Bridging the Divides in the U.S. Electricity Grid

The U.S. power system is split into three separate sections with very little overlap. A more seamless infrastructure could deliver benefit, but a new study, still unpublished, is the first to take on the question of how much benefit.

August 9, 2018, 7am PDT | James Brasuell | @CasualBrasuell

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The National Renewable Energy laboratory (NREL) worked with partners to publish a report detailing the costs and the benefits for building an integrated energy infrastructure in the United States.

According to a post sharing the "Interconnections Seam Study," U.S. energy is split into three separate systems, which work independently and share very little electricity. The study, therefore "aims to quantify the value of strengthening the connections (or seams) between the regions to encourage efficient development and utilization of U.S. energy resources" and also to assess "the degree to which interconnection can facilitate a more reliable, resilient, sustainable, and affordable U.S. electricity system."

The research team has published preliminary results [pdf] and has submitted the study to the journal IEEE Transactions on Power Systems.

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Interconnections Seam Study

Published on Wednesday, August 8, 2018 in NREL