Shocking Secrets Revealed: The Hidden Obstacles Holding Back Power Line Construction in the United States!

Hello and welcome to Energy Source from rural Wisconsin today.

I’m in state for an upcoming Energy Source film about the uphill battle to build power lines across the United States — an obstacle that threatens to stall the clean energy revolution that Joe Biden is trying to lead.

The project in question is Cardinal-Hickory Creek, a 102-mile power line across the Midwestern United States that, if completed, will allow more than 100 renewable energy projects to come online.

But the line has been embroiled in multiple legal challenges and suffered steep cost increases since it was first proposed more than a decade ago. The problems faced by CHC are a classic example of a story playing out in every region of the United States: it is almost impossible to build the power lines that are essential to bring electricity from remote wind and solar installations to to consumers.

In the second point, Myles examines the role clean energy is set to play in the President’s bid for an additional four years in the White House. And Data Drill looks at yesterday’s natural gas price spike, which showed the supply disruption still has the potential to upend markets — a year after last year’s chaos.

Elsewhere, the FT this week aired a series of must-read in-depth readings on how the shift to renewables is transforming the economics and geopolitics of energy.

The first installment shows how the countries that produce the metals essential to the transition want to rewrite the rules of extraction. The second explains how China came to dominate clean energy technologies.

Thanks for reading. —Amanda

The big problem on the way to the IRA

The United States is poised for a clean energy boom, but difficulty building power lines threatens to stop the transition in its tracks.

Take Cardinal-Hickory Creek for example. The 102-mile transmission line spans the upper U.S. Midwest and has been embroiled in multiple legal disputes since it was first approved in 2011.

The question is whether owners of the line can build through a wildlife refuge and the nearby area known as the Driftless. The focus is 1.3 miles, just over 1% of the line, but more than a hundred renewable energy projects – around 17 GW of clean energy – are in play.

Last month, a US circuit court overturned a ruling that blocked the building out of line, a big win for CHC after a four-year battle with local residents and environmental groups.

“This project is kind of an indicator that a lot of the industry is watching right now,” said Ben Porath, chief operating officer of Dairyland Power Cooperative, one of CHC’s promoters.

The decision has angered local residents, who don’t want the unsightly infrastructure in their backyards, as well as environmental groups. Even though the project is in the interest of the climate, activists fear it could disrupt local habitat which has protected status.

“The Driftless Zone is a very special place, and it’s heavily dependent on how happy people are with the terrain,” local resident Michael McDermott told me. A Democrat, McDermott is against building CHCs, but he supports less centralized clean energy projects.

The nearly half-decade conflict has not only slowed grid decarbonization, but it has also come at a high cost. Legal costs and soaring prices for materials such as steel have raised the project’s estimated price by almost 20%, a price that will fall for utility customers.

“We’re not building transmission for transmission’s sake,” said Beth Soholt, executive director of the Clean Grid Alliance, a regional clean energy lobby group. “If we want this kind of [clean energy] in the future, this type of infrastructure will be needed to develop.

The story of Cardinal-Hickory Creek is emblematic of the challenges facing the expansion of clean energy across the country as local, often conservative, communities grapple with the land developments necessary for an electrified future and an outdated regulatory system makes it difficult to build projects. .

“There is a real battle for the heart and soul of the political apparatus of these states to know whether to seize the economic opportunities associated with the energy transition. There are many questions about how much infrastructure these communities are willing to host? said Abe Silverman, director of the non-technical barriers program at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy.

About 575 wind and solar projects in the United States have been rejected so far in 2023, according to the Renewable Releases Database, up 15% from all of last year.

The lack of transmission, or long-distance power lines, is becoming an existential problem for America’s net-zero ambitions as more clean energy projects are announced and come online. A study by Princeton’s Zero Lab estimates that if transmission construction continues at its current snail’s pace, it would negate about 80% of all Inflation Reduction Act emissions cuts.

Despite recent congressional efforts to ease licensing and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s decision to speed up grid connection wait times, analysts say these changes do little to move the needle forward. in the grand scheme of things.

“We have a long way to go to address transmission here,” said Rob Gramlich, founder and president of Grid Strategies, a consulting firm.

“Both Republicans and Democrats want all of this economic activity to take place in this country rather than in other countries. These economic activities will consume a lot of energy. . . I think a lot of members on both sides of the aisle will come to the idea that we need the transmission infrastructure to support this increasingly electrified economy.

(Amanda Chu)

Biden touts clean energy jobs as he embarks on campaign trail

At a wind turbine factory in New Mexico yesterday, Joe Biden made it clear that he intended to put clean energy at the forefront of his re-election campaign.

But as he travels the country making the case for another four years, the president’s speech on clean energy will not focus on emissions and rising temperatures, but rather on the economic stimulus created by his clean energy legislation. the climate.

“When I think of climate, I think of jobs,” Biden told a crowd gathered at the Arcosa Wind Towers facility near the town of Belen, repeating a favorite phrase.

As we’ve written many times in this newsletter, Biden’s green push has always been as much about reinvigorating American industry as it is about decarbonizing.

And with polls suggesting Americans remain unconvinced of his handling of the economy and stubbornly high inflation eating away at his approval ratings, the president is increasingly eager to hammer home the transformative impact of his Bidenomics program.

“Not only does this move us away from fossil fuels towards cleaner technologies like wind,” he said, referring to the IRA, “but it means we’re going to make things and new technologies here in America And there’s no reason why we can’t.

Biden cited examples across the country of IRA-spurred projects — which turn one year old next week — making sure to mention those in Republican districts.

He was quick to point out that Pueblo, Colorado, where CS Wind in April began construction of what is expected to be the world’s largest wind power plant, is in GOP Lauren’s firebrand congressional district. Boebert – “that very calm Republican lady”.

“With all the other Republicans [she] voted against this bill that makes all of this possible,” Biden said. “She railed against his passing – but that’s okay, she’s welcoming him now.”

“The vast majority voted against the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act,” he continued, goading his Republican opponents over their insufficient support for another landmark bill.

“But that hasn’t stopped them from claiming credit for the billions of dollars and thousands of jobs coming to their states. As I said during the State of the Union address, we will see them at the groundbreaking.

As the campaign gathers momentum, expect the rhetoric to follow suit.

(Myles McCormick)

Data mining

Natural gas prices surged across the world yesterday as traders worried about potential disruptions to Australia’s liquefied natural gas supply after reports of strikes at some factories.

In Europe, the benchmark price of TTF rose 40% to $43.31 per megawatt-hour. US prices, meanwhile, topped $3/mmbtu for the first time since March, jumping 9% to a high of $3.02/mmbtu. Both markers then retreated.

As my colleague Shotaro Tani reports, the nervousness clearly shows that, despite efforts to develop gas storage, the market wary of supply shocks a year after Vladimir Putin weaponized gas exports, prices have reached record highs. (Myles McCormick)

power points

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Energy Source is written by the FT’s global energy team. contact us at energy.source@ft.com and follow us on Twitter at @FTEnergy. Find previous editions of the newsletter here.