The Role of Electricity Transmission on Sustainable Energy Technologies
Fernando L. Alvarado
NSF and Georgia Institute of Technology
Workshop on Sustainable Energy Systems
November 29 – December 1, 2000
Atlanta, GA, Georgia Tech campus
This talk will address the questions of whether there will be a need for transmission in 10 years, 20 years or 40 years. In particular, it will address what the role of transmission in the context of sustainable technologies and in the context of restructuring. The historical basis of transmission is based on the needs that arise from renewable resources remote from load (such as hydroelectricity), the result of thermal generation economies of scale, the substitution of transportation of fuel by transportation of electricity, the sharing of reliability resources, and the economies that derive from daily and seasonal inter-regional and intra-regional exchange of energy. The sustainable technologies considered include Nuclear (with its concerns regarding disposal of fuel and safety), Coal (with concerns of emissions), Hydro (with concerns about environmental impact), Photovoltaic (with concerns about cost and intermittence), Wind (with concerns about low density of the power), Biomass (with its extremely low density), Geothermal (with limited potentials and sites) and Gas turbines/Fuel cells (both of which require a primary fuel). The following chart describes the expected transmission needs of these various technologies in the context of the traditional needs for transmission:
Technology | Economies | Remoteness | Fuel transport | Reliability | Inter-region |
Nuclear | Scale | Yes | Inexpensive | Maintenance | Yes |
Coal | Scale | Yes | Expensive | Maintenance | Yes |
Hydro | Custom | Yes | Impossible | Water | Yes |
Photovoltaic | Production | It depends | Impossible | Insolation | Yes |
Wind | Production | Yes | Impossible | Wind | Yes |
Biomass | Custom | Yes | Expensive | Maintenance | Yes |
Geothermal | Custom | Yes | Impossible | Maintenance | Yes |
Fuel cells | Production | No | Pipelines | Maintenance | No |
The presentation then contrasts the transmission needs of two of these technologies: Fuel Cells and Nuclear Power, and concludes with a discussion of the role of government and energy policy in terms of encouraging the infrastructures necessary to attain sustainability.