Interstate Transmission Research Articles

Toward a physical Dodge City high voltage direct current (HVDC) electricity hub

A physical Dodge City high voltage direct current (HVDC) electricity commodity hub would foster the kind of risk transfer that would invite the full participation of the financial industry in an interstate transmission system essential to the speedy development of renewable electricity and complementary storage technologies. Obstacles lie in the way of such a vision, however. Chief among them, paradoxically, is the administrative system that has evolved since the late 1990 s to promote regional electricity markets. That system abstracts from investment risk and the nation’s uneven geography of renewable resources. It lodges a kind of monopoly planning and scheduling power in a small group of bureaucratic centralized system operators that mimics a command economy in their own distinct regions, not the kind of market economy that has traditionally driven investment in US interstate energy infrastructure. And yet, in dealing with the vexing transmission constraints faced by the renewable generating sector (the “queue”), the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) continues to pursue ever greater authority for those regional transmission organizations (RTOs). Such FERC action regarding its RTOs in 2022–23 represents a highly evident case of path dependency—a problem—that state or federal policy makers wishing to speed the entry of large-scale renewable generation, and complementary storage technologies, will have find a way either to confront directly or to work around.

Victoria’s Energy Transition using n Bottom Line Analysis

To achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, Australia must decarbonise the energy sector and other sectors. The 'energy transition' is driven by policy-led construction of renewable infrastructure and regulation changes. However, no holistic analysis of the path forward currently exists. This research aims to develop a clear plan for Victoria's energy transition by evaluating three scenarios. A Business as Usual (BAU) scenario is compared against two alternative solutions. The alternates emulate two of Victoria's possible trajectories. Alternative 1 (ALT1) focuses on Victoria's reliance on imported interstate renewable energy, while Alternative 2 (ALT2) involves Victoria becoming self-sufficient through renewable generation. Each of the three scenarios is compared across four bottom lines: technical performance, social, economic, and environmental. Interviews among energy experts revealed that economic and social metrics were considered most important. Applying the n-bottom line (nBL) assessment framework delivers a result that finds ALT2 and ALT1 tied as the preferred solution. Hence, the construction of renewable infrastructure in Victoria and increased interstate transmission capacity should be built. Further research could include a deeper understanding of the embodied carbon in infrastructure built for the energy transition.

Minimizing habitat conflicts in meeting net-zero energy targets in the western United States

The scale and pace of energy infrastructure development required to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are unprecedented, yet our understanding of how to minimize its potential impacts on land and ocean use and natural resources is inadequate. Using high-resolution energy and land-use modeling, we developed spatially explicit scenarios for reaching an economy-wide net-zero GHG target in the western United States by 2050. We found that among net-zero policy cases that vary the rate of transportation and building electrification and use of fossil fuels, nuclear generation, and biomass, the "High Electrification" case, which utilizes electricity generation the most efficiently, had the lowest total land and ocean area requirements (84,000 to 105,000 km2 vs. 88,100 to 158,000 km2 across all other cases). Different levels of land and ocean use protections were applied to determine their effect on siting, environmental and social impacts, and energy costs. Meeting the net-zero target with stronger land and ocean use protections did not significantly alter the share of different energy generation technologies and only increased system costs by 3%, but decreased additional interstate transmission capacity by 20%. Yet, failure to avoid development in areas with high conservation value is likely to result in substantial habitat loss.

Structural and Operating Features of the Creation of an Interstate Electric Power Interconnection in North-East Asia with Large-Scale Penetration of Renewables

Transition to green energy is the dominant process in the electricity sector globally, including in North-East Asia (NEA). The interstate power grid expansion in the NEA will facilitate the large-scale development of intermittent and uncertain green generation. This paper is aimed at considering the structural and operating features and effectiveness of a potential NEA power grid with large-scale penetration of renewables. A computing and geo-information system provides collection, processing, storage, and geo-visualization of technical and economic data. It incorporates a mathematical model for the optimization of the expansion and operation of power systems. Benefits (including saving the capacity, investment, fuel cost, and total cost) of power interconnection have been estimated in the study. Transfer capability required for the interstate electric ties was calculated and proved quite significant. A tax on greenhouse gases emission from thermal power plants, including carbon dioxide (CO2), has been used in the study as an economic incentive to facilitate the penetration of renewable energy sources in NEA power interconnection. An installed capacity, power generation mix, power exchange among countries, and operating modes (dispatching) have been calculated for different levels of CO2 emission tax. This study has shown the economic viability of the interconnection, defined major indices of interstate transmission grid infrastructure, revealed the changes in the mix of generating capacities and their operation under conditions of large-scale expansion of renewables, and found out the roles of various countries with different levels of CO2 tax, detailed the impact of CO2 emission tax in encouraging capacity additions and power generation growth from renewables. These capacities altogether suppress the expansion of coal-fired power plants in the potential North-East Asia power grid and contribute to achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), particularly SDG 7, to ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all.

