On the Value of Time-Diversified Renewable Energy Using Interregional HVDC Transmission

The natural intermittency of renewable energy (solar and wind) and its mismatch in timing compared to the hourly requirements of electricity customers, and the resulting need for development of long duration (ten hours or more) energy storage are currently popular topics. But a potential major solution for these issues would not require physical storage at all. Instead, interregional high voltage direct current (HVDC) electric transmission could be used to move time-diversified renewable energy from where it is produced to where it is needed. Interest is growing among multiple entities in the U.S. to see such a “Macro Grid” of transmission accomplished.1 Among other potential benefits of interregional HVDC transmission, it can harness the natural geographic and thus time-diversity between renewable resources and thus help compensate for their individual intermittency. This article provides two simple but illustrative examples of such benefits. © 2020 Elsevier Inc.