Resources

Across the country there is growing recognition that our electric grid needs to be modernized and expanded. Recent studies describe the wide-ranging benefits of investing in the electric grid, as well as the costs of under investment. To support our mission to develop America’s next-generation energy infrastructure, Grid United regularly participates in policy discussions and regulatory proceedings.

See below for the latest news on Grid United, recent and useful industry studies, videos on the electric grid, and company regulatory filings.

Latest

  • News

Why one developer won’t quit fighting to connect the US’s grids

September 2024
Michael Skelly’s last transmission company failed. But has the US finally caught up with his vision?

Studies

  • Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Western Interconnection Baseline Study

September 2024
This report was prepared in connection with the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) National Transmission Planning Study (NTP Study), conducted by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). The aim of the NTP Study is to identify transmission that will provide broad-scale benefits to electric customers, inform regional and interregional transmission planning processes, and identify interregional and national strategies to accelerate decarbonization while maintaining system reliability.
  • Americans for a Clean Energy Grid | Grid Strategies

FEWER NEW MILES: The US Transmission Grid in the 2020s

July 2024
The U.S. electric grid is in need of significant and rapid transmission expansion to meet growing power demand, ensure resilience and reliability, and enable lowest cost electricity generation.
  • National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)

Barriers and Opportunities To Realize the System Value of Interregional Transmission

June 2024
This report—Barriers and Opportunities To Realize the System Value of Interregional Transmission—examines the barriers and identifies potential opportunities within existing market and operating rules to achieve the benefits of coordinated transmission planning and operations for electric customers. This report is part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) National Transmission Planning Study (NTP Study), conducted by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. The aim of the NTP Study is to identify transmission that will provide broadscale benefits to electric customers, inform regional and interregional transmission planning processes, and identify interregional and national strategies to accelerate decarbonization while maintaining system reliability.
  • Grid United | Astrapé Consulting

North Plains Connector Benefits Evaluation

June 2024
This document provides details concerning a study to evaluate the benefits associated with the addition of the North Plains Connector (NPC) project, a 3,000MW high voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission line between WECC and the Eastern Interconnection (EI) currently being developed by Grid United.
  • Energy Systems Integration Group (ESIG)

Interregional Transmission for Resilience: Using Regional Diversity to Prioritize Additional Interregional Transmission

June 2024
This study presents a methodology to assess where the potential greatest resilience benefits can be realized when increasing interregional transfer capabilities.
  • Grid Strategies

The Era of Flat Power Demand is Over

December 2023
This study shares that electricity demand growth over the next five years has nearly doubled over previous forecasts. This is largely due to the growth in American manufacturing, industrial and data center facilities. Overall, the U.S. electric grid is not prepared for the electricity demands of the next five years.
  • The Brattle Group | Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP

The Need for Intertie Optimization: Reducing Customer Costs, Improving Grid Resilience, and Encouraging Interregional Transmission

October 2023
This study finds that optimizing the use of existing or new interregional transmission capability between the Southwest Power Pool (SPP), Midcontinent ISO (MISO), or PJM Interconnection (PJM) would provide approximately $50-60 million annually in additional value for every gigawatt of intertie capacity beyond what bilateral trades are currently able to capture.
  • The Brattle Group | DNV

The Operational and Market Benefits of HVDC to System Operators

September 2023
Sponsored by American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE), Allete, Clean Grid Alliance, GridLab, Grid United, and Pattern Energy Group, this report brings forth the latest knowledge on HVDC technology with the goal to fully incorporate HVDC technology into the design, planning and future operations of the North American grid. 
  • Americans for a Clean Energy Grid | Grid Strategies

Ready-To-Go Transmission Projects 2023

September 2023
The report identifies 36 high-capacity transmission projects that could be ready to break ground in the near term.
  • U.S. Department of Energy

