Transmission delay threatens 40% of US emissions reduction

A report lead by Princeton University, the Rapid Energy Policy Evaluation and Analysis Toolkit (REPEAT) Project, has found that in order to stay on track for Net-Zero through 2035, the US grid must expand its scale, measured in gigawatt-miles, at a rate of 2.4% annually. That is significantly faster than the ‘current policies’ expectation of between 1.5% and 1.8%, the low point of grid growth from 2004 to 2016 which was 1.2%, and even the 1.9% growth rate from 1978 to 1999. Measured in absolute rather than percentage terms, the requirement is unprecedented. According to this projection, a third of US emissions reductions (and as such an even higher proportion of renewables on the grid) scheduled for 2030 and 2035…