Mark Shenk with Reuters Events recently spoke with ScottMadden Energy Practice Leader and Partner, Cristin Lyons, about the challenges and solutions to better energy storage.
Excerpt:
“Texas has no significant transmission capacity with other networks, leading to shortages or curtailments when supply and demand differs between parts of Texas and there is insufficient transmission capacity within the state. The intermittency of wind and solar generation creates surpluses or deficits at different times of the day and year.
“One solution to the issues presented by intermittency is balancing resources and load across a larger footprint,” Cristin Lyons, partner and energy practice leader at ScottMadden, told Reuters Events. New power lines from West to East would be one way to ease the congestion but these would take many years to be completed.
Texas must prioritize the expansion and upgrade of transmission infrastructure, Hirs and Lyons both said. Across the U.S., a lack of long-distance transmission capacity is restricting the deployment of wind and solar farms while slow approval processes for grid connections are delaying projects.”