Tackling “Transmission III”—Problems in 2022 for the Renewable Generation Backlog

Transmission III? I use that term to describe what publication Law360 signaled as one of the key energy policy issues to watch in 2022: how to overhaul the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's (FERC's) transmission rules to accommodate increasing amounts of renewable energy coming from interior parts of the country with significant levels of wind and solar energy—but few large population centers. The FERC is facing a new interstate transmission problem, as existing US interstate transmission networks were built to serve other purposes. Transmission I, as I call it, arose to provide interstate electric grid system reliability and resilience for state‐regulated, vertically integrated electric utilities after the famous East Coast blackout of November 1965. Transmission II followed in the wake of the regional wholesale power market development, which arose after the mid‐1990s, to avoid the higher electricity costs arising when transmission congestion kept low‐cost generating plants from contributing to intrastate regional power grids.

Removing the State Opt-Out for Demand Response

In 1935, Congress enacted the Federal Power Act. The Act split jurisdiction over electricity generation and distribution between the Federal and state governments. The Act delegated to the Federal government jurisdiction over interstate wholesales and interstate transmission. The Act gave state governments jurisdiction over intrastate wholesales, intrastate transmission, generation, local distribution, and retail sales. Big, vertically-integrated monopoly utilities dominated the market before and for 60 years after the passage of the Act. However, over time, changes in technology and policy in the wholesale market eroded the dominance of those vertically-integrated monopoly utilities and complicated this jurisdictional bright line. In 2011, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued Order 745, requiring wholesale markets to permit demand response to operate on equal footing to traditional sources of generation. Unlike typical electricity generation, demand response involves paying consumers for a commitment not to consume electricity at a certain time. The Supreme Court sustained that Order in the 2016 case FERC v. Electric Power Supply Association. The Order allowed states to opt out of FERC’s demand response rules. This Note advocates for the removal of that state opt-out, analyzes its likely success against court challenges, and explores the possible limits of FERC jurisdiction after the 2020 case National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners v. FERC. If demand response reaches its full potential, it could provide as much electricity as hundreds of peak power plants. Removing the opt-out and integrating all possible demand response resources into the wholesale market is particularly timely and important given its potential to alleviate the economic and human toll from widespread blackouts such as the February 2021 Texas power system failure.

Genomic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 tracks early interstate transmission of P.1 lineage and diversification within P.2 clade in Brazil.

The sharp increase of COVID-19 cases in late 2020 has made Brazil the new epicenter of the ongoing SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. The novel viral lineages P.1 (Variant of Concern Gamma) and P.2, respectively identified in the Brazilian states of Amazonas and Rio de Janeiro, have been associated with potentially higher transmission rates and antibody neutralization escape. In this study, we performed the whole-genome sequencing of 185 samples isolated from three out of the five Brazilian regions, including Amazonas (North region), Rio Grande do Norte, Paraíba and Bahia (Northeast region), and Rio de Janeiro (Southeast region) in order to monitor the spread of SARS-CoV-2 lineages in Brazil in the first months of 2021. Here, we showed a widespread dispersal of P.1 and P.2 across Brazilian regions and, except for Amazonas, P.2 was the predominant lineage identified in the sampled states. We estimated the origin of P.2 lineage to have happened in February, 2020 and identified that it has differentiated into new clades. Interstate transmission of P.2 was detected since March, but reached its peak in December, 2020 and January, 2021. Transmission of P.1 was also high in December and its origin was inferred to have happened in August 2020. We also confirmed the presence of lineage P.7, recently described in the southernmost region of Brazil, to have spread across the Northeastern states. P.1, P.2 and P.7 are descended from the ancient B.1.1.28 strain, which co-dominated the first phase of the pandemic in Brazil with the B.1.1.33 strain. We also identified the occurrence of a new lineage descending from B.1.1.33 that convergently carries the E484K mutation, N.9. Indeed, the recurrent report of many novel SARS-CoV-2 genetic variants in Brazil could be due to the absence of effective control measures resulting in high SARS-CoV2 transmission rates. Altogether, our findings provided a landscape of the critical state of SARS-CoV-2 across Brazil and confirm the need to sustain continuous sequencing of the SARS-CoV-2 isolates worldwide in order to identify novel variants of interest and monitor for vaccine effectiveness.

