Smart grid will need more federal power: GE exec

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States needs bolder legislation to ensure a transmission grid can be built to carry wind and solar energy from remote areas into cities, a senior General Electric Co official said on Thursday.

"Renewables will not work unless we have the transmission issues resolved," said John Krenicki, head of GE's energy infrastructure unit.

"That will be the short pole in the tent real quick, if it's not already in certain places," Krenicki told Reuters.

U.S. President Barack Obama has pledged that 10 percent of the nation's electricity should come from renewable energy by 2012 and 25 percent by 2025.

But a patchwork of rules allows state regulators in many areas to have the primary authority to determine what electricity projects are built and how they are paid for.

"How are we going to get renewable power from the mountain states to the West coast, or to the center of the country? We have to do in the electricity sector what was done in the gas pipeline sector to really realize the potential," Krenicki said.

GE sells meters, sensors, diagnostic equipment and other "smart grid" technology that can be used to help integrate renewable power -- which tends to be intermittent -- into the electricity grid.

The next U.S. energy bill needs to give the federal government regulatory clout to build new transmission lines, similar to the siting power held by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for other types of energy, he said.

"What's been done in the smart grid is impressive. It's a great start, but absent a regulatory regime that allows people to build transmission, it will never realize its full potential," Krenicki said.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid introduced a bill on Thursday to streamline siting for transmission lines and promote investment.

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee is also working on a bill that would give FERC more authority to oversee the construction of a modern electric grid.

The energy industry needs to do a better job explaining how states won't be able to reap the benefits from new jobs in the renewable energy sector unless the transmission grid is in place to carry the power, Krenicki said.

"It's a big challenge, but the benefits will also accrue in those areas that are going to have power lines crossing their territory," he said.

State governors will need to be involved to make progress. "I don't see any state saying, 'Don't build solar or wind in our state' where they have the resource, but the transmission challenge is the big one," Krenicki said.

(Reporting by Roberta Rampton and Jasmin Melvin)