Don't forget about the grid

Here's an interesting article that was on the front page of the Times yesterday. It's about whether our grid is ready for a new generation of clean power.

Looks like the answer is no. To explain why, the author uses a road analogy; I prefer a pipe analogy, because I like pipes. The way the system works now, you are piping large amounts of energy through large pipes (think water mains) from places like big coal-fired power plants. As the energy gets carried out farther and farther, the pipes get smaller.

Now, if I build a big wind turbine out in the windy plains, I'm probably far away from that big pipe. Instead, I'm trying to jam lots of energy backwards through the grid, through the small pipes. Those pipes are going to burst!

...I hear you engineers out there saying "Big deal! So we build new transmission lines! Problem solved!"

Ah, if only it were that simple, my dear engineers. Although such an undertaking would be relatively simple, technologically speaking, we are talking a serious political mess. The grid is controlled by hundreds of authorities and each state has its own regulatory obstacle course that has to be run through.

Unless we get some federal support. To use the author's analogy, we need an interstate highway system, not local roads.

Personally, I think it's good that we are thinking about the grid itself again. Our grid is really old and could use a makeover anyway. We tend to think that infrastructure lasts forever, when really it doesn't. Roads are repaved all the time. Bridges are reinforced. City skylines are constantly in slow dynamic flux.

It's time to rebuild the grid.

Courtesy of the New York Times