Grid of the Future: Ideas to Modernize America’s Energy Infrastructure

Top 3 vote-getters:

Install Roadside Solar to Charge Electric Vehicles

Contributors: Allie Kelly

Summary: Proposes that the federal government should take a series of steps to enable states to scale solar in the right-of-ways along roads and highways. Recommendations include: 1) developing a full spatial right-of-way data set that can be used to find the most appropriate locations for solar PV and EV charging infrastructure development, 2) federal programmatic agreements specific to renewable energy and EV charging infrastructure projects in the highway ROW for NEPA and Section 106, and 3) legislative action specifying treatment of renewable energy generation and EV charging on the right-of-way of the Interstate System as a noncommercial activity.

Amend Dig Once legislation to include the opportunity to add HVDC transmission

Contributors: Ben Watson

Summary: Proposes amending recently introduced "Dig Once" legislation, which requires that broadband conduits be buried during the construction of any federally-funded road, to also include the opportunity to add high-voltage, direct current (HVDC) transmission. The cost of digging represents a significant piece of the cost associated with burying transmission, so under-grounding wires, which increases grid resilience and expands transmission, when the ground is already being dug up maximizes cost-effectiveness.

Investment Tax Credit for Stand Alone Energy Storage

Contributors: Tom Habashi, Ted Bardacke

Summary: Proposes that Congress should pass an investment tax credit for energy storage. Under current law, energy storage only qualifies for the investment tax credit (ITC) when integrated with ITC-eligible solar resources under a narrow set of conditions and is subject to recapture risks, creating tremendous uncertainty for investors. Changing the law to create an ITC with the same phase down as the solar ITC would help scale batteries, which will be needed to create a more resilient, reliable, and sustainable grid.

Nominees:

Open Source Digital Infrastructure for Climate Data to Empower Climate Action

Contributors: Florian Doebler, Corey Sheft-Tannenbaum, Mathew Yarger

Smart City Infrastructure Interoperability Task Force (SSIITF)

Contributors: Jessica O. Matthews, Bill Pugh, David Howard, Travis Shanahan, Sidney Hong, Marcus Schiller