect areas rich in solar resources with major population centers.  A new, solar‐ friendly transmission grid will only be possible if significant changes are made to transmission policy in this country.

Proposed Solution
Develop Green Power Superhighways.  The structural barriers to transmission development that exist today must be overcome.  Federal leadership from the President and Congress will be required to pass legislation and provide new mandates, adequate resources, and specific timelines for action for federal agencies, such as the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the Department of Energy, and federal lands agencies.

Download full version (PDF): Transmission Policy for Solar Generation

About Solar Energy Industries Association
www.seia.org
“Established in 1974, the Solar Energy Industries Association is the national trade association of the U.S. solar energy industry.  As the voice of the industry, SEIA works with its 1,000 member companies to make solar a mainstream and significant energy source by expanding markets, removing market barriers, strengthening the industry and educating the public on the benefits of solar energy.”

Tags: noise, Solar Energy, Solar Energy Industries Association, Solar Power

This entry was posted on Monday, March 22nd, 2010 at 12:45 pm and is filed under Climate Change, Competitiveness, Energy, Green, Infra Views, Local, National, Smart Growth, Technology . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.