Remaking the Power Grid
Published Aug 07, 2009
Thanks to its geographical position in the Wind Belt, the emergence of a leaner, greener power grid centered around wind energy has positioned The High Ground as a leader in the clean power revolution.
“Wind is a whole new industry, and it is really going to grow here,” says David Hudson, director of strategic planning at Southwest Public Service Company, part of Xcel Energy. “The big issue right now is not whether or not the region can become a hub for wind energy, but rather, who is going to pay for the necessary infrastructure to transport wind energy to other regions since there is more wind energy potential locally than consumers can use.”
The regional grid is made up of a collection of sellers, owners, operators and consumers, all of whom are currently working together to coordinate an intricate and energy-efficient regional power grid to harness the exciting potential of wind.
“Essentially, there is not enough transmission to carry that wind out of our area,” says Michael L. Wise, who is vice president of Transmission & Operations for Golden Spread Electric Cooperative, a consumer-owned public utility that is currently hard at work looking for ways to improve the transmission grid. “Improving the regional transmission grid is a win-win for everybody.”
Texas is already firmly established as the national leader in wind energy. The state is undertaking a $4.9 billion wind-power transmission building project that will add a massive system of transmission lines to help move electricity generated along the windy patches of west Texas to power-hungry metropolitan areas to the east. The project represents the country’s largest investment in clean and renewable power to date.
“Our region of the country, with its vast wind resources, has the potential to develop tens of thousands of megawatts of wind energy projects,” Wise says. “Wind can be an important resource for our nation’s energy future if it can be harvested and harnessed, but transmission lines must be constructed to deliver this renewable energy to other areas of the country where it is needed and can be used.”
He says the vital transmission infrastructure should be viewed as an intergenerational asset that will pay dividends into the future.
“This will require a national scale building project, something on the same scale of what we accomplished during the Eisenhower administration when he authorized the building of the interstate highway system,” Wise says.
Meanwhile, as industry stakeholders align, the potential for creating green energy jobs greatly increases, thanks to billions of dollars in projected infrastructure construction. Those factors and others make this region ground zero for America’s wind energy revolution.
Story by Brandon Lowe
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