Ted Thomas | © RTO Insider LLC

By Ted Thomas

There are many polarizing issues dividing America today, but support for reliable electricity is not among them. No one is in favor of power outages, and no one should be left in the dark.

Extreme weather events have stressed the grid in most regions of the country over the last decade, and the frequency and severity of these events are only expected to increase in the years ahead. Every type of generation has struggled through these events. To solve this problem, utility commissioners, grid operators and federal regulators must look beyond generation solutions.

The U.S. grid is aging and balkanized. Most regions have limited ties to one another, meaning there is little transmission capacity available to transfer electricity between neighboring areas. Yet studies show interregional transmission lines can serve as lifelines in an emergency — delivering power from unaffected areas to storm-ravaged regions where power plants were forced to halt operations.

As a recent U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) draft study demonstrated, increasing interregional transmission capacity yields the greatest value, improving access to affordable power and helping ensure a reliable supply of electricity. Interregional transmission lines allow grid operators to access more generation resources and are particularly useful for providing additional supply during extreme weather events, according to the DOE. The agency also identified a “pressing need” for more transmission infrastructure.

During Winter Storm Uri in February 2021, an additional gigawatt of transmission capacity between the Texas grid and the Southeast could have saved Texans nearly $1 billion and kept the lights on in 200,000 homes, according to a report from Grid Strategies. Meanwhile, interregional transmission ties allowed the Great Plains and Midwest grid operators to import 15 times more electricity during the storm than the Texas grid, helping avoid widespread outages that killed hundreds in the Lone Star state.

In December 2022, some grid operators in the Southeast were forced to conduct rolling blackouts when power plants came offline because of harsh winter weather. Those outages would have “undoubtedly been far more widespread” had operators not been able to access power imported through interregional transmission lines, according to a Rocky Mountain Institute analysis. Additional interregional capacity would have allowed the Southeast to access available Midwestern generation, alleviating the region’s supply shortage.

Forward-looking studies evaluating the grid under extreme weather conditions predict similar results unless significant interregional transmission is developed. At least 65 GW of new interregional transmission capacity was needed to keep the lights on during simulated extreme weather conditions from 2035 to 2040, according to a recent report by GE Energy Consulting.

American homes and businesses depend on FERC to access reliable, economically efficient energy services at a reasonable cost. To ensure reliability and low prices, commissioners must evaluate ways to remove barriers to and encourage the development of these interregional projects. Three near-term options are available.

First, a minimum interregional transfer capacity requirement would provide significant reliability benefits by producing much needed long-range transmission. FERC, having convened a technical conference on such a standard in late 2022, should pursue a rulemaking to establish a minimum threshold.

Second, the commission should accept Invenergy’s petition and host a technical conference to discuss removing barriers to merchant interregional high-voltage, direct-current transmission lines. FERC’s current transmission-related rulemaking proceedings do not consider the evolving role of these technologies, and a technical conference would allow regulators to consider the costs, impact and utility of such projects, as the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners noted.

Third, the agency should ensure its forthcoming transmission planning and cost allocation rulemaking includes needed reforms that can benefit interregional planning, as well as regional transmission planning. Requiring planning regions to quantify a minimum set of transmission benefits metrics can help eliminate one of the main barriers to planning interregional lines. Going forward, FERC should also lay the groundwork for a future rulemaking focused on reducing obstacles hindering interregional project development.

U.S. grid operators have seen several major system failures in the last several years. Our aging grid has demonstrated it cannot meet today’s demands, leaving millions at risk for extreme weather events in the coming decades. Expanding transmission capacity to ensure customers have constant access to affordable power will require sound policies to strengthen interregional ties. It’s time for FERC to act.

Ted Thomas is founding partner at Energize Strategies and former chair of the Arkansas Public Service Commission.