NEW ENERGY TRANSMISSION SUPERHIGHWAY OR COAL HUSTLE?

Considering the general need for investment in the U.S. transmission system, it is always exciting to hear of plans to build. It is especially exciting when a company with deep pockets like American Electric Power (AEP) announces plans to spend $5-to-$10 billion. They surely have the money.

AEP is talking about building the most up-to-date kind of high speed, high capacity transmission system to deliver electricity from a planned 2-gigawatt wind installation in the Dakotas to Chicago. Many in the electric transmission business call such 765-kilovolt (kV) lines a “superhighway” for their ability to carry large amounts of current with very small losses. These new generation lines reportedly reduce the 10% losses usual in older systems to below 7% and sometimes as low as 3%.

Some veterans of the environmental and energy fights turn a skeptical eye on projects like this one from AEP. Contending there is no reason for Chicago to get 2 gigawatts of wind-generated electricity from the Dakotas when Illinois (reportedly) already has 10 gigawatts of power awaiting delivery via local transmission, the skeptical veterans believe the AEP proposal to deliver wind is actually a disguised effort to get clearances and build new transmission for planned coal plants.

The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) has been working for some time with AEP to develop their "vision" of an effective national transmission scheme that will facilitate the delivery of wind power-generated electricity from the remote, unpopulated regions where it is plentiful to load centers where it is needed. (see BLACKOUT PLUS…BETTER GRID, NEW VISION)

A recent survey of authorities in the electricity generation and transmission industry by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) underscored the need for new transmission. (see NEED NEW WIRES FOR NEW ENERGY)

The proposed AEP transmission is only a feasibility study at present. Even a company like AEP can only take on such a project trepidatiously. Aside from the expense of building, estimated at a million dollars a mile, there is an enormous amount of environmentalist, Not-In-My-BackYard (NIMBY) and Build-Absolutely-Nothing-Anywhere-Near-Anything (BANANA) resistance.

New Energy advocates from T. Boone Pickens to Greenpeace have called investment in high quality new transmission urgent. The question: Is this it?

The good news: AWEA continues to work closely with many of the most important players (including AEP, The Midwest Independent System Operator (MISO), Wind On The Wires and CapX2020) to get to the root of the matter: What proposed transmission will serve New Energy and what is being proposed to surreptitiously serve Old Energy?

One thing is true: The nation needs to get building on the new transmission it needs. As Boone Pickens likes to remind his audiences, the best time to plant a needed tree was 20 years ago - and the 2nd best time is now.

The AEP "vision" developed with AWEA. (click to enlarge)

AEP studies transmission lines for renewable power
Bernie Woodall (w/Marguerita Choy), December 2, 2008 (Reuters)
and
AEP Eyes $5 Billion-$10 Billion Midwest Electric Transmission Superhighway
Christine Buurma, December 2, 2008 (Dow Jones Newswires via CNN Money)

WHO
American Electric Power (AEP)( Michael G. Morris, chairman/president/CEO; Melissa McHenry, spokeswoman); Midwest Independent System Operator (MISO); American Wind energy Association (AWEA)

WHAT
AEP is examining the feasiblity of building a multi-state transmission project in the Upper Midwest to deliver wind-generated electricity to demand centers.

The vision is for a national transmission superhighway. (click to enlarge)

WHEN
- The transmission project is in a "conceptual stage." If approved and financed, it will be built in stages over 10 years.
- Construction will start on the Hartland wind project in 2010. It will be built in stages.

WHERE
- The proposed transmission would deliver wind power-generated electricity from North Dakota (and, eventually, South Dakota, Iowa and Minnesota) to the Chicago area.
- The $4 billion Hartland wind power project is planned for northwestern North Dakota.

WHY
- MISO, which manages Midwest transmission, must approve the project.
- AEP is considering connecting 765-kilovolt (kV) lines in the upper Midwest over ~ 1,000 miles at a cost of $5-to-$10 billion.
- The new lines would service the planned 2,000-megawatt Hartland Wind Farm project in North Dakota.
- Hartland and AEP will work together on the proposed lines.
- Hartland Wind Farm is a partnership between Montgomery Power Partners of Houston and Denali Energy of Baxter, Minnesota.
- AEP will seek equity partners to fund the project.

From the NERC report. (click to enlarge)

QUOTES
- Michael G. Morris, chairman/president/CEO, AEP: "The Dakotas, Minnesota and Iowa have some of the very best wind generation resources in the United States, but the wind potential in this region cannot be developed unless we build a very efficient transmission superhighway to bring this clean, renewable generation to population and electricity load centers…"
- Melissa McHenry, spokeswoman, AEP: "Siting is always one of the biggest hurdles…"