#electric grid

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this New York Times story:

The Biden administration on Thursday finalized a rule meant to speed up federal permits for major transmission lines, part of a broader push to expand America’s electric grids.

Administration officials are increasingly worried that their plans to fight climate change could falter unless the nation can quickly add vast amounts of grid capacity to handle more wind and solar power and to better tolerate extreme weather. The pace of construction for high-voltage power lines has sharply slowed since 2013, and building new lines can take a decade or more because of permitting delays and local opposition.

The Energy Department is trying to use the limited tools at its disposal to pour roughly $20 billion into grid upgrades and to streamline approvals for new lines. But experts say a rapid, large-scale grid expansion may ultimately depend on Congress.

Under the rule announced on Thursday, the Energy Department would take over as the lead agency in charge of federal environmental reviews for certain interstate power lines and would aim to issue necessary permits within two years. Currently, the federal approval process can take four years or more and often involves multiple agencies each conducting their own separate reviews.

“We need to build new transmission projects more quickly, as everybody knows,” Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said. The new reforms are “a huge improvement from the status quo, where developers routinely have to navigate several independent permitting processes throughout the federal government.”

The permitting changes would only affect lines that require federal review, like those that cross federally owned land. Such projects made up 26 percent of all transmission line miles added between 2010 and 2020. To qualify, developers would need to create a plan to engage with the public much earlier in the process.

“Federal permitting isn’t the only thing holding back transmission, but if they can cut times down by even a year, and if we have fewer projects that take a decade or more, that’s a big win,” said Megan Gibson, the chief counsel at the Niskanen Center, a research organization that recently conducted two studies on federal transmission permitting.

The rule would not affect state environmental reviews, which can sometimes be an even bigger hurdle to transmission developers who are facing complaints and lawsuits over spoiled views and damage to ecosystems.

#electric grid #Department of Energy

[follow-up-news]

The Biden administration announced $3.46 billion in funding today to upgrade the US’s aging electric grid, the largest investment to date in the grid. The money, which comes from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, will go to 58 different projects across 44 states. Stressed power grids need the money badly, both to prevent blackouts and bring more clean energy online. Weather disasters supercharged by climate change have already led to more power outages in the US. And President Biden has a goal of creating a 100 percent carbon pollution-free power sector by 2035, which will help the US keep commitments it made under the Paris climate agreement.

#joe biden #biden administration #electric grid #climate change

[patriciastrike]

#electric grid #power lines #january #original photography

[tachyon-at-rest]

Domestic Terrorism: just like the GQP and CPAC promised

(they are just carrying on the tradition of abortion clinic bombings)

Excerpt from article:

"As first reported by Oregon Public Broadcasting and KUOW Public Radio, there have been at least six attacks, some of which involved firearms and caused residents to lose power. Two of the attacks shared similarities with the incident in Moore county, North Carolina, where two stations were hit by gunfire. Authorities have not yet revealed a motive for the North Carolina attack."

#Domestic terrorism #Power station #Electric grid #My posts #Electric grid attacks #Power grid attacks #Ammosexuals #Power station attacks

[y0ur-maj3sty]

It's simple. They want everything to be electric and 'SMART'.. so they can shut everything down when compliance is not met. Cell phones, cars, stoves, meters on your house, etc. Also, when something happens to your electric vehicles, they'll put you in a "15 Minute City", so you don't need to drive anywhere... because everything is only a 15 walk from where you live. While you bathe in 5G radiation.

#smart technology #great reset #communism #electric grid #15 minute cities #5g #electric vehicles #government

[kp777]

#electric car #electric grid #ev

[bighermie]

#electric grid #energy #blackout #climate #electricity blackouts

[maxli-catenby]

Map of my state

Green is electric, big dots are power plants and small are substations

Red is pipelines

Blue is railroads/stations, the light blue is abandoned

#infrastructure #new hampshire #Maps #Railroad #Electric grid #Pipelines

[geezerwench]

#the grid #the electric grid #electric grid #security #power grid security #domestic terrorism

[giffypudding]

The electric slide towards the grid

#the simpsons #gif #electric #electricity #electric grid #wind turbine #turbine #simpsons

[ivygorgon]

Pass legislation to significantly expand transmission for clean energy NOW!

AN OPEN LETTER to THE PRESIDENT & U.S. CONGRESS

820 so far! Help us get to 1,000 signers!

Right now, there are at least 2,000 gigawatts of renewable energy waiting for permission to connect to power lines in the U.S., which is more than the total capacity of the country’s existing power plants. Wait times to connect new power plants to the grid can reach five years or more. Without rapidly improving transmission, the United States will not be able to achieve Biden's goal of 100% clean energy by 2035 or provide cheaper, more reliable electricity to American households. If the U.S. can’t build new transmission at a faster pace, roughly 80 percent of the emissions reductions expected from the Inflation Reduction Act–the largest climate legislation in U.S. history–might not happen.

