Renewable News - The Tri Global Energy news blog
"Game-Changing" Transmission Link Would Deliver Texas Wind Power To The Southeast
Jan 18, 2012
"Texas has installed more wind energy than any other state, but a lack of transmission and its isolated grid are holding up new projects. Southern Cross, a transmission link proposed by San Francisco -based Pattern Energy, would connect up to 3,000 megawatts (MW) of new Texas wind farms and provide an outlet for the state’s grid by delivering the electricity to the Southeast.
How bad is the transmission bottleneck in Texas? On January 16, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), the Texas grid operator, announced that utilities and independent transmission companies in its service territory plan to spend $8.7 billion over the next five years to build or improve 6,693 miles of transmission lines.
Pattern plans to build a 400-mile, 500-kilovolt (kV) high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission line from Garland, in east Texas, across northern Louisiana, and into northeastern Mississippi. If approved, construction on Southern Cross should begin in 2014, with the link coming online in 2016."
Texas Transmission Projects Will Add More Wind To The Grid
Jan 18, 2012
“Utilities in Texas are planning almost $9 billion worth of transmission improvements over the next five years, according to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas' (ERCOT) annual transmission report.
ERCOT, the state's grid operator and manager of the wholesale electric market, filed its 2011 Electric System Constraints and Needs Report with the Public Utility Commission of Texas last week.
The report identifies existing and potential constraints in the transmission systems that pose reliability concerns or may increase costs to the electric power market and Texas consumers. Proposed transmission projects are also highlighted in the report.
The planned projects are expected to improve or add nearly 7,000 circuit miles of transmission lines and more than 17,000 megavolt amperes (MVA) of autotransformer capacity to the grid, including the competitive renewable energy zones (CREZ) transmission additions that are scheduled to be in service by 2013."
US Replaces China As Top Clean Energy Investor
Jan 17, 2012
"The United States has regained its place as the world’s number one investor in clean energy, reclaiming the top spot from China, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
In 2011, U.S. total investment in clean energy surged to $55.9 billion, up 33 percent from 2010; China saw investment rise just 1 percent to $47.4 billion over the same time period. This is the first time that the U.S. – and not China – has held the number one spot since 2008.
Bloomberg attributes the increase in U.S.investment in large part to support initiatives such as the federal loan guarantee program and a Treasury grant program..."
NM Project To Link Power Grids Lines Up Partners
Jan 13, 2012
"ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A $1.5 billion effort to link the nation's three major electricity grids is getting a boost from Japanese investors and a European company well versed in integrating power markets.
The partnerships with Mitsui and Co. and the European Power Exchange will ensure access to a large talent pool and funding for the next three phases of development for the Tres Amigas SuperStation in eastern New Mexico, said Tres Amigas president and chief executive Phillip Harris.
Harris has spent the last week meeting in Santa Fe with Mitsui officials about details of the project. Construction is set to begin this summer, and officials expect the transmission hub to be operational in 2015."
According to Harris there is massive excitement about all of this and it is sturring up international intrests.
FERC Final Rule Reforms Transmission Planning, Cost Allocation
Jul 26, 2011
“After considering more than 200 sets of public comments, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has approved Order No. 1000, a final rule to reform its transmission-planning and cost-allocation requirements, with the ultimate goals of facilitating the development of new transmission facilities and lowering the costs of transmission services.
The new rule subjects public utility transmission providers to a host of new requirements involving transmission planning and cost allocation. These improvements, the commission contends, will remove the barriers to the development of new transmission facilities.”
“The new rule builds upon FERC Order No. 890, which addresses open-access transmission tariff reform. This final rule, which was amended back in 2007, needed to be adapted to reflect the changing needs of the grid, according to FERC Chairman Jon Wellinghoff.”
"[The North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC)] projects in its 2010 long-term reliability assessment that approximately 60 percent of all new resources expected to be added to the bulk-power system by 2019 will be new wind and solar resources," Wellinghoff added. "Strengthening and expanding the system for the reliable integration of these resources will require significant investment in transmission."
SOUTHWEST ENERGY ALLIANCE FORMED TO FOSTER CLEAN ENERGY DEVELOPMENT
Jan 10, 2011
By coordinating development of strategic power transmission assets, power storage, clean backup generation, demand response, and energy dispatch in the vicinity of vast renewable energy resources, members of the Alliance will help the U.S. achieve energy independence and jump-start economic revitalization in the Southwest.
Alliance member companies plan to tie together wind and utility-scale solar power plants as well as clean, gas-fired generation, gas pipelines, and energy storage projects using advanced battery, superconductor power cable, HVDC converter and other technologies.