Restringing existing electric power infrastructure with more powerful lines could double transmission capacity on many long-distance conduction lines while saving money, cutting through bureaucratic red tape, and reducing consumers’ costs. Reconductoring (replacing existing steel-cored power lines with so-called advanced conductors), can carry approximately twice as much power at a given diameter compared to conventional lines. It could help the grid more easily incorporate high-quality, low-cost sources of renewable energy and save $180 billion in generation and transmission costs by 2050 in the U.S. compared to building new power lines only, thus increasing affordable access to renewable energy for consumers.
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