Profiteering hampers U.S. grid expansion
U.S. electric grid expansion is being constrained less by technology than by the incentives and structures of utility monopolies, which often profit more from building generation and maintaining control than from adding shared transmission capacity. Commenters contrast heavily regulated and “restructured” markets—using Texas and California as examples—to argue over whether deregulation, stronger federal oversight, or public ownership best balance reliability, price stability, and resilience to extreme weather. Underneath the policy debate is a broader concern about how to handle natural monopolies like transmission networks so they support decarbonization and long-term infrastructure investment rather than short-term profit.
Transmission expansion & technical approaches
- Land and right-of-way constraints make adding new lines difficult; existing easements are often sized just for current conductors and clearances.
- Reconductoring is highlighted as a key tool: replacing existing conductors with higher-capacity ones instead of building new corridors.
- Questions arise about how reconductoring is done without major outages; linked examples show it can be done but is complex and risky work.
- Some suggest using existing corridors to add HVDC alongside AC, but others note AC originally won due to easier voltage transformation; modern DC has advantages but requires sophisticated electronics.
Utility incentives and profiteering
- Several comments argue regulated utilities often earn a fixed return on invested capital, which can perversely reward higher spending and discourage cost minimization.
- Incumbents reportedly resist new transmission because it would expose their generators to competition and provide low-margin returns compared to generation and distribution.
- Some see this as a classic case of institutional self-preservation (Shirky principle).
Deregulation vs. regulation (Texas, California, markets)
- One camp argues more deregulation and letting profit-seekers build interconnects would be better than forcing incumbents.
- Others counter that partial deregulation in high-capex, must-serve markets (electricity, telecom, healthcare) has “generally ended badly,” citing Enron-era California and the 2021 Texas crisis.
- Debate over Texas:
- Pro: lower average costs, strong migration inflows, abundant gas/wind/solar, market transparency.
- Con: deadly winter outages, extreme wholesale spikes, underinvestment in winterization and resilience, later need for new regulatory interventions.
- California is criticized both for past deregulation design failures and for regulatory missteps that discouraged maintenance.
Natural monopolies & ownership models
- Broad agreement that local transmission/distribution is a natural monopoly; real competition is difficult on the “wires” side.
- Proposed solutions:
- Strong rate and planning regulation.
- Public or community ownership.
- Auctioning the right/obligation to operate the monopoly and taxing away “economic rent.”
- Allowing public options plus private competitors, with minimal entry barriers and possibly targeted subsidies rather than hard exclusivity.
Local opposition and environmental tradeoffs
- Example from Maine: opponents argue a major hydro import line harms forests, wildlife, tourism, and in-state renewables while enriching out-of-state firms.
- Supporters respond that it displaces fossil generation, eases gas constraints, and cuts emissions by millions of tons annually; they frame local resistance and “green” arguments as often co-opted or selectively applied.
- Similar NIMBY concerns appear around offshore wind and long-distance lines from high-resource regions (e.g., Wyoming to California).
Distributed and speculative futures
- Home solar plus storage is noted as a partial competitor to grid monopolies, but skeptics call it unrealistic as a full replacement without grid backup.
- A humorous subthread imagines individuals powering neighborhoods with mini-reactors or SMRs; others point out transport, licensing, waste, and safety make this effectively fiction, though it underscores frustration with current utility structures.