Architects of the Inflation Reduction Act paved a policy road map of solar and wind power paired with electric vehicles. But without a speedy build-out of transmission lines to link them, that path might just lead to more coal and natural-gas usage.
That is the finding of a recent analysis conducted by the Rapid Energy Policy Evaluation and Analysis Toolkit (REPEAT), a project led by Prof. Jesse Jenkins of Princeton. The analysis found that if the U.S. builds out transmission lines at the pace of the past 10 years (a glacial 1% annually), it would result in more coal and natural-gas consumption in 2030 than if the green energy-focused Inflation Reduction Act hadn’t passed.
