Opportunities for Efficiency Improvements in the U.S. Electricity Transmission and Distribution System

Technical Report · Wed Apr 01 00:00:00 EDT 2015

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1185870· OSTI ID:1185870

Jackson, Roderick K. ^[1]; Onar, Omer C. ^[1]; Kirkham, Harold ^[2]; Fisher, Emily ^[3]; Burkes, Klaehn ^[4]; Starke, Michael R. ^[1]; Mohammed, Olama ^[1]; Weeks, George ^[4]

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1. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
2. Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
3. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
4. Savannah River Site (SRS), Aiken, SC (United States). Savannah River National Lab. (SRNL)

Since 2000, more than 172 quads of electricity have been transmitted on the US transmission and distribution (T&D) grid. Given this significant amount of energy flow, establishing and maintaining an efficient T&D grid is paramount. As shown in the figure below, the total percentage of overall losses in the US electric grid is approximately 6% (5.12% in 2012) (30% lower than the world average since 2000). While these efficiency losses appear to be relatively small from a percentage perspective, the total estimated electricity loss during this time is 10.8 quads.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Building Technologies Research and Integration Center (BTRIC)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: DE-AC05-00OR22725
• OSTI ID: 1185870
• Report Number(s): ORNL/TM-2015/5
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English