In northern Vermont, officials have put a moratorium on new solar and wind projects, because the transmission lines can’t carry any more electricity. And when a transmission line that crosses the Mississippi was upgraded in 2019, the effect was to move the congestion from Iowa to Illinois.
A consequence of congestion is that wind and solar equipment is sometimes unable to operate because there is no room on the lines to carry their electricity. (This is called “curtailment” in energy lingo, and it also occurs when demand falters.) In New York state last year, 62 gigawatt-hours of wind power was curtailed; it was a small but not insignificant fraction of total wind production.
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