Decarbonizing the American Energy Economy – The Missing Link: Energy Transmission Reform
When:
12:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. E.T.
Sheppard Mullin Participant:
Andrew Mina, Moderator
About:
While recent emphasis on “decarbonizing” the U.S. power sector has principally focused on reducing emissions by stationary sources through encouragement of increased renewables use and reduction of dependence on fossil fuels, several major recent studies and private investment initiatives have suggested that the nation’s existing interstate transmission system, in its present form, may not be readily capable of handling or facilitating increased renewable energy penetration and distributed energy utilization necessary to achieve “net zero” emissions. Reasons may include mismatches of location of major new generating resources with existing load centers, and underutilization of inter-regional interconnection planning that takes advantage of potential uses of storage and high voltage transmission lines. Bottom line: the success of federal, state and local decarbonization initiatives may hinge on the adequacy, as well as the safety, reliability and security, of the national power transmission system.
Federal and state transmission policy and regulatory issues are undoubtedly going to continue to be the subject of considerable legal wrangling over the next several years, as regulators and market participants seek to devise ways to incentivize the development of transmission facilities within the parameters of the Federal Power Act, applicable state laws, and national decarbonization objectives. As new governmental infrastructure development and private innovation investment programs emerge in support of decarbonization objectives, these issues may achieve even further prominence. This Webinar will provide insights for lawyers and other industry professionals regarding dynamic trends in power technology development, electric power industry configuration planning and public law/policy initiatives to foster decarbonization.
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