Технологічні умови паралельної роботи ОЕС України з суміжними країнами, приєднаними до ENTSO-E

A large-scale reform of relations in the electricity sector, which has been taking place in recent years in Ukraine, is explained by the desire of integration into European Union, and these prescripts, in particular, by the Law of Ukraine “On ratification of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the European Union”. One of the important steps towards Ukraine's integration into the EU is the accession of the United Power System (UPS) to the Association of Transmission System Operators of Continental Europe (ENTSO-E) for which, in particular, in July 2019, a new electricity market model was introduced in Ukraine, built on principles compatible with the EU, currently functioning in accordance with the provisions of the Law of Ukraine "On the Electricity Market of Ukraine" and by-laws, in particular, "Market Rules", "Market rules" for the day ahead and intraday market ". The conditions of parallel operation of the UPS of Ukraine with the energy systems of neighboring countries that are part of ENTSO-E are considered, in particular, the structure of generating capacities, characteristic graphs of electrical loads, the presence and capacity of interstate power transmission lines and the value of the maximum allowable import and export capacity. The data presented can be used as input information for modeling the operating modes of the generating capacities of individual power systems, ensuring the readiness to integrate the power system of Ukraine with the power system of Continental Europe ENTSO-E and serve as the basis for modeling the synchronous functioning of the UPS of Ukraine in parallel operation with the power systems of neighboring countries. Keywords: energy system, ENTSO-E, technological conditions

Economic efficiency of alternative border carbon adjustment schemes: A case study of California Carbon Pricing and the Western North American power market

To be effective, policies addressing power sector carbon emissions in jurisdictions that are embedded in larger carbon markets must account for carbon embodied in imports and the potential for leakage. Yet analyses of alternative border carbon adjustment (BCA) policies that carefully model the impact of generation mix, net load distributions, and transmission limits are rare in the literature. With a generation-transmission expansion planning model of Western North America, we compare the impacts of alternative BCA schemes that California's carbon pricing system could implement. These include no BCA, facility (import source)-based deemed emission rate, a facility-neutral and constant (over-time) rate, and a facility-neutral and dynamic rate. Our results suggest that, when compared to no BCA or BCA using facility-based deemed rates, a facility-neutral BCA can improve efficiency by simultaneously lowering market-wide emissions and costs without raising California consumer expenditures. Emissions leakage also declines significantly. The precise value of the deemed rate affects these gains; setting it equal to marginal emission rates external to California is most efficient. We also show that California's carbon pricing encourages more interstate transmission expansion because power imports become more profitable. However, BCAs that cost-effectively lower total regional emissions will dampen those incentives.

Energy Market Complexities and the Need for Certainty

As many of this Journal's readers are aware, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is an independent agency organized within the US Department of Energy (DOE). Simply stated, FERC is responsible for regulating the interstate transmission of natural gas, petroleum, and electricity and for overseeing the establishment of just and reasonable rates for wholesale electricity sales of Independent System Operators (ISOs) and Regional Transmission Organizations (RTOs). Sounds straight forward at first blush, but there is nothing simple about FERC's role. And, FERC's importance in energy infrastructure development and market operations cannot be overstated. As the nation and many states pursue aggressive decarbonization and clean energy goals, FERC's role in energy project permitting and compliance, and wholesale market operations is critically important. FERC can provide the leadership necessary to support private sector investment in infrastructure development and in fair market valuation and pricing of assets in energy markets. Coupled with federal and state funding and policy support, a clear and decisive role by FERC could provide the certainty investors need for committing capital to clean energy and decarbonization investments.

The Value of Inter-Regional Coordination and Transmission in Decarbonizing the US Electricity System

Summary Preventing global warming in excess of 1.5°C–2°C requires a transition to zero-carbon electricity systems by midcentury along with the widespread electrification of other sectors. Current state-level renewable portfolio standards and regional transmission arrangements do not capture the benefits of inter-regional transmission or coordination of planning and dispatch for renewable-energy integration. Here, using a co-optimized capacity-planning and dispatch model over 7 years of hourly operation, we show that inter-state coordination and transmission expansion reduce the system cost of electricity in a 100%-renewable US power system by 46% compared with a state-by-state approach, from 135 $/MWh to 73 $/MWh. Sensitivity analyses show that reductions in the cost of photovoltaics, wind, and lithium-ion batteries lead to the lowest electricity costs for systems in which transmission expansion is allowed, while cost reductions for nuclear power or long-duration energy storage lead to greater electricity cost reductions for isolated systems.

