To enable the grid of the future – that is, one capable of handling intermittent renewables - the U.S. will need effective and enhanced federal authority over decisions on the routing of new interstate transmission lines. This is especially needed, the report says, in cases where power is produced by solar or wind farms located far from where that power is to be used, requiring long-distance transmission lines to be built across multiple regulatory jurisdictions.
While the grid's current performance is adequate, decisions made now will shape that grid over the next 20 years, according to the study, which recommends a series of changes in the regulatory environment to facilitate and exploit technological innovation.
As long as specific policy changes are made, the U.S. electric grid will be able to handle technological challenges stemming from the growth of distributed and intermittent new energy sources, such as solar and wind power, as well as an expected influx of electric and hybrid vehicles, according to a study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
"It is a real issue - a chicken-and-egg problem," says John Kassakian, a professor of electrical engineering at MIT and the study's co-chair. "Nobody's going to build these new renewable energy plants unless they know there will be transmission lines to get the power to load centers. And nobody's going to build transmission lines unless the difficulty of siting lines across multiple jurisdictions is eased."
The MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI) report recommends that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission either be given the authority to make decisions in such cases, or be designated as the backstop authority in cases where there are disputes. The report was commissioned by the (MITEI) and carried out by a panel of 13 faculty members from MIT and one from Harvard University, along with 10 graduate students and an advisory panel of 19 leaders from academia, industry and government.
The grid would also benefit from a restructuring of the way customers pay for costs, the study found. Payment for electric distribution, similar to payment for generation, is currently calculated based on usage.
But because most of the costs involved are fixed and do not depend on usage, utilities are inclined to resist distributed generation. Fixed network costs, the report says, should be recovered primarily through customer charges that do not depend on electricity consumption, the report notes.
In addition, while many utilities have begun to install smart meters for their customers, most of these are not yet being used to provide feedback to customers that could shift electricity usage to off-peak hours.
Another area that will require restructuring, the study concludes, is cybersecurity. The more thoroughly the grid is interconnected, and the more smart meters are added to gather data about usage patterns, the greater the risk of security breaches or cyber attacks on the system.
At the moment, no agency has responsibility and authority for the entire grid. The report strongly recommends that some agency - perhaps the U.S. Department of Homeland Security - be given such responsibility and authority, but thorny issues related to authority over local distribution systems would need to be resolved. In addition, the report notes, it will be important to develop rules and systems to maintain the privacy of customers' electricity usage data.
While the grid's current performance is adequate, decisions made now will shape that grid over the next 20 years, according to the study, which recommends a series of changes in the regulatory environment to facilitate and exploit technological innovation.
As long as specific policy changes are made, the U.S. electric grid will be able to handle technological challenges stemming from the growth of distributed and intermittent new energy sources, such as solar and wind power, as well as an expected influx of electric and hybrid vehicles, according to a study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
"It is a real issue - a chicken-and-egg problem," says John Kassakian, a professor of electrical engineering at MIT and the study's co-chair. "Nobody's going to build these new renewable energy plants unless they know there will be transmission lines to get the power to load centers. And nobody's going to build transmission lines unless the difficulty of siting lines across multiple jurisdictions is eased."
The MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI) report recommends that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission either be given the authority to make decisions in such cases, or be designated as the backstop authority in cases where there are disputes. The report was commissioned by the (MITEI) and carried out by a panel of 13 faculty members from MIT and one from Harvard University, along with 10 graduate students and an advisory panel of 19 leaders from academia, industry and government.
The grid would also benefit from a restructuring of the way customers pay for costs, the study found. Payment for electric distribution, similar to payment for generation, is currently calculated based on usage.
But because most of the costs involved are fixed and do not depend on usage, utilities are inclined to resist distributed generation. Fixed network costs, the report says, should be recovered primarily through customer charges that do not depend on electricity consumption, the report notes.
In addition, while many utilities have begun to install smart meters for their customers, most of these are not yet being used to provide feedback to customers that could shift electricity usage to off-peak hours.
Another area that will require restructuring, the study concludes, is cybersecurity. The more thoroughly the grid is interconnected, and the more smart meters are added to gather data about usage patterns, the greater the risk of security breaches or cyber attacks on the system.
At the moment, no agency has responsibility and authority for the entire grid. The report strongly recommends that some agency - perhaps the U.S. Department of Homeland Security - be given such responsibility and authority, but thorny issues related to authority over local distribution systems would need to be resolved. In addition, the report notes, it will be important to develop rules and systems to maintain the privacy of customers' electricity usage data.
