Peter Fairley’s (@pfairley) latest piece for InvestigateWest’s “Decarbonizing Cascadia” series discusses the movement for a stronger, coordinated electrical grid along the West Coast. A system built on centralized control centers with longer power lines, and boosted with large battery arrays and other upgrades can reliably carry energy generated from renewable sources, such as hydroelectric, wind and solar, from one area with energy aplenty to another experiencing a spike in demand. Fairley examines the political and operational challenges this proposal faces, in interviews with three experts in the industry, and offers hope that progress is possible. Image by Stefan Andrej Shambora (St_A_Sh) via Wikimedia Commons
