White paper details need for 'Green Power Superhighway'

The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) and the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) today released a white paper titled “Green Power Superhighways: Building a Path to America’s Clean Energy Future,” detailing current inadequacies of the U.S. electric transmission infrastructure and offering policy solutions to address them.

The white paper notes that a new, high-capacity transmission system is needed to deliver electricity produced by wind, solar and other renewables to the electric grid.

Denise Bode, AWEA's CEO said, “Building a new green power superhighway is very achievable. We’re not asking for money—we’re asking to remove the barriers that are holding this back. An obsolete patchwork of policies has produced an obsolete patchwork of a grid. Once you remove the barriers, the private sector will step in with the financing.”

Transmission legislation is expected to be introduced in Congress by spring.