#Biden Administration making new rules to foster #reconductoring -- replacing existing power lines with newer generation versions to increase power output for #renewables and data center needs. It's a lot cheaper than building new transmission lines.
So why hasn't it been done yet? Because "utilities profit more from big #infrastructure projects." :eyeroll: Gifted WaPo article. #ThanksBiden
"How a simple fix could double the size of the U.S. electricity grid"
"Congress hasn’t been able to agree on a bill to increase electrical transmission.
In lieu of action from Congress, the Biden administration has [worked] with states and private companies in an effort to upgrade 100,000 miles of existing #TransmissionLines so they’ll be able to carry more power using so-called #reconductoring – swapping high-voltage lines, which carry more electrical capacity, onto already existing towers. "
https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/28/climate/energy-grid-modernization-biden/index.html
#WhatBidenDid
How a simple fix could double the size of the U.S. #ElectricityGrid
"Carbon-fiber wires don’t sag as much in the heat. That means that they can take up to double the amount of power as the old lines.
It could also cost half as much as building an entirely new line and avoid the headaches of trying to get every state, city and even landowner along the route to agree to a new project."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/2024/05/28/reconductoring-us-electricity-grid-renewables/
#reconductoring
"Replacing existing power lines with cables made from state-of-the-art materials could roughly double the capacity of the #ElectricGrid in many parts of the country, making room for much more wind and solar power.
This technique, known as “advanced #reconductoring,” is widely used in other countries. But many U.S. utilities have been slow to embrace it because of their unfamiliarity with the technology as well as regulatory and bureaucratic hurdles, researchers found."
I'm collecting hopeful stories about the energy transition, and this is a really good one. tl;dr Use carbon fiber cores to double capacity, halve transmission loss, avoid permitting and building new towers, monitor temperature and sag in realtime.
https://www.volts.wtf/p/one-easy-way-to-boost-the-grid-upgrade
