Our existing grid worked just fine with traditional energy generation, even as it required maintenance to keep it operational. The "new" grid must mix with sporadic on-again, off-again sources of energy. As the "new" grid is formed, traditional energy transmission is a secondary consideration.

This article is very clear from the climate change perspective: "But as humanity responds to global warming, renewable, zero-carbon sources of energy, especially wind and solar energy, are replacing fossil fuels. That requires a new transmission grid."? TN Editor

Most of the U.S. electric grid was built in the 1960s and 1970s. Today, over 70% of the U.S. electricity grid is more than 25 years old, and that aging system is vulnerable to increasingly intense storms.

Also, the electric infrastructure in the U.S. was built to bring energy from where fossil fuels are burned to where the energy will be used.

But as humanity responds to global warming, renewable, zero-carbon sources of energy, especially wind and solar energy, are replacing fossil fuels. That requires a new transmission grid.