U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee (D-Wash) has introduced legislation to establish federal policy on planning, building and operating a 21st century electricity transmission grid with a special focus on bringing renewable energy sources on-line.
Rep. Inslee’s bill is specifically designed to “to increase the production of electricity from renewable energy, to enhance the performance and efficiency of the Nation’s electric power network, and to improve its security and reliability.”
The bill also has as a goal, “to facilitate the establishment of a sustainable transmission grid consisting of long-distance, extra-high voltage transmission lines constructed to move remote clean energy generation resources to markets while improving system efficiency and reliability, and such additional transmission lines as are needed to connect renewable energy generators into this extra-high voltage grid.”
On the Senate side, Harry Reid, the Senate’s Democratic leader, Senators Jeff Bingaman (New Mexico) and Byron Dorgan (North Dakota) have offered three of the most prominent proposals. Each would require comprehensive plans for the interconnections, and would, to varying degrees, expand FERC’s authority to locate big new projects and allocate their costs.
A modern, efficient electric transmission grid is a central tenet of the Pickens Plan.
Rep. Inslee is a member of the House Committee on Energy & Commerce; the Committee on Natural Resources; as well as the Select Committee on Energy Independence & Global Warming.
Inslee’s bill allows states and regions 18 months to come up with a plan for a new electrical grid which specifically enhances the opportunity for wind, solar and other renewable sources of electricity generation to easily connect. If no plan can be agreed upon, then the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) would step in and move the process forward.
Inslee’s bill also provides for FERC to have the power to site a 21st century transmission grid which would be the same power it already has for siting natural gas lines. Natural gas is the most widely distributed resource in the United States behind only water.
The bill also allocates the costs of building the new transmission grid and sets emissions standards for new generation plants connecting to the grid.
— The Pickens Team