National Transmission Needs

February 2023
The study identifies both current and anticipated future needs that could be alleviated by transmission solutions. The findings of the study will inform the U.S. Department of Energy as it coordinates the use of its authorities and funding related to electric transmission, including implementing the many grid resilience and technology investment provisions of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and Inflation Reduction Act. 
  • Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

The Latest Market Data Show that the Potential Savings of New Electric Transmission Was Higher Last Year than at Any Point in the Last Decade 

February 2023
The study finds that in 2022, additional regional and interregional transmission could have reduced electric system costs by more than in any year from 2012 through 2021.
  • Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Empirical Estimates of Transmission Value Using Locational Marginal Prices 

August 2022
Focusing on one potential benefit of transmission – congestion relief – this study finds that many existing transmission planning approaches are likely understating the economic value of new transmission infrastructure. The study highlights the need for planners to more comprehensively assess the value of transmission under both normal and extreme conditions – as extreme conditions and high-value periods disproportionately boost the value of new transmission, but are not always adequately considered in forward-looking assessments.
  • Energy Systems Integration Group (ESIG)

Design Study Requirements for a U.S. Macrogrid

February 2022
The report describes the factors that should be considered in future macrogrid studies.
  • The Brattle Group

A Roadmap to Improved Interregional Transmission Planning 

November 2021
As outlined in this study, in spite of a near-consensus by stakeholders in the electric power industry that the benefits and value of expanding interregional transmission capabilities [including resource and load diversification, increased system reliability and resilience, and wholesale power market benefits] often exceed its costs, there remain significant barriers to interregional transmission planning and project development. This study outlines those barriers and provides a “roadmap” of recommendations to improve interregional planning processes and analytics.
  • Grid Strategies

Fleetwide Failures: How Interregional Transmission Tends to Keep the Lights on When There Is a Loss of Generation

November 2021
Interregional transmission can help keep power flowing when widespread, unplanned generation outages occur, as demonstrated by the extreme weather events referenced in this report. For example, due to a lack of interregional ties, ERCOT was only able to import approximately 800 MW of power from SPP during the week of Winter Storm Uri. While MISO and SPP also experienced similar cold weather conditions, those RTOs were able to import more electricity from other regions experiencing milder temperatures.
  • Grid Strategies

Transmission Makes the Power System Resilient to Extreme Weather

July 2021
Weather-related power outages cost Americans $25-70 billion annually. This analysis reviews five recent severe weather events to determine the value additional transmission would have provided.
  • The Brattle Group

Transmission Planning and Benefit-Cost Analyses 

April 2021
The report outlines improvements and best practices for transmission planning, benefit-cost analysis, and cost allocation.
  • National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)

The Value of Increased HVDC Capacity Between Eastern and Western U.S. Grids: The Interconnections Seam Study

October 2020
The study describes the high benefit to cost ratio to adding interregional high voltage direct current transmission lines to the U.S. electric grid. Currently there are seven back-to-back high-voltage direct-current facilities enabling approximately 1 GW of electricity to flow between the Eastern and Western interconnections. This transfer capability between the interconnections is very small compared to the networks they connect—the larger Eastern interconnection is home to 700 GW of generating capacity, and the Western interconnect is home to roughly 250 GW of electricity.
  • The Brattle Group

Well-Planned Electric Transmission Saves Customer Costs

June 2016
The study concludes that a transmission buildout would save consumers money as utilities try to meet renewable energy standards and goals.

Grid 101

Intertie (1969)

Bonneville Power Association

“Intertie” showcases the construction of the Pacific Northwest-Pacific Southwest Direct Current Intertie, a high-voltage electric superhighway between the Northwest and Southwest that helps balance power needs in the West and allows the two regions to share surplus electricity. It was the largest single transmission program ever undertaken in the United States. Construction began in the 1960s through a cooperative effort between public and private utilities in the Pacific Northwest and California. The 3,100-megawatt combined AC and DC transmission system was completed in 1970.

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