That’s why I’m writing to urge Congress to pass legislation to significantly expand transmission for clean energy.

Multiple efforts are currently in play. Most recently in the House, Representatives Sean Casten and Mike Levin introduced the Clean Energy and Transmission Acceleration Act, (HR 6747) which would encourage the development of new transmission lines to carry renewable power where it’s needed while protecting the rights of communities to provide input on where lines are built and to benefit from their construction. I strongly support this bill.

But any legislation is better than none, and NONE of the bills proposed so far have been passed. This is not good.

Increasing access to clean energy will help tackle the climate crisis by ensuring the reliability of the grid and reducing consumers' bills. Renewable energies like wind and solar are quickly becoming the least expensive source of energy and we need to make sure as many people as possible get access to these clean, abundant energy sources.

Please pass a strong, fair transmission bill—like HR 6747—that prioritizes clean energy, climate change, and environmental justice. This is urgent; all of our children are counting on us to secure their futures. Thanks.

▶ Created on April 23 by Jess Craven · 819 signers in the past 7 days

📱 Text SIGN PMNVSR to 50409

🤯 Liked it? Text FOLLOW JESSCRAVEN101 to 50409

#JESSCRAVEN101 #PMNVSR #resistbot #Clean Energy #Renewable Energy #Climate Action #Transmission Expansion #Green Energy #Clean Energy Now #Climate Change #Energy Infrastructure #Renewables #Climate Crisis #Energy Policy #Infrastructure Bill #Green Grid #Renewable Power #Energy Transition #Climate Legislation #Sustainable Energy #Clean Tech #Electric Grid #Energy Security #Energy Equity #Renewable Future #Grid Modernization #Climate Justice #Energy Innovation #Renewable Resources #Energy Efficiency

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this Op-Ed by David Wallace-Wells in the New York Times:

The alliance that pushed the Inflation Reduction Act into law in August was always a somewhat fragile and ramshackle one: Green New Dealers and the coal-state senator Joe Manchin, carbon-capture geeks and environmental justice warriors, all herded together in the sort of big-tent play you get with a 50-50 Senate and one party functionally indifferent on climate.

One conspicuous cost of the compromise reached was a promise made by Senator Chuck Schumer to Manchin on what was vaguely called permitting reform: a catchall phrase referring to a whole host of efforts to cut red tape and ease the rollout of energy infrastructure. After weeks of speculation and intracoalitional debate, the text of the compromise was released on Sept. 21. By Sept. 27, the coalition had fallen apart, with Manchin somewhat abruptly pulling what had become known as the side deal from a must-pass budget resolution.

This was seemingly a victory for the progressive caucus, activists and environmental justice groups, which opposed the agreement as a fossil fuel handout, and another mark of a growing climate rift on the left in the aftermath of what was widely hailed as the most significant decarbonization bill passed into American law. (Nothing breaks a partnership like success, I guess.) But it also suggests an obvious next step for the left side of the now fractured climate coalition: its own alternative permitting reform bill, focused on building more electric transmission lines and streamlining regulatory approval for clean energy projects (without allowing for more fossil fuel infrastructure or the stampeding of frontline communities).

That’s because there are, I think, pretty strong climate arguments for permitting reform in principle: To more or less replace or rebuild the country’s whole energy infrastructure would require an enormous construction effort, ideally undertaken at warp speed. But Manchin’s particular version? Alongside reforms to promote more rapid build-out of the electricity grid, its major elements included modest changes to the National Environmental Policy Act, the environmental-review law whose impacts on energy infrastructure build-out are debated. Its review process slows projects enough, though, that even modest changes like these would accelerate things somewhat (and make it presumably harder to object to new projects on the basis of conservation values or environmental justice).

#climate legislation #regulatory reform #environmental review #electric grid #Inflation Reduction Act

[poojagblog-blog]

The global Synchronous Condenser Market is projected to grow from USD 661 million in 2022 to USD 811 million by 2030, at a CAGR of 2.6%, according to a new report by MarketsandMarkets™. Synchronous condensers ensure a stable supply to the transmission grid. They can also supply and absorb reactive power and deliver voltage support and dynamic regulation. In addition, many renewable resources are remotely located and feed power into a single radial line. Synchronous condensers can be installed close to the connection point to strengthen the grid with additional short-circuit power. This improves the fault ride-through capability of the power installation itself and provides additional voltage stability. With renewable power generation on the rise, the market for synchronous condensers is expected to witness substantial growth in the coming years. This trend is expected to gain traction in North America and Europe, where renewable energy is gaining momentum, and the conventional power generation infrastructure is aging and converted to synchronous condensers.