Inter-state transmission potential and vulnerability of COVID-19 in India

Since the first case of COVID-19 traced in India on 30th January, 2020, the total no. of confirmed cases is amplified. To assess the inter-state diversity in spreading potentiality of COVID-19, the exposure, readiness and resilience capability have been studied. On the basis of the extracted data, the outbreak scenario, growth rate, testing amenities have been analysed. The study reflects that there is an enormous disparity in growth rate and total COVID-19 cases. The major outbreak clusters associated with major cities of India. COVID-19 cases are very swiftly amplifying with exponential growth in every four to seven days in main affected states during first phase of lockdown. The result shows the vibrant disproportion in the aspects of, hospital bed ratio, coronavirus case-hospital bed ratio, provision of isolation and ventilators, test ratio, distribution of testing laboratories and accessibility of test centres all over India. The study indicates the sharp inequality in transmission potentiality and resilience capacity of different states. Every state and union territory are not well-prepared to contain the spreading of COVID-19. The strict protective measures and uniform resilience system must be implemented in every corner of India to battle against the menace of COVID-19.

Re-emergence of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza H5N1 in Nigeria, 2014-2016: Role of Social Network and Value Chain Forces in Interstate Transmission.

Since 2004, high pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) due to H5N1 virus among others has caused a major veterinary health crisis, resulting in the loss of millions of poultry through death or culling in several countries in Asia, the Middle East, Europe, Africa and North America (Alexander 2007; Lee et al. 2016). The first African outbreak was reported from Nigeria in 2006 in domestic poultry (Joannis et al. 2006) and persisted till 2008 (Fusaro et al. 2010). These outbreaks negatively affected animal and public health as well as the economy, and were caused by viruses belonging to genetic clades 2.2, 2.2.1, 2.2.2 and 2.3.2.1c (Aiki-Raji et al. 2008; Fusaro et al. 2010; Monne et al. 2015).

Multi-season analysis reveals the spatial structure of disease spread

Understanding the dynamics of infectious disease spread in a heterogeneous population is an important factor in designing control strategies. Here, we present a tensor-driven multi-compartment version of the classic Susceptible–Infected–Recovered (SIR) model and apply it to Internet data to reveal information about the complex spatial structure of disease spread. We develop an algorithm to estimate the model’s parameters in a high dimensional setting. The model and the algorithm are used to analyze state-level Google search data from the US pertaining to two viruses, Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), and West Nile Virus (WNV), independently. We fit the data with correlations of R2=0.70, and 0.52 for RSV and WNV, respectively. Although no prior assumptions on spatial structure are made, human movement patterns in the US explain 27%–30% of the estimated inter-state transmission rates. The transmission rates within states are correlated with known demographic indicators, such as population density and average age. Finally, we show that the patterns of disease load for subsequent season can be predicted using the model parameters estimated for previous seasons and as few as 7 weeks of data from the current season. Our results are applicable to other countries and similar viruses, allowing the identification of disease spread parameters and prediction of disease load for seasonal viruses earlier in season.

Impact Geographies of Wind Energy Development in Kansas

Situated in the center of the continental United States, vast wind resources and interstate transmission capacity have made Kansas a leading exporter of wind energy. However, public reactions to commercial scale wind power production have varied considerably across the state, inspiring a mixture of enthusiasm and opposition. Using a comparative case study design, we examine how geographic, political, and economic factors collide to produce distinct impacts of wind energy development in Kansas.

