DOE Study Identifies Trouble Spots in National Electric Grid

From the AP:

Southern California and the urban centers from Northern Virginia to New York face the most critical power grid problems, but such remote areas as Montana and the Dakotas may need new transmission lines in the near future, an Energy Department report warns.

The grid congestion report to be released Tuesday is a first step to the government proposing electricity transmission corridors later this year to try to ease bottlenecks and avoid blackouts.

Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said the department will now begin the process of proposing new transmission corridors that are of special importance to the national power grid.

"If we are to ensure electricity reliability, it is important that we do what we can to facilitate investment in new generation and transmission capacity," Bodman said in a statement.

As soon as the report is published online, we'll provide the link.

Technorati tags: Electricity, Energy, Grid Reliability, Department of Energy