The White House cites Texas’ deadly power outages as a key selling point for a $2.3 trillion infrastructure package, leaving a clear – but potentially misleading – implication that Texas would get the billions needed to avert such catastrophes in the future.

As Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm put it while pitching the plan at a White House briefing last week: “After what happened in Texas, can anybody really doubt that electricity and the electric grid is part of the foundation of who we are as a nation? And we need to invest in it if we want to make sure power keeps coming to our homes.”

For a president aiming to sell a gargantuan stimulus plan, the timing has been fortuitous.

“As you saw in Texas and elsewhere, our electric and power grids are vulnerable to storms, catastrophic failures, and security lapses, with tragic results. My American Jobs Plan will put hundreds of thousands of people to work… laying thousands of miles of transmission line; building a modern, resilient, and fully clean grid,” Biden said when he unveiled the plan March 31 at a carpenters training center in Pittsburgh.

Texas can’t import that many electrons even in a crisis, thanks to decades of isolation from the two huge grids that span the rest of the country.

Ending that grid independence is a touchy subject in Texas. Biden’s plan doesn’t broach the topic.

In terms of keeping the lights on the next time Texas is walloped by an arctic blast, the most relevant idea is building 20 gigawatts of high-voltage power lines to provide “a more resilient electric transmission system,” using tax credits to leverage tens of billions in private investment.

That’s an expansion of capacity somewhere, not a promise to insulate Texas generating plants.

And 20 GW is less than half of what Texas lost during the February storm.

Next, a bailout for Texas’ grid would hit resistance from states where utilities and their customers – not federal taxpayers – already made the investments needed to keep the juice on when the mercury plummets.

“Most Americans would not want to pay a higher tax if the ratepayers in Texas itself don’t want to pay,” said Geddes, the Cornell professor of policy analysis and management.

“The resilience of the grid should be borne by the user,” he argued. “If you pay for my bread, or my electricity, I might not be so careful about how much I consume.”

Historically, infrastructure of all types relies on user fees. Gasoline taxes of 18.3 cents per gallon go into the Highway Trust Fund, for instance.

There’s no equivalent “user fee” on electricity. Utility companies and ratepayers cover costs.

During a briefing for regional news outlets on Monday with Buttigieg, Bharat Ramamurti, deputy director of the White House National Economic Council, maintained that whatever is invested would quickly pay for itself.

“The problems with our power grid are costing us $70 billion a year, according to the Department of Energy, and are costing lives, as we saw in Texas. We can make an investment in improving our power grid, and make up those $70 billion in a year or two,” he said.

Asked by The Dallas Morning News how much of the winterizing funds would go to Texas, he demurred.

“As with a lot of this, the goal here is to set out a vision and then work with Congress to determine some of the details,” he said.

Sasha Mackler, director of the energy project at the Bipartisan Policy Center, sees the vagueness at this stage as an invitation to haggling, rather than a shortcoming.

“They’re putting forward the goals and opening the door to congressional engagement,” he said. “It’s vague at this point by design.”

‘‘(c) QUALIFYING ELECTRIC POWER TRANSMISSION LINE PROPERTY.—The term ‘qualifying electric power transmission line property’ means— ‘‘(1) any overhead, submarine, or underground transmission facility which—
‘‘(A) is capable of transmitting electricity at a voltage of not less than 275 kilovolts,
‘‘(B) has a transmission capacity of not less than 500 megawatts,
‘‘(C) is an alternating current or direct current transmission line, and
‘‘(D) delivers power produced in either a rural area or offshore, and

‘‘(2) any conductors or cables, towers, insulators, reactors, capacitors, circuit breakers, static VAR compensators, static synchronous compensators, power converters, transformers, synchronous condensers, braking resistors, and any ancillary facilities and equipment necessary for the proper operation of the facility described in paragraph (1).

“Sen. Martin Heinrich, Rep. Steven Horsford and Rep. Susie Lee’s introduction today of the Electric Power Infrastructure Improvement Act adds to the growing momentum for a federal transmission investment tax credit (ITC). As we saw this winter, America’s outdated grid infrastructure is hurting consumers and our economy. With a transmission ITC, we can enhance grid reliability, create jobs, save consumers money, and provide developers with the long-term certainty they need to invest in a 21st century Macro Grid that’s capable of delivering the clean energy future Americans want and deserve. We look forward to working with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to pass this critically important legislation this year.”

