By Request: A National Grid?

Greenzo asks:

What do you think about federalizing the electric grid? The state utility regulators are already rankling over this prospect, but it would seem necessary in full or in part to ensure long-term renewable energy growth. In the absence of a smart grid, can renewables growth continue? Can subsidies make up for the lack of infrastructure?

Total “federalization” of the electrical grid is neither necessary nor sufficient to meeting our grid needs. But that said, we do need to upgrade our grid in a variety of ways. For one thing, it simply doesn’t work very well right now and some regions are suffering from serious transmission capacity bottlenecks. For another thing, it’s not as efficient as it could be and efficiency is the greatest “green” source of power we have. But beyond that, we also need need transmission lines to bring electricity from where clean power can be generated (in particular: the windy interior) to where people live. And then there are issues about things like created a grid that’s “smart” enough so that a house with solar panels on the roof could transmit energy during surplus (i.e., sunny) hours and get credits that it can “cash in” to receive energy during deficit hours (e.g., night time). All this is a lot easier to do when the federal government can step in and make decisions about locations and standards and so forth.

Read CAP’s report on “Identifying Hurdles to Renewable Electricity Transmission” and you’ll see it’s not like we can just snap our fingers and say “federalize” and then all’s well. But doing what we need to do will require a strong federal hand.

Beyond that, there’s no compelling reason for electrical grid regulation to be a state matter rather than a federal one. The grid is, in fact, an interstate enterprise. Indeed, in places it’s an international enterprise. The state-based regulatory system is basically an anachronism—a holdover from an earlier era that remained somewhat workable long past the period in which it really made sense. But as we approach the need for a drastic overhaul in our energy policies we shouldn’t let hangups about federalism hold us back.