Enhanced Transmission & Distribution
Enhanced Transmission & Distribution
No Transition Without Transmission: Building A Better Grid
The clean energy transition runs on electricity — and electricity runs on the grid. But today’s grid is a major bottleneck. Built in the twentieth century as a one-way street anchored by large, centralized power production, the grid is now straining under an influx of variable renewables and rising demand from electrification and other drivers. The result: gigawatts of clean power stuck in interconnection queues, wind and solar energy wasted, and mounting reliability risks from extreme weather. The fix requires a fundamental rewiring — transforming the grid into a dynamic, multi-directional smart network that can integrate rooftop solar, home batteries, EVs, and more. Because renewables don’t provide the same stabilizing inertia as fossil fuels, we also need new grid-forming technologies to keep supply steady and reliable. If we get this right, the grid becomes an enabler rather than a barrier — unlocking terawatts of clean energy, strengthening resilience, and saving billions along the way.
Emissions at stake in 2050: 13.3 Gigatons
Innovation Imperatives
Innovation Imperatives
Critical needs that can help accelerate the path to net zero
Advanced Conductors
Develop and deploy new transmission cables for higher capacity, lower losses, and expanded voltage ranges
As we generate and consume more electricity, our existing transmission lines are maxing out. The process of clearing new transmission corridors and building new electrical towers is time-consuming and expensive, often taking a decade or more. This imperative focuses on a powerful alternative: what if we could upgrade the physical wires to carry far more clean energy through the corridors that already exist? The key is to develop and deploy next-generation power cables that can carry significantly more electricity with lower energy losses and better fire safety. The process of replacing these cables, known as reconductoring, allows utilities to rapidly and cost-effectively expand the capacity of our grid using the tower infrastructure already in place.
Dynamic Grid Control
Deploy technologies to move more power through existing power lines
Today's grids are often operated with conservative, static limits — leaving vast amounts of latent capacity unused and leading to unnecessary congestion. This imperative centers on deploying a suite of power-control technologies — from dynamic line rating sensors to advanced flow controllers and topology optimization software — that provide real-time visibility and dynamic control over the network. By intelligently managing power flows, these systems can safely push far more energy through existing infrastructure, unlocking massive capacity.
Grid Reliability and Resilience
Deploy power electronics and grid stabilization technologies to integrate renewables
The shift from fossil fuel plants to renewable energy is reshaping the grid’s core requirements, while climate-driven weather extremes add further strain. Traditional grids relied on the stabilizing inertia of large spinning turbines, but as these are replaced by distributed solar, wind, and batteries connected through inverters, the system loses its natural shock absorbers and faces greater supply–demand variability — raising the risk of instability and blackouts. Advanced power electronics and control systems can restore stability by enabling seamless integration of intermittent resources. Technologies such as automated fault detection, self-healing networks, and microgrids that operate independently during outages can make the grid more robust, ensuring reliable power during emergencies and faster recovery from disruptions.
Interconnection Acceleration
Speed up grid connections with automation and advanced modeling
Thousands of gigawatts of clean energy are currently stranded in long interconnection queues all over the world, often held back by slow, outdated, and manually intensive approval and engagement processes. This imperative is focused on developing and deploying advanced software, AI, and data analytics platforms to automate grid impact studies, streamline permitting workflows, and accelerate interconnection wherever possible. By cutting through procedural gridlock, these tools can unlock the backlog of solar and wind projects, bringing clean power online faster and clearing the path for a quicker energy transition.
On-Site Clean Power
Bypass grid bottlenecks with dedicated, co-located generation
The explosive growth of high-demand loads like data centers and industrial electrification is placing unprecedented strain on already-congested grids and worsening interconnection delays. This imperative focuses on bypassing the grid entirely by developing clean, modular power systems that can be built on-site, directly where the energy is consumed. By providing dedicated, reliable power where it's needed, these technologies allow critical economic sectors to expand without waiting years for a grid connection, while freeing up valuable capacity on the public grid for other users.
Underground Transmission
Create low-cost, high-performance underground power lines
Building new overhead transmission lines is often stalled for years by permitting challenges and local opposition, while the lines themselves pose a growing wildfire ignition risk in increasingly hot and dry regions. But it’s possible to drive down costs and improve performance of transmission through innovations in cable materials, thermal management, and less disruptive installation techniques. Lower-cost undergrounding could revolutionize grid expansion and hardening, enabling the construction of high-capacity power corridors that bypass siting conflicts and eliminate a critical fire threat to communities.
Moonshots
Moonshots
High-risk, high-reward innovations that could radically reshape our path to net zero
A Global Grid
Implement electricity transmission to connect the grid globally
What if we could build an electrical grid for the entire planet, ensuring the sun never sets on our power supply? That’s the audacious goal of a global grid: an interconnected network designed to share clean energy across continents and hemispheres. Using ultra-long-distance transmission —whether through subsea cables, the atmosphere, or even space — we could send solar power from a daylit continent to one in darkness. This could be the ultimate solution to renewable intermittency, creating a perfectly balanced system where clean power is always available, everywhere.
Alternative Electricity Carriers
Turn clean electricity into a transportable physical commodity
This moonshot aims to "bottle lightning" by transforming electricity from an instantaneous flow into a transportable physical commodity. The goal is to use clean energy to create high-density electricity carriers, like metals, that can be stored and shipped anywhere in the world by rail, truck, or sea. That energy could then be released by reversing the process, completely bypassing traditional long-distance transmission infrastructure (and its many bottlenecks). Unlocking this opportunity would revolutionize global energy trade, making clean power a storable physical good.
Superconducting Transmission
Create superconducting power lines with advanced cooling or room-temperature superconductors
This moonshot aims to revolutionize the fundamental physics of the grid by creating power lines with near-zero electrical resistance, thereby establishing nearly perfect energy superhighways. What would that take? Either mastering advanced cooling systems for today’s materials or discovering the dream of materials science: a room-temperature superconductor. Success would rewrite the rules of energy transport, eliminating line losses and allowing us to move massive amounts of clean power across countries and maybe even the world.
Wireless Power
Implement long-distance wireless electricity transmission
Imagine cutting the cord on our energy system, literally liberating electricity from the confines of physical wires. This is the vision of wireless power: efficiently beaming clean energy from where it’s generated to where it’s needed — through the air. Achieving this would render some of today’s greatest grid challenges — like decades-long permitting battles, land-use conflicts, and weather vulnerabilities of physical power lines — obsolete.
Tech Categories
Tech Categories
Groupings of climate technologies
| Cluster Name | Readiness | |
|---|---|---|
| Advanced Components | Pilot | |
Advanced components refer to a bundle of technologies that work together to increase grid capacity, reduce transmission losses, and integrate renewable energy sources. Some leading solutions include high-capacity conductors made from composite materials, redesigned tower infrastructure, and smart transformers with real-time monitoring capabilities. | ||
| System Monitoring & Optimization | Commercial | |
System Monitoring and Optimization technologies combine advanced sensors, data analytics, machine learning algorithms, and automated control systems to track grid conditions in real time. They often increase grid capacity by adjusting power flow in real time. |
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