Echoing what Southwest Power Pool President Lanny Nickell recently warned about the ability to meet growing electricity demands, largely due to the swelling data center industry, others expressed the same concerns at a recent meeting of regulators in Colorado.
About 75 electric transmission industry officials gathered last week in Colorado Springs at a meeting of WIRES, the transmission grid trade association. And it was Nickell who was the keynote speaker at the event, reported the Denver Gazette. He again warned of shrinking electric reserves and said “it shows the challenge we have.”
He said he does not think much of the needed supply can be made quickly.
“Our load will be 75% higher by 2035,” he explained, pointing to gas heaters converting to electric, EVs and “extreme weather events.”
“There’s so much work to do.”
Colorado does not belong to any of the seven regional transmission groups that manage much of the power grid across the U.S. But efforts are underway to have some areas of the state possibly join the SPP which already covers Oklahoma, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, parts ofTexas and Wyoming.
Colorado U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper also addressed the WIRES event, saying there is a need to make sure the transmission network is ready to meet future energy needs.
“That means modernizing our grid. Expanding infrastructure and streamlining development investments now are going to create an energy future that’s cleaner, more reliable and more affordable.”
Source: Denver Gazette