Restricting water withdrawals of the thermal power sector: An input-output analysis for the northeast of the United States

Abstract As water scarcity and pollution of sources become increasingly severe and widespread, competition over this resource intensifies. Unlike much of the rest of the world, thermal power plants in the US are the biggest users of water due to heavy reliance on once-through cooling technology. This cooling technology withdraws large amounts of water and discharges it back almost in its entirety but at higher temperatures. These water withdrawals are increasingly subjected to legislation intended to reduce the effects of thermal pollution. We utilize an interregional input-output model for quantifying the money costs and the shifts in the distribution of power production by state and by technology when withdrawals and discharges of fresh water are restricted. This model allows for the choice among alternative power generation technologies with different cost structures within each state. We analyze a Baseline scenario for 2010 and alternative scenarios that impose constraints on water withdrawals and inter-state power transmission. Based on an annual analysis, we conclude that this region can satisfy its electric power requirements while fully complying with legislated water restrictions at moderate cost by compensating the curtailment of output from some plants by otherwise unutilized capacities of other plants in the region. When we revisit the analysis using a monthly time step, however, sharp seasonal variations exhibit a strong impact on economic costs. In the summer months, intra-state transmission does not suffice, and regional demand cannot be met in the absence of substantial inter-state transmission.

Reconstituting the Federalism Battle in Energy Transportation

This article explores the growing federalism tensions in efforts to expand the nation’s energy transportation infrastructure — the electric transmission lines, natural gas pipelines, natural gas import and export terminals and related infrastructure that power the U.S. electricity and transportation systems. It uses two illustrations — one involving an interstate electric transmission line (subject to state jurisdiction) and one involving and an interstate natural gas pipeline (subject to federal jurisdiction) — to highlight how the clear jurisdictional lines between federal and state authority over these projects created decades ago is no longer adequate for today’s energy needs. We believe that many of the recent efforts by states and federal agencies to re-draw these jurisdictional battle lines in the context of particular projects have been counterproductive. They have they encouraged interest groups to entrench their respective positions in favor of state or federal regulatory power. They also have thwarted comprehensive and efficient energy planning, and have stood in the way of greater integration of new technologies and more diverse energy resources. Ultimately, we conclude that federal regulators — which have historically been much more attuned to federal and national energy needs in making project siting decisions — must be more proactive in addressing state interests and concerns associated with multi-state energy transport projects in cases where federal siting authority trumps that of the states. Likewise, for projects where the states possess primary regulatory authority that acts as a potential veto point over projects that promote federal and regional energy needs, a more significant federal role in evaluating those federal and regional needs is warranted.

Effects of the Great Recession on state output in Mexico

This paper investigates the effects of a battery of variables on total and sector output drops in the Mexican states during the Great Recession by estimating spatial and cross-section regression models. Our main results can be summarized as follows. First, there is evidence of spatial autocorrelation only in the case of total production and it seems to be negative, which does not support the hypothesis of interstate transmission of the recession. Second, total and sector production falls can be explained by the specialization in the production of tradable (mainly durable) goods. Third, exposure to external shocks plays an important role in the cases of industrial and services production, but not in total output. Fourth, there seems to be that federal fiscal policy has actually been pro-cyclical while state fiscal policies have contributed to mitigate the recession.

Cascading of fluctuations in interdependent energy infrastructures: Gas-grid coupling

The revolution of hydraulic fracturing has dramatically increased the supply and lowered the cost of natural gas in the United States driving an expansion of natural gas-fired generation capacity in many electrical grids. Unrelated to the natural gas expansion, lower capital costs and renewable portfolio standards are driving an expansion of intermittent renewable generation capacity such as wind and photovoltaic generation. These two changes may potentially combine to create new threats to the reliability of these interdependent energy infrastructures. Natural gas-fired generators are often used to balance the fluctuating output of wind generation. However, the time-varying output of these generators results in time-varying natural gas burn rates that impact the pressure in interstate transmission pipelines. Fluctuating pressure impacts the reliability of natural gas deliveries to those same generators and the safety of pipeline operations. We adopt a partial differential equation model of natural gas pipelines and use this model to explore the effect of intermittent wind generation on the fluctuations of pressure in natural gas pipelines. The mean square pressure fluctuations are found to grow linearly in time with points of maximum deviation occurring at the locations of flow reversals.

Impact of Carbon Prices on Wholesale Electricity Prices and Carbon Pass-Through Rates in the Australian National Electricity Market

This paper investigates the effect of a carbon price on wholesale electricity prices and carbon-pass-through rates in the states comprising the Australian National Electricity Market (NEM). The methodology utilize an agent-based model, which contains many features salient to the NEM including intra-state and inter-state transmission branches, regional location of generators and load centres and accommodation of unit commitment features. The model uses a Direct Current Optimal Power Flow (DC OPF) algorithm to determine optimal dispatch of generation plant, power flows on transmission branches and wholesale prices. The results include sensitivity analysis of carbon prices on wholesale prices and carbon pass-through rates for different states within the NEM.