Where will all the electricity come from?

I’m considering replacing my gasoline car with a battery-electric vehicle. It got me thinking about where all the electricity is going to come from as more BEVs hit the streets. I did some reading about the U.S. strategy for building an electric grid infrastructure that can handle more private and commercial vehicles plugging in for power.?

How big is it?

The U.S. electric grid is made up of about 22,000 generators, 55,000 substations, 650,000 miles of high-voltage lines, and more than 6 million miles of distribution lines serving over 150 million customers. It’s going to take more than smart software to support growing electricity demands. We need more wires, towers, cables, concrete, and metals. The supply chain is complex and constrained.

What are some of the technical challenges?

There are two big infrastructure obstacles.

1. More large power transformers (LPTs) are needed. These convert low voltage into high voltage and vice versa to ensure a grid system can transmit large amounts of electrical energy over longer distances. The U.S. has challenges in manufacturing these locally, including sourcing the materials. A substantial percentage of components are imported.

U.S. manufacturers of LPTs are not competitive compared to global manufacturers due to workforce skill gaps, high capital investment, test space, and volatile material costs

2. High-Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) transmission is an alternative approach to the conventional way of transmitting electricity. It can be more cost-effective for longer transmission distances (which are needed for wind projects for example). But adding and integrating this technology requires collaboration between Regional Transmission Organizations (RTOs) and it has a huge up-front investment cost while earning a timely, acceptable return has a lot of risk. The semiconductors needed to manufacture HVDC converters are not even manufactured in the U.S. and demand for HVDC is much lower in the U.S. than in Asia and Europe.

Strategy & bottom line

The big-picture strategies to overcome these infrastructure challenges include prioritizing public/private partnerships to lower manufacturing costs of LPTs, and incentivizing domestic production and procurement of HVDC through loans and grants.

The U.S. carbon reduction goals are to cut emissions in half by 2030, create an emissions-free power sector by 2035, and achieve net zero emissions economy-wide by no later than 2050. I want to live in a lower-carbon emission world, but the more I read and learn, the more I understand how impossible these goals seem. However, I’m going to try to do my part where I can and I’ll keep reading, learning, and engaging.

Sources & Further Reading

?U.S. DOE ?

https://www.energy.gov/policy/securing-americas-clean-energy-supply-chain

https://www.energy.gov/sites/default/files/2022-02/Electric%20Grid%20Supply%20Chain%20Report%20-%20Final.pdf