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U.S. Government Backs Major Transmission Projects to Support Clean Energy

Oct 11, 2024

The Economic Times

Beyond Transmission: Investing in Energy Efficiency for a Sustainable Future

The U.S. Department of the Treasury stated that the U.S. government will provide up to $1.5 billion in public funding for four major electricity transmission projects aimed at building resilience into the grid and expanding access to clean energy in the southwest, southeast, and New England. Funding comes in the second round of the Transmission Facilitation Program under the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law and will finance building nearly 1,000 miles of new transmission lines across Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas.



U.S. Deputy Energy Secretary David Turk said that the investments start large-scale transmission projects which alone wouldn't be possible. The projects are expected to create about 9,000 jobs.


The initiatives have been funded in the following projects:


Aroostook Renewable Project that connects New England to wind power sourced in Maine.


- Cimarron Link: a 400-mile high-voltage direct current line stretching between Texas and eastern Oklahoma, which will carry wind and solar energy sold into growing areas


- Southern Spirit: A 320-mile connection of the Texas grid to southeastern grids so that power doesn't fail when a storm like the same one that occurred in 2022, as referred to as storm Uri hits


- Southline project: bring electricity from western New Mexico's generation of wind across the desert Southwest.



This period is after the early stage with initiatives in western and northeastern states. The Energy Department, anchoring their National Transmission Planning Study, prioritized doubling or tripling U.S. transmission capacity by 2050 as part of a drive toward greater demand and increased reliability in order to bring down costs in its dramatically increased estimates of 60 percent for transmission expansion and interregional planning.



In this era of saving billion dollars in generating power, we also need to learn how to save power which we have generated and reduce wastage.



Energy efficiency initiatives have tremendous potential for promoting green economic recovery, enhancing energy security, and reducing energy poverty when the crises deepen. There is already enough environmental, economic, and social payoff with existing technology that can already drive radical reductions. An overall reduction of 10-15% in energy consumption through power-saving solutions, such as FORCE, is already possible today. The clue to the future would then be the acceleration of progress in the energy efficiency of all sectors for a sustainable energy future sans the worse impacts of climate change. Let's get the ball rolling from today by working with ENPOSS.


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