How much of that requires “smartness” and how much just requires new transmission lines?
It’s going to require both. It’s going to require new transmission lines in the sense that there is going to have to be more capacity … but it will also require smartness, things like dynamic loading, which means that you determine what is the appropriate level of energy to load a line with based upon knowing the actual wind speed, the actual ambient temperature. Out where I live, in California, we already have a pretty big fight brewing between renewable energy advocates and other environmentalists who are worried that new transmission lines and solar power plants will destroy natural habitats in the Mojave Desert. The desert tortoise is endangered by solar power! I know that there is already proposed legislation that would give FERC some authority to override the states on some of these siting issues, but I can’t imagine that would make California politicians very happy. How are you going to negotiate that minefield? Well, we have to negotiate it very carefully. There’s no question
