Replacing power lines could ease clean energy backlog, study says

By Clare Fieseler | 09/24/2024 06:25 AM EDT

The U.S. could save $180 billion by installing high-capacity lines that use existing towers, land and right-of-way agreements.

Electrical grid transmission towers are seen in Pasadena, California.

Electrical grid transmission towers are seen in Pasadena, California. John Antczak/AP

The U.S. could satisfy most of its new transmission needs in areas near the existing grid by replacing century-old power lines with higher-capacity ones, according to a new study.

The study — published Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences — suggests that so-called reconductoring could help the country meet a significant share of its clean energy needs by 2035. Instead of building expensive new transmission lines, grid operators could install advanced composite-core conductors using the same towers, land and right-of-way agreements that have been part of the U.S. grid for decades.

“There’s been over 100,000 [miles] of advanced conductors that have been deployed all around the world. There are some around the U.S. already, but we see a lot more potential to address today’s bottlenecks,” said Amol Phadke, the study’s lead author and a senior scientist at the University of California at Berkeley.

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Advanced composite-core conductors can carry twice as much electricity as the grid’s aging high-voltage wiring. The study found that reconductoring could save the U.S $180 billion by 2050 by eliminating the need for some new transmission lines.

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