#synchronous condenser #synchronous condensers #synchronous condenser market #energy efficiency #energy #energia #power generation #utilities #power #utility #electricity #renewable power #renewableenergy #renewable resources #power infrastructure #power grid #smart grid #power grids #electric grids #power distribution #power transmission #hvdc #electrical grid #Electrical Utilities #electric grid #Electric Utilities

[jcmarchi]

Atmospheric observations in China show rise in emissions of a potent greenhouse gas

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/atmospheric-observations-in-china-show-rise-in-emissions-of-a-potent-greenhouse-gas/

Atmospheric observations in China show rise in emissions of a potent greenhouse gas

To achieve the aspirational goal of the Paris Agreement on climate change — limiting the increase in global average surface temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels — will require its 196 signatories to dramatically reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Those greenhouse gases differ widely in their global warming potential (GWP), or ability to absorb radiative energy and thereby warm the Earth’s surface. For example, measured over a 100-year period, the GWP of methane is about 28 times that of carbon dioxide (CO2), and the GWP of sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) is 24,300 times that of CO2, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Sixth Assessment Report. 

Used primarily in high-voltage electrical switchgear in electric power grids, SF6 is one of the most potent greenhouse gases on Earth. In the 21st century, atmospheric concentrations of SF6 have risen sharply along with global electric power demand, threatening the world’s efforts to stabilize the climate. This heightened demand for electric power is particularly pronounced in China, which has dominated the expansion of the global power industry in the past decade. Quantifying China’s contribution to global SF6 emissions — and pinpointing its sources in the country — could lead that nation to implement new measures to reduce them, and thereby reduce, if not eliminate, an impediment to the Paris Agreement’s aspirational goal. 

To that end, a new study by researchers at the MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change, Fudan University, Peking University, University of Bristol, and Meteorological Observation Center of China Meteorological Administration determined total SF6 emissions in China over 2011-21 from atmospheric observations collected from nine stations within a Chinese network, including one station from the Advanced Global Atmospheric Gases Experiment (AGAGE) network. For comparison, global total emissions were determined from five globally distributed, relatively unpolluted “background” AGAGE stations, involving additional researchers from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and CSIRO, Australia’s National Science Agency.

The researchers found that SF6 emissions in China almost doubled from 2.6 gigagrams (Gg) per year in 2011, when they accounted for 34 percent of global SF6 emissions, to 5.1 Gg per year in 2021, when they accounted for 57 percent of global total SF6 emissions. This increase from China over the 10-year period — some of it emerging from the country’s less-populated western regions — was larger than the global total SF6 emissions rise, highlighting the importance of lowering SF6 emissions from China in the future.

The open-access study, which appears in the journal Nature Communications, explores prospects for future SF6 emissions reduction in China.

“Adopting maintenance practices that minimize SF6 leakage rates or using SF6-free equipment or SF6 substitutes in the electric power grid will benefit greenhouse-gas mitigation in China,” says Minde An, a postdoc at the MIT Center for Global Change Science (CGCS) and the study’s lead author. “We see our findings as a first step in quantifying the problem and identifying how it can be addressed.”

Emissions of SF6 are expected to last more than 1,000 years in the atmosphere, raising the stakes for policymakers in China and around the world.

“Any increase in SF6 emissions this century will effectively alter our planet’s radiative budget — the balance between incoming energy from the sun and outgoing energy from the Earth — far beyond the multi-decadal time frame of current climate policies,” says MIT Joint Program and CGCS Director Ronald Prinn, a coauthor of the study. “So it’s imperative that China and all other nations take immediate action to reduce, and ultimately eliminate, their SF6 emissions.”

The study was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China and Shanghai B&R Joint Laboratory Project, the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and other funding agencies.  

#000 #Administration #aeronautics #agreement #amp #assessment #atmosphere #Australia #background #carbon #Carbon dioxide #Center for Global Change Science #change #China #climate #climate change #CO2 #communications #comparison #development #EAPS #earth #Electric grid #electric power #Emissions #energy #Environment #equipment #Funding #Future

[lamajaoscura]

#electric grid #green energy #biden administration

[hsundholm]

The Santana Lands by Henrik Sundholm Via Flickr: On the countryside in Santana on Madeira, Portugal.

#landscape #countryside #pastoral #rustic #overcast #clouds #cloudy #sky #telephone lines #telephone pole #electric grid #power lines #farm #farming #hills #dirt #earth #grass #alotment #hdr #santana #madeira #portugal #flickr