NEW ENERGY CORRIDORS

New transmission is urgently needed for 2 major reasons: (1) population is growing, putting demand for more electricity on the lines, and (2) New Energy is not sourced like coal-, gas- and nuclear-fired plants and does not flow in the same way so the wires need to start where New Energy is generated and have the smarts to transmit it.

Related: Last week, the federal government named the Southwest and mid-Atlantic “critical energy areas” and gave the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission authority to approve any transmission project in those areas considered vital.

Feds to designate energy corridors; Deciding where to put pipelines and power lines on public lands in West may speed building/A draft report expected soon will show where Uncle Sam wants to route the projects
Andy Vuong, October 6, 2007 (Denver Post)

WHO
Bruce Smith, executive director, Colorado Energy Forum; Tom Darin, staff attorney, Western Resource Advocates.

11 western states in need of new transmission. (click to enlarge)

WHAT
Government-designated energy corridors on federal Western land will facilitate new transmission, allowing more energy development. A draft report, West-wide Energy Corridor Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement, is expected to designate plans.

WHEN
- The Energy Policy Act of 2005 requires government agencies to specify new corridors.
- US transmission has not been upbuilt in 20 years.
- Draft report on selected sites expected within weeks.

WHERE
- The requirement applies to 11 Western states (Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming) for oil, natural- gas and hydrogen pipelines and electric power lines.
- The High Plains Express Transmission and the Eastern Plains Transmission systems in Colorado will not be affected because they are not on federal lands.

WHY
- Cost: $1million/mile.
- Siting new transmission lines is controversial. Environmental, ecological and aesthetic matters are inevitably at stake.
- Input is required from 4 federal departments: energy, agriculture, defense, interior.
- Advocates are urging the agencies to use existing corridors such as US Interstate 80.
- There is a particular urgency for transmission linking wind and solar production centers with urban areas in need of extra power.
- 4000-8000 new power lines are being planned.

Many of the other regional grid systems are in need of smart upgrades to load on New Energy. (click to enlarge)

QUOTES
- Smith, Colorado Energy Forum: "If a corridor were designated and a utility had a project that wanted to go through that, it would certainly speed up the process…What used to take multiple years now has a pre-designation...The utility doesn't have to go through the brain damage it used to in the past with the federal agencies."
- Darin, Western Resource Advocates: "There really hasn't been a big investment in transmission in the western United States in about 20 years…That's sort of catching up with the utilities…If you're going to be impacting public lands and using this public national resource, let's be forward thinking - let's hook up clean energy sources, like wind and solar and geothermal, and not have the corridors just go into coal country…"