As electricity demand surges across the U.S., a Johns Hopkins project is helping states expand grid capacity faster and more affordably. LIGHTS (Leadership in Grid Innovations for HighVoltage Transmission for States) is funded by the Department of Energy. “LIGHTS addresses a critical gap in moving research into practice,” says Yury Dvorkin, a member of the Ralph O’Connor Sustainable Energy Institute (ROSEI) and the project’s primary investigator.
The LIGHTS team is working with PJM, which coordinates wholesale electricity markets across 13 states, including Maryland. As grids in these regions face rapid load growth—often driven by data centers—the team is developing algorithms and models to help governments improve cost savings, reliability, and speed.
“We don’t have 10 years to wait for traditional transmission projects,” says Abe Silverman, a ROSEI researcher and the project’s co-PI. LIGHTS is identifying upgrades to boost capacity on existing lines, such as replacing aging conductors with carbon fiber alternatives and using realtime weather and system data to ensure line safety. “Our goal is to provide actionable insights that help states move faster, spend smarter, and strengthen reliability,” Dvorkin says. “We can unlock enormous value in a fraction of the time it takes to build something new.
— WICK EISENBERG