While the advanced macrogrid required for the U.S. clean energy future is years and billions of dollars away, a new report from the WATT Coalition argues that currently available grid-enhancing technologies (GETs) could help optimize the grid and unlock gigawatts of renewables in interconnection queues.

The study, conducted by the Brattle Group, focused on transmission constraints in Kansas and Oklahoma, where, it says, more than 9 GW of wind and solar projects with interconnection agreements are sitting in the SPP queue. Under a business-as-usual base case, the study estimates that by 2025, about 2.6 GW of this new generation could be interconnected; but with dynamic line ratings, advanced power flow control and advanced topology control, more than 5.2 GW of mostly wind energy could be brought online.

Speaking at a media briefing on the report Wednesday, Rodica Donaldson, senior director of transmission strategy at EDF Renewables North America, said that GETs are urgently needed to mitigate both “chronically delayed or even dysfunctional” interconnection processes and existing constraints on the grid. GETs can “become either a bridge to address congestion, until a permanent fix is there, or it can be coupled with more effective solutions,” she said.

“There’s a huge timing gap,” said Jay Caspary, former director of transmission development at SPP and now vice president at Grid Strategies. “Renewables could be developed in 12 to 18 months, much faster than transmission lines, which take five to 10 to 15-plus years.”

Noting that wind energy was the leading generation resource for SPP last year, Caspary said, “We’re going to see more and more renewables trying to get on the system, and the way we think we can do this quickly and cost-effectively is through grid-enhancing technologies.”

SPP did not respond to requests for comment.

The report focused on:

• DLRs, which set a transmission line’s load limit based on monitored conditions rather than using a fixed limit based on the heat tolerance of equipment and conservative assumptions about ambient conditions on the line. By monitoring ambient conditions, DLRs generally allow more flow over the course of a year but also detect when flow should be reduced to ensure safety and reliability in extreme conditions.
• advanced power flow controls, which expand on the capabilities of traditional controls that push or pull power away from overloaded lines and onto underutilized ones. Advanced controls can be deployed faster, scale to meet the size of the need and can also be redeployed to other areas of the grid.
• advanced topology control software, which finds ways to reroute power flows around congested or overloaded areas on the grid by switching existing high-voltage circuit breakers on or off.

In the WATT study, the total cost for deploying the technologies at strategic locations on the system in Kansas and Oklahoma would be about $90 million, but they would generate $175 million per year in production cost savings, providing a six-month return on investment. Other benefits would include thousands of short- and long-term jobs and a drop in carbon emissions of 3 million tons a year.

Efficiency Before Infrastructure

All three technologies have been around and talked about at industry meetings for years. As far back as 2016, SPP was showing off its own power flow control technology and inviting vendors to share information on the GETs, like DLR, that they were developing. (See SPP Gathers Technology Vendors to Share Wares.)

The problem, Caspary said, is they have not been used in a systematic way or been incorporated into grid planning, and the reason for that is also well known: regulation and utility business models. (See How Utility Conservatism is Hampering Tx Innovation.)

“Today’s incentive structure means that U.S. utilities are disincentivized from first optimizing their infrastructure before investing in new infrastructure,” said Jenny Erwin, director of strategic marketing at Smart Wires, a WATT member. “The traditional cost-plus approach to capital investment means that today’s rules benefit transmission owners who invest in infrastructure, not efficiency.”

But, Erwin said, industry thinking on GETs is starting to shift. “Optimizing first actually helps justify additional large-scale investments,” she said. In the past year, National Grid has begun deploying DLRs and advanced power flow controls in its service territory and is looking at advanced topology optimization, said Rudolph Wynter, the utility’s COO for wholesale networks and capital delivery.

GETs are, he said, “another set of tools. We have to show we are good stewards and good asset owners. One really good way to do that is to show that we’re doing as much as we can to optimize existing assets before we have to build new assets.”

While not providing any detail, Rep. Kathy Castor (D), chair of the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis, is hopeful that Congress can provide some policy support for GETs. “The fact that these grid-enhancing technologies can provide short-term relief from grid congestion shouldn’t be an issue that gets bogged down in partisan politics,” Castor said.

Action by FERC could also help overcome the barriers of traditional utility business models, specifically by putting new incentives in place and incorporating GETS into discussions about planning, former FERC Commissioner Nora Mead Brownell said. Both she and Castor were optimistic about the possibilities for movement on the issue under the leadership of new Chair Richard Glick.

FERC “should hold the RTOs accountable,” Brownell said. “RTOs should stand up in a technical conference and talk about what they’re doing to provide the leadership that is necessary to get these [technologies] deployed quickly.”