Figuring out the law enforcement jurisdiction was challenging growing up in my hometown. Depending on the crime and location, the jurisdiction was different. Parks were handled by the park rangers, highways by the state police, local crimes by the city police, and prisons by sheriff deputies. The FBI covered anything across state lines, and I suppose if there was some international issue, you dealt with the CIA or even Interpol. It’s too bad our community didn’t have a GIS map that helped us figure out who to call for what crime or complaint.
Dealing with the US transmission grid is like returning to my hometown. Luckily, we have GIS maps to help.
Many Jurisdictions, Many Maps
Does anyone remember the opening line of Caesar’s Commentaries from their high school Latin class? Gallia est divisa in partes tres. Translated: France is divided into three parts. The US continental grid is too, not counting Alaska. There are the eastern, western, and Texas interconnections. Only high-voltage DC lines connect each of the grids. Transfer capability between the interconnections is limited. The interconnection regions are shown on the map below.
The three US interconnections, not counting Alaska and Hawaii
Source US EPA
Transmission Regulation
We know that the government regulates utilities. Yet, it is sometimes difficult to determine what government agency has jurisdiction over the research, reliability, project approval, planning, and pricing of transmission services. The answer is it depends. Ultimately, the US Department of Energy (DOE) is responsible. Its Office of Electricity has a large role. According to the DOE, “Its Reliability Program was established to support collaboration between the national labs, the electricity industry, and DOE to develop technologies that keep the nation’s electric grid resilient and secure while cutting electricity bills and facilitating the integration of renewable energy.”
However, other agencies and even corporations are involved. Maps guide us. The Energy Policy Act of 1992 and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) orders 888 and 889 kicked off utility unbundling and ensured transmission reliability. FERC order 1000 created study regions.
In October 2023, the DOE issued the National Transmission Needs Study, which heavily leverages the FERC 1000 map regions. Below is a map that shows the FERC 1000 regions.
The FERC 1000 Regions
Source DOE Transmission Needs Study, October 2023 and FERC
In 2006, FERC certified the North American Reliability Corporation (NERC) as the Electric Reliability Organization (ERO) to provide mandatory reliability standards to the US electric utility industry. In 2007, FERC approved delegation agreements between NERC and Regional Entities (RE) that carry out certain ERO functions within specific geographic areas, including grid reliability. NERC is a not-for-profit international regulatory authority. The six REs are shown on the map below. One of NERC’s most noteworthy efforts is the family of Critical Infrastructure Protection (NERC CIP) standards, designed to protect the grid against cyber and physical attacks. The map below shows the Regional Entities.
North American Regional Entities
Source DOE Transmission Needs Study, October 2023 and NERC
Transmission Operations
FERC orders 888 and 889 created the notion of Independent System Operators (ISO) and Regional Transmission Organizations (RTO), which run the energy markets and manage the transmission systems. ISOs and RTOs perform essentially the same functions. These organizations are not government agencies or utilities. They are profit-neutral organizations. Not all parts of the US have ISOs or RTOs. In these non-ISO/RTO areas, market and transmission operations are performed by the various vertically integrated or federal utilities.
Map of ISO/RTOs in the US and Canada – note area with no ISO/RTOs
Source DOE Transmission Needs Study, October 2023 and ISORTO.org
Transmission Planning
With the dual challenge of decarbonization and electrification, several studies by the DOE claim that the US will need to increase its transmission capability by perhaps two times by 2035 and maybe three times by 2050. Regional and particularly interregional planning must be accelerated to meet this challenge. The map below helps us understand what organizations are responsible for this critical planning. In addition to new transmission facilities, regional planning organizations must work more closely together to relieve transmission congestion, particularly between regions. The DOE National Transmission Needs Study notes that additional transmission will relieve congestion, provide more diversity in weather patterns, climate, and generation mix, and reduce renewable energy curtailment. The additional transmission will help lower the queue of mounting renewable energy interconnection requests.
Map of Organizations Responsible for Regional Transmission Planning
Source: Source DOE Transmission Needs Study, October 2023 and ISORTO.org.
GIS Maps Provide the Content and the Context
What may not be clear to the casual observer is that the maps are not exactly coincident in some cases. Overlaying the maps will help. Also, note that the US Environmental Agency (EPA) has another set of maps called eGRID for emissions with different region boundaries. Transmission congestion directly impacts the wholesale price of electricity, so showing maps with areas of high and low prices provides additional content and context. Aligning all these different maps provides better context for planners, operators, developers, and policymakers.
Transmission planning will require the collaboration of owners, operators, planners, and regulators. These maps help us understand the way the grid is organized. GIS allows planners and operators to share, collect, manage, and analyze this critical data. We can layer additional information on a map, such as the existing and proposed transmission network, energy resources, high and low wholesale prices, and areas of equity imbalance. Thus, the maps and the GIS that creates them give all grid stakeholders a better understanding of the content and the context and help guide the way to a grid that addresses today’s and tomorrow’s needs.
If I had these kinds of maps growing up, it would be a snap to figure out which law enforcement agency to call when my bike was stolen.
GIS and the maps that it creates provide users with a wealth of insight into all aspects of the energy industry. The challenges and opportunities are eye-watering. Esri’s Electric Utility website describes how GIS plays a key role in meeting those challenges and provides the tools to take advantage of the opportunities ahead.