Smart Wires Clears Congestion and Allows More Renewables on the Transmission Grid
Transmission grids are one of the biggest bottlenecks to growing the world’s share of wind and solar power. Transmission networks built to push power from central power plants at steady outputs, along undisturbed paths, aren’t well suited for cutting back or increasing throughput to match the intermittent generation coming from big wind and solar farms.
Oakland, Calif.-based startup Smart Wires says its technology could help open up these bottlenecks. That, in turn, could help reduce renewable energy curtailments, alleviate the cost and complexity of multi-state transmission upgrades, and allow renewable power plants to serve more distant customers.
