1、CRS INSIGHT Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress INSIGHTINSIGHTi i IIJA: Efforts to Address Electric Transmission for Reliability, Resilience, and Renewables December 9, 2021 With the February 2021 electricity blackouts in Texas, the past summer blackouts in the Pacific Northwest, and the
2、 recurring power outages in California, attention focused on how addressing transmission issues could help address reliability and other arising issues. With the retirement of many older coal and natural gas facilities, many states and regions are becoming more reliant on imported power from their n
3、eighbors, even as region-wide weather and other challenges limit the surplus power availability. Another common issue is transmission congestion, which can occur when insufficient paths for the economic flow of power exist, and can result in an increased cost of electricity. Transmission congestion
4、adversely affects several U.S. regions, as a lack of capacity to efficiently transmit electricity leads to the curtailment of power generation, and can result in increased electricity prices. In some cases, renewable electricity from wind and solar facilities cannot get to customers as power lines d