The American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE) is a 501(c)(3) national nonprofit organization that unites finance, policy and technology to accelerate the transition to a renewable energy economy.

Thanks to generous support from Breakthrough Energy, ACORE and Americans for a Clean Energy Grid (ACEG) launched the Macro Grid Initiative to promote investment in a 21st century transmission infrastructure that enhances reliability, improves efficiency and delivers more low-cost clean energy.

Breakthrough Energy Ventures is an investor-led fund that aims to build the new, cutting-edge companies that will lead the world to net-zero emissions.
Our strategy links government-funded research and patient, risk-tolerant capital to bring transformative clean energy innovations to market as quickly as possible.

In addition to providing a source of affordable, renewable energy to communities along the route, Invenergy says it expects to provide broadband capability to internet service providers — connecting as many as 1 million Missourians with high-speed internet.

Aside from Missouri’s proposed legislation, Zadlo said the project only needs final regulatory approval in Illinois before construction begins. It’s expected to be online by 2025, he said.

The footprint of wind and solar in RE+ [scheme] are extensive and will require broad-based and sustained support from communities across much of the nation.

Build societal commitment.

Creation of the coalitions of public support and political will needed to achieve 2020’s targets.

Major stakeholder engagement campaigns to build:

1. Broad societal awareness of local, state and national benefits of net-zero energy pathways; and
   
2. Acceptance, management, and mitigation of impacts on landscapes and communities associated with the transition.
   

o Major consumer awareness campaigns and incentives to drive low-carbon energy investment decisions

FERC’s powers may be limited, but it can do more. Taking a firmer line on transmission investments proposed by utilities could push more of them to put their planning in the hands of independent regional bodies. In addition, the 2005 Energy Policy Act grants the Department of Energy the power to designate priority transmission corridors; if states refuse to comply, FERC has the authority to approve projects. Court challenges stymied early efforts, yet the legislation remains on the books. The Biden administration should work to revive it.

CCUS at gigaton scale from power plants and industrial facilities will require a major CO2 pipeline infrastructure and significant hubs for geological CO2 storage. In addition, reaching net zero emissions – and eventually net negative emissions – throughout the economy will require carbon dioxide removal (CDR) from the atmosphere and upper ocean layers.

I recommend that Congress create and fund a Federal Electric Transmission Authority with the capabilities and funds to manage and coordinate national-scale transmission planning, design, and construction. This Authority should work closely with FERC, the states, DOE, and existing industry and reliability authorities to expand, build and adapt a robust transmission network that meets our nation’s needs over the long term. This will require decades of effort. Therefore the Transmission Authority must be created by statute to maintain mission, expertise and funding continuity (much like the Federal Highway Administration) and protect it from changing administration policy preferences.

On the other hand, a fully utilised and well-managed 50-plus-year merchant wire asset delivering an initial several gigawatts of electric power could be a potential overhead cash register for its owners.

Eminent Domain:  the right of a government or its agent to expropriate private property for public use, with payment of compensation.

But it’s also because developers still have an inflated sense of the cost of undergrounding lines. The news hasn’t widely spread that modern lines require less conducting metal, horizontal drilling has been perfected by natural gas frackers, and inverter stations are as little as 25 percent the size they used to be.
Here’s what Dr. Christopher Clack, an energy modeler at Vibrant Clean Energy (VCE), told me:
"Data that I was provided from Tier 1 transmission vendors shows that the cost of underground HVDC transmission has a similar price point to the same overhead capacity of HVAC when the transmission line is over approximately 250 miles. This includes the cost to build inverter and rectifier stations at each end."

And of course the sticker price of building overhead lines does not include the unpredictable expenses of regulatory hassles and intransigent landowners. A line can not be cheap if it never gets built.

In terms of long-distance transmission, underground HVDC is now the smart choice.

Invenergy spokeswoman Beth Conley said the bill was expected and is no different than previous efforts to use property right concerns as a fake reason to derail the delivery of “clean energy” overwhelmingly supported in Missouri and across the country.