Energy Landscapes: The Potential of Transmission Corridors for Recreation, Resilience, and Ecology

Wednesday, April 9
1-2pm EDT │ Zoom Webinar

The U.S. power grid includes more than 150,000 miles of high-voltage power lines to transport electricity from power stations to substations where it enters the distribution system to consumers. These transmission corridors — often overhead power lines on lattice-type metal towers — are a common sight. Yet even as they dominate the landscape, they are often overlooked due to their ubiquity.

These corridors, which cross political and ecological boundaries, can serve as spaces for much more than energy transmission, providing significant value for the communities and environments they pass through and serve. Designing and managing transmission corridors for multiple benefits includes possibilities like greenways, parks, trails, wildfire management areas, and more.

This webinar begins with a brief overview of the fundamentals of energy transmission systems and the physical aspects of transmission corridors. Then, each panelist will share new thinking and case study examples of multifunctional transmission line corridors from three distinct but integrated perspectives: recreational use, wildfire resilience, and ecosystem restoration and management. Finally the panel will discuss emerging areas for future enterprise and new cross-disciplinary efforts to enable multi-functional transmission with a particular focus on existing and potential roles for landscape architects and planners.