Unified National Smart Grid as well as Unified Solar is a proposal for a nationally interconnected grid relying on a backbone of

electric power transmission Electric power transmission is the bulk movement of electrical energy from a generating site, such as a power plant, to an electrical substation. The interconnected lines that facilitate this movement form a ''transmission network''. This is ...

lines linking the US' local grids that have been upgraded to

smart grid A smart grid is an electrical grid which includes a variety of operation and energy measures including: *Advanced metering infrastructure (of which smart meters are a generic name for any utility side device even if it is more capable e.g. a f ...

s. Europe's analogous project is sometimes referred to as the SuperSmart Grid.

Technical features

High capacity transmission such as current technology 800 kV high voltage direct current lines would span the country, linking to local electric utilities and distantly located bulk

power generation Electricity generation is the process of generating electric power from sources of primary energy. For utilities in the electric power industry, it is the stage prior to its delivery ( transmission, distribution, etc.) to end users or its stor ...

facilities. The national backbone would be intelligent in a manner similar to local smart grid clusters. As local electricity networks are upgraded to

s, interactions with the national backbone can become more coordinated. Examples given of the kinds of coordination are that hydropower from the northwest can be dispatched if wind is expected to temporarily subside in the

Dakotas The Dakotas is a collective term for the U.S. states of North Dakota and South Dakota. It has been used historically to describe the Dakota Territory, and is still used for the collective heritage, culture, geography, fauna, sociology, econom ...

. Discretionary air conditioning in California can be turned on if strong winds are blowing in Texas. Long distance interconnections are not new. The 1400 km Pacific DC Intertie between Los Angeles and the Pacific northwest was proposed in the 1930s and initiated by President John F. Kennedy in the 60s. The

Pacific Intertie The Pacific DC Intertie (also called Path 65) is an electric power transmission line that transmits electricity from the Pacific Northwest to the Los Angeles area using high voltage direct current (HVDC). The line capacity is 3.1 gigawatts, whi ...

carries up to 3.1 GW on two 500 kV overhead lines. The 1200 km Quebec to New England HVDC line with 2 GW of capacity was constructed in the 1980s. A 5 GW 800 kV system was constructed along the southern provinces of China at a cost of €300 million in 2010. The Unified Smart Grid proposal is more than a collection of point to point interconnections between regional systems with some communications intelligence. The topology conceptually has many smart grid access points that could form a virtual power generation cluster, a local electric utility system, or a

grid energy storage Grid energy storage (also called large-scale energy storage) is a collection of methods used for energy storage on a large scale within an electrical power grid. Electrical energy is stored during times when electricity is plentiful and inexp ...

facility.

Advocacy

According to advocates, a national system would do for the US energy economy what

Dwight Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...

's Interstate Highway System did for efficient distribution of products. According to scientists such as James E. Hansen, construction of such a national grid is essential to any strategy to combat global warming. According to energy independence advocates such as

T. Boone Pickens Thomas Boone Pickens Jr. (May 22, 1928 – September 11, 2019) was an American business magnate and financier. Pickens chaired the hedge fund BP Capital Management. He was a well-known takeover operator and corporate raider during the 1980 ...

, it is essential for the U.S. economy and its strategic energy interests. The "Unified Smart Grid" is promoted by

Alliance for Climate Protection The Climate Reality Project is a non-profit organization involved in education and advocacy related to climate change. The Climate Reality Project came into being in July 2011 as the consolidation of two environmental groups, the Alliance for Cli ...

(

Repower America The Climate Reality Project is a non-profit organization involved in education and advocacy related to climate change. The Climate Reality Project came into being in July 2011 as the consolidation of two environmental groups, the Alliance for Cli ...

program) and

Al Gore Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. Gore was the Democratic Part ...

. Gore's cost estimate is $400 billion and would be recovered by transmission tariffs. The need for a national bulk transmission grid is detailed in

's energy independence plan.

References

{{Electricity generation Electric power transmission systems in the United States Proposed electric power transmission systems Proposed electric power infrastructure in the United States

Technical features

Advocacy

See also

References