Coming Soon to Major City Centers: The Green Power Express
One of the biggest problems with wind power is that it’s often trapped in low-density rural areas. ITC Holdings wants to bring wind energy to major US city centers with the “Green Power Express”, a network of transmission lines that will move 12,000 MW of power from the Midwest to cities like Chicago and Minneapolis.
The $10 billion network will add 3,000 miles of transmission lines in North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana.
ITC hasn’t provided an exact completion date for the project, but the company is in the midst of filing an application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission requesting a revenue requirement formula and incentives for construction of the Green Power Express.
According to the company’s website, “Construction will start once all of the related studies have been completed, regulatory approvals have been received and the detailed routing of the project has been completed and approved as appropriate. Due to the size and scope of this project along with the various state and federal approvals that will be required, ITC is aggressively targeting to have the Green Power Express in service by 2020.”
Here’s hoping other organizations take on similar projects in the near future. The sooner transmission lines are in place, the sooner we can move towards a truly smart grid.
Photo Credit: Green Power Express
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February 10th, 2009 at 11:07 pm
Based on this map, it looks like there is a lot of wind potential in Lake Michigan, which is close to Chicago and Milwaukee, at least.
February 11th, 2009 at 6:06 pm
There are new technologies that have been developed with geothermal which would allow us to build carbon free energy plants right where they need to be. Why don’t we invest in geothermal first. It it is going to cost almost 10 billion just to build the infrastructure, then clearly it makes more sense to use Geothermal since we wouldn’t need to build electrical lines everywhere. Plus, those electrical lines don’t do anything to beautiful the environment either. We have a win win situation or a win lose situation. Let’s be smart about how we spend money since we are in a credit crunch!
February 12th, 2009 at 8:39 pm
Good point Matt. Just fill Lake Michigan with wind mills and you have Green Bay, Chicago and Detroit covered. This makes for a much smaller line to Minneapolis.
But 2020… seems long to have everything up and running. Once started these projects should take off. From what I have read most wind projects of later are finishing way ahead of schedule and with so many out of work now this wouldn’t be an exception. Last, we need to cut all the red tape from this approval process. They are straight wires… how hard can it be to map it out and everyone put their stamp on it? It’s not new technology!!!
March 13th, 2009 at 6:56 pm
Now that Asia is “online”, the “Cheap Oil era is ending faster! America may not need the huge Industrial supplies of electricity the stats call for, since most industrial and manufacturing activity, including car factories have moved off-shore, to Asia in particular. With the inevitable death of “The Big Three” and sales of the new Chinese “Volt”
SEE:
“The astounding Chinese have epoched the great GM, of U.S.A. in producing an Electric/gas/plug-in car! They are driving them in the streets of China as we speak, they will be retailed in the U.S.A. by 2011, they will cost half the price of a “Volt” and they are “On Order” for Israel! GM take a deep breath, your naughty parts have just been cut off by a Chinese high-tech competitor, and the “Volt” is still “Vapor-ware”!” See:http://www.cleantech.com/news/3983/chinas-byd-sells-first-mass-produced-plug-cars
A lot of power will be freed up in Detroit anyway. What will we do with it? We must concentrate on our schools now, they are our only chance for survival against the “Yellow Hoards” of little 85 pound yellow women perpetually supplied by the Chinese country-side to work for 85 cents an hour, 7 days a week, no time off, and their PhD attaining off-spring attending government financed schools, also 7 days a week, Year-round!, on Rice! Did you know, “more people in China speak English than America has people”? Do not be afraid and hide the facts – Change, Obama has no cure for reality, it is something Americans must face, and soon. Sense of “Entitlement”?, Educational Superiority? Bigger Army? Better Military? Better Science? Check the facts out. Americans do not lead the way, they lag behind the pack, and Asian pack, and will have to undergo astounding paradigm shifts to survive. Nuclear is not the end-all answer, not even close. It is an easy out for temporary relief at best and the most dangerous thing a power hungry America can do! American Scientists back Wind Power. SEE:
There is as much wind power potential (900,000 megawatts) off our coasts as the current capacity of all power plants in the United States combined, according to a new report entitled, A Framework for Offshore Wind Energy Development in the United States, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, and General Electric. http://www.capecodtoday.com/news246.htm01/01/09
Solar is also Safe and documented as adequate SEE:
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=a-solar-grand-plan
Thorium reactors are one engineering error from Armageddon, do so have waste disposal problems and NