Grid Needs Boost to Hit Climate Goal, Biden Science Adviser Says

The White House’s chief science office, known for mapping out futuristic energy technologies such as nuclear fusion and hydrogen, is now grappling with how to upgrade the century-old power grid to meet climate goals.

“Solving the climate problem is fundamentally about transforming the energy system,” Sally Benson, deputy director for energy and chief strategist for the energy transition at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, said in an interview.

Benson is overseeing an energy and climate team started under the Biden administration as federal officials seek to become more involved in the monumental task of balancing the supply and demand of electricity.

Federal research and development efforts are directed at not only connecting more renewable energy to decarbonize the power sector by 2035 but electrifying transportation and other sectors to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions across the US economy by 2050.

To achieve those goals, the science team is focusing on the infrastructure delivering electricity: the humble power line. More sophisticated power grid planning, traditionally the purview of state and regional authorities, must account for a rapidly changing energy industry, Benson said.

“Where do we put those lines, which ones will have the biggest benefits, which ones will have highest return on investment?” Benson said. “We haven’t gotten in the frame of mind that the need for wide-area grid integration will grow as we rely more heavily on renewable energy.”

OSTP, established by Congress in 1976, is meant to serve as the president’s science adviser and coordinator of federal agency science policy.

On grid issues, that coordination occurs with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the Department of Energy. FERC is working on regulations to improve grid planning, while the DOE is weighing how best to expedite permits and reviews for transmission lines.

Expanded Mission

Benson, a professor of energy engineering at Stanford University, was tapped in November 2021 to lead OSTP’s new energy and climate team, serving as the office’s deputy director for energy and chief strategist for the energy transition.

The White House also hired Costa Samaras, an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, to serve as principal assistant director for energy and chief adviser for energy policy.

Benson has studied decarbonization for more than 25 years, serving as co-director of the Stanford Center for Carbon Storage and the Stanford Carbon Removal Initiative. Samaras directed his school’s Power Sector Carbon Index, which estimates carbon dioxide intensity from the US power sector.

“Nearly every agency is, to some degree, an energy and climate agency,” Samaras said in an interview.

Last September, OSTP released a report, led by Samaras, highlighting cryptocurrency mining’s effect on power grid emissions and local pollution and recommending federal agencies and the industry take action to curb impacts.

In April, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said the agency would create a survey for crypto miners to report energy usage. The Energy Information Administration said it is evaluating how to collect the data and that would need Office of Management and Budget approval.

Grid Policy

On June 13, OSTP participated in the first summit of the Advanced Research Projects Agency - Infrastructure (ARPA-I), the newest government research agency to advance science and technology in US transportation systems, such as electric vehicles.

Electric vehicles, much like cryptocurrency mining and data centers, will draw enormous load from the power grid, Samaras pointed out. Two electric vehicles in a residential garage basically double an average household’s peak power demand, he said.

“The reality is, that now that our new energy system is going to be so heavily integrated around electricity as a primary source of energy for everything, the imperative of hard-wired systems integration across all these sectors is much more important,” Samaras said.

Individual agencies such as FERC and the DOE are pursuing policies to speed up the building of power lines.

FERC is working to finalize a rule proposed last year that would require grid planners to consider at least 20-year impacts, including the changing power-and-demand mix and extreme weather events.

The Energy Department is weighing whether to declare some transmission corridors in the “national interest,” allowing FERC to issue permits over state objections or delays. The department has also pledged to stick to two-year deadlines for federal environmental reviews for transmission lines—with the president holding the power to issue permits if agencies miss deadlines or reject permits.

In addition to better planning and siting, the country should roll out grid-enhancing technologies—such as advanced sensors and controls—to improve system management and control, OSTP outlined in a report last fall identifying top research and development goals. New lines should be weighed against energy efficiency and other emerging consumer-side energy resources, Benson said in the interview.

“Innovators have developed a new generation of tools that allows us to do better planning,” Benson said. Mid-century net-zero emissions goals are a “firmer line in the sand, a very clear target,” she said.

“Since we need to get to net zero now, the question is: Do we have all the technologies we need to get all the way there? That has been a major role and driver of what we do.”