According a new report, a radical overhaul of policy and technology is needed for the USA to reap the benefits promised by the smart grid. Sean Ottewell reports.
The oversight policy of the US electrical grid has been described as a hodge podge in a new report published by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Industrial Performance Centre. In its report Electricity Transmission Policy for America: Enabling a Smart Grid, End-to-End, the Centre calls on the federal government to develop a coherent national policy on transmission upgrades and standards for the smart grid, and on the electricity to industry to develop a secure and sustainable approach to providing electric power (Fig.1).
The report stresses the importance of creating nationwide smart grid standards, backed up by legislation that clarifies that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has high voltage transmission planning authority over transmission owners, operators, developers as well as related local, state and federal agencies. FERC should also be empowered to set clear timelines for completing transmission planning, review, modification, and approval, it says.
