Google seeks to partner with states, utilities and transmission developers on projects to replace existing transmission wires, or conductors, with high-capacity advanced conductors, to increase transmission capacity and support load growth where Google operates in the U.S. The firm has issued a solicitation to identify the projects it will help fund.
Renewable energy projects located near reconductored transmission lines could then more easily interconnect.
“Google is using its capital to send a signal that it is ready to help fund transmission projects,” said Theodore Paradise, chief policy and grid strategy officer at CTC Global. The two firms are collaborating on the initiative, which will support the use of advanced conductors made by CTC Global. Paradise made his comments at the Transmission and Interconnection Summit produced by Infocast.
Advanced conductors, Paradise said, speed the timeline for transmission capacity additions from years to months. He added that as the North American Electric Reliability Corporation has reported that all regions of the U.S. are facing reliability strain, and with 2.5 TW of generation capacity awaiting interconnection, “we can’t wait ten to twelve years for new lines.”
Beyond providing funding support, Google and CTC Global will offer workforce training in the deployment of CTC Global’s advanced conductors, and will support technical project studies to validate the technology’s integration and impact.
Reconductoring potential
Replacing existing transmission lines with advanced conductors could enable 764 GW of transmission-connected solar by 2035 even if transmission in new corridors was limited, found a 2024 study by UC Berkeley and GridLab researchers.
Two utilities that have used advanced conductors for years have reported their experience with reconductoring on an Energy Central webinar.
Other utilities remain cautious. The federally-owned hydropower and transmission utility Bonneville Power Administration, for example, said early last year it had “begun the process” to analyze and qualify advanced conductors to increase the capacity of its grid, adding that the process “can take months or years of physical testing and analyses.” Analysts at Energy Innovation and GridLab soon challenged BPA’s approach, which they said is common across many other transmission providers. They suggested that utilities should rely on real-world deployments or other peer organizations’ testing.
Construction crews
The timeline for Google’s solicitation is “moving fast,” Paradise said, with RFI responses due July 14, selection of responders to proceed to the RFP in August, RFP responses due in September, and project selection by early November, with the aim that construction crews will be on site “as soon as possible.”
Inquiries regarding the RFI and RFP eligibility may be addressed to CTC-external@Google.com.
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