US can reach 100% clean power by 2035, DOE finds, but tough reliability and land use questions lie ahead

Utility Dive

New aggressive planning is needed to identify the long-duration storage technologies and find the land to grow enough resources to reach Biden net zero emissions goals, a DOE national lab reports.

Markets may resolve uncertainties about long-duration energy storage, or LDES, technologies for reliability, DOE and storage analysts agreed. But resolving the continuing local opposition to building new infrastructure will require smarter planning, environmentalists said.

“The Nature Conservancy’s Power of Place – West” study identified where reconductoring upgrades and use of rights-of-way can meet half the new capacity needed for those states. That would limit additional land needed for rights-of-way for 16 GW of additional transmission capacity to 6,259 miles, only a 7% to 8% increase over current land used for the West’s 86,000 miles of transmission lines. Solar can be planned safely away from wildlife corridors and wind can be built offshore, it added.

“Power providers like Los Angeles County’s Clean Power Alliance, local governments like San Diego County, and private project planners are using these kinds of planning approaches,” Nicole Hill, project lead on The Nature Conservancy said. And the strategies can be applied nationally, as shown by the priority renewable energy zones already used successfully for clean energy in California and transmission in Texas, she added.

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