New power customers require new power capacity. This is as it always has been.
The existing grid is different today than it was 10 years ago and will be in 10 years.
Meanwhile wind power surpassed hydro in Gw delivered 2 years ago and solar will too.
Furthermore, hydropower is not at all constant when looked at over a span of years.
Gw delivery varies like a heartbeat due to rainfall variation while wind and solar power
trends steadily upward as new capacity is added.
Renewables are the main growth of the industry today and at an ever increasing rate.
Without them the statement would be: 'we can't build power plants fast enough'.
Now you point out 'how do we transport this new capacity'?
It's not the worst problem to have. Really, only the anti-EV crowd misses the obvious.
It sounds like a good way to employ people and make a lot of money.
Electric vehicles and the demand they create is not going away.
Ok, here are some actual power grid realities. These are things they don't tell the general public.
Reality #1 Load and generation must be equal at all times (this is at a sub second level)
Reality #2 Wind is not constant. It fluxuates literally being there one second and not being there the next. It is also not on demand. What this means is that operators need to keep spinning reserves available that can react at a sub second level. This means having a inefficient running plant that is not putting out it's full capacity to make up for the natural variation in wind energy produced.
Reality #3 Solar is wonderful but it is not there in the evening. Depending on a utilities mix of loads often the peak loads are in the evening.
Reality #4 except in the desert Southwest solar varies just like wind. When a cloud moves into view the output decreases dramatically and instantly.
Reality #5 We know a year in advance what hydro capability we have. This is called "pond" We know what our yearly capacity in megawatt hours is, so it is to us extremely stable.
solar and wind do help reduce fossil fuels and hydro use, but they will never replace them until a economical bulk storage solution is developed, and implimented.
oh, yes, from a generation standpoint the "grid" is not the same as it was 10 years ago.
From a transmission and distribution standpoint it is much the same.