Healey admin: Power grid needs $25B upgrade over the next 25 years to achieve green mandates
"Investments would likely lead to significant increases in Massachusetts electricity bills"
Late last week the Healey administration quietly released a report revealing that the New England power grid will need an estimated $25B in upgrades over the next 25 years to keep up with demand - especially winter demand - fueled by various Green Energy mandates, which has created “rapid electricity demand growth and an increased need to host new forms of generation (including solar and storage).”
“Substantial additional investment will be necessary to both meet this demand growth and decarbonize the electric grid,” according to the Healey administration’s report published Thursday.
In Massachusetts the Net Zero mandates set “ambitious greenhouse gas reduction targets and requiring the Commonwealth to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50% by 2030,” according the Environmental League of Massachusetts.
Mandates are driving demand which ISO New England predicts will increase by nearly 30% over the next twenty years “electricity demand in the region is projected to increase from approximately 25 gigawatt summer peak in 2025 to 32 GW by 2045,” the DPU - Advanced Transmission Solutions Report said.
Winter demand, prompted by mandatory conversion to heat pump technology and away from oil and gas, is expected to spike by 74% as Bay State residents try to keep warm at home. Demand is expected to go “from a 23 GW all-time winter peak recorded in 2004 to 40 GW by 2045.”
An aging grid combined with a waiting list of new generation projects seeking grid connection will require:
“According to ISO-NE, total investment needed to meet a winter high peak scenario of 57 GW will total between $23-26 billion by 2050.7 Such substantial investments would likely lead to significant increases in Massachusetts electricity bills.”
The Healey administration is recommending a family of technologies, little used in the US, known as “advanced transmission solutions” to cope with the expected winter heat pump demand “given the New England region’s projected 74 percent increase in peak demand to 40 GW by 2045, the potential for advanced transmission solutions to expand transmission capacity merits consideration given Commonwealth’s significant clean energy deployment needs.”
“Advanced transmission solutions offer a flexible, cost effective, and scalable option transmission owners and planners can use to improve system performance and expand transmission capacity. Compared to traditional upgrades, advanced transmission solutions are faster to install, cost a fraction of the expense, complement the existing assets, and are reversible in some cases.”
Yet, “despite the many benefits of advanced grid solutions investigated in this report, these technologies have not been widely adopted in the U.S. and in Massachusetts, in particular.”
Full report:
Won’t be living here much longer
Healey won’t be happy until she has destroyed the state.