Please find below the
Semi-Finalist Evaluation
Judges'' comments
Unfortunately, this proposal requires congressional action, and so it doesn't fit squarely within the requirements of the contest prompt.
More importantly, the judges wish the author spent more time focused on the non-technical aspects of feasibility. HVDC is a pretty clear technology intervention for the grid's needs, but that's not what's been holding us back!
Here, the author suggests leadership by DOE, a FERC that would exercise eminent domain, and a carbon tax to fund the capital investments. While all of these things could be possible, the political weight of them is overwhelming. Because we felt that the discussion of these political, regulatory, and economic challenges was lacking, we could not warrant advancing the proposal to the semi-finalist round.
I'd like to see the author take another look and address these nontechnical obstacles.I'd also like to see more clarity on why this leadership would happen at DOE. FERC has been leading among government agencies in creating creative ways to reduce the access costs of distributed renewable generation, which aligns well here.
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