Meeting the Biden administration’s emissions targets will take more than adopting renewable energy sources. Experts say it may also require a major overhaul of the country’s power grid — a project on par with redesigning the national highway system.
Efforts to build long-range transmission lines — needed to carry wind and solar across the country — have failed in the U.S. for decades because powerlines can be ugly and unpopular, and paying for projects has been a challenge.
President Biden proposed a tax credit for new lines but even if he is successful, building one line typically takes more than 10 years.
Here & Now‘s Robin Young speaks with Lauren Azar, a transmission expert and former advisor at the U.S. Department of Energy, about what it will take to rewire the American power grid.
Click here and here for mock-up pictures of artistic transmission lines.
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
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