Utility Dive: Not just a ‘boondoggle’-state regulators, industrial companies push for cost effective transmission

https://www.utilitydive.com/news/cost-effective-transmission-planning-naruc-maine-puc-iso-ne/732895

Transmission additions are needed to meet growing electricity loads that are driven by onshoring of manufacturing, computer chip manufacturing and other industries, according to Karen Onaran, president and CEO of Electricity Consumers Resource Council, which represents large industrial companies. 

“Let’s make sure we’re doing the most efficient transmission plan,” Onaran said. “We know it’s going to cost a lot of money, but the alternative is going to cost even more.”

Grid-enhancing technologies can help limit transmission costs, according to Onaran. “We need to be using our existing infrastructure to its fullest potential before we start putting new steel in the ground,” she said.

Onaran said she is working to change the “narrative” in some states that transmission expansion is driven solely by the energy transition. More transmission capacity is needed for economic growth and is not just a “boondoggle” to bring wind from a distant state to a major load center, she said.