Building Transmission to Support Renewable Energy

The 1st Edition of Research Reports International's Building Transmission to Support Renewable Energy report is a 35-page overview of what can and is being done to spur the development of transmission lines to support renewable energy generation.

Renewable portfolio standards, climate change legislation, and green consumerism are all spurring the development of renewable energy in the U.S. While technologies such as geothermal, wind, biomass, and solar power are all expected to grow significantly in coming years, one major issue stands in their way. The best renewable resource areas tend to be far from load and existing transmission lines. This means that significant investment in new transmission is required to enable the development of these resources.

Building Transmission to Support Renewable Energy provides industry participants with a thorough understanding of why government initiatives are required to ensure that adequate transmission is built to support expected and desired levels of renewable energy generation. Additionally, it aims to provide an understanding of what major transmission projects are underway that are focused on transmitting power from remote renewable generation to load centers.

The report presents an overview of current efforts to build transmission to support renewable energy. This is accomplished by providing an understanding of why such transmission infrastructure is needed and what is being done to ensure its construction. The report discusses the reasons why the impending rapid growth in power generation from renewable resources requires the development of new transmission infrastructure and the likely cost of this development. It then examines the challenges that are hindering the construction of the needed transmission lines.

The focus of the report then shifts to a discussion of the specific initiatives that states are undertaking to ensure that adequate transmission is built to support new power generation projects using renewable energy. Next the report takes a look at federal government efforts to stimulate transmission investment in support of renewable energy. Finally, the report shifts its focus from incentives for investment to actual projects that are planned or underway. Major transmission projects being developed are profiled with a look at routes, time frames, and costs.