Sea change coming for the electric grid

Madison’s Beltline — the major thoroughfare that cuts through the city — is flanked by massive metal structures transmitting electricity faster than the moving cars they tower over.

These high-voltage electric transmission lines were planned, built and are managed by the American Transmission Company (ATC), a stand-alone transmission company that services most of Wisconsin, the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and parts of Illinois and Minnesota.

Bob McKee, manager of Regulatory Relations and Policy at ATC, describes his company as a middleman. “We deliver energy from where it’s generated to where it’s used,” says McKee. 

“We are the link between generators and load-serving entities like Madison Gas and Electric — a customer of ours.”

But the electric industry is being disrupted, as new forms of power generation, like solar panels and wind turbines, begin to replace coal and gas power plants. These new power sources tend to be decentralized, scattered throughout a community, which fundamentally changes the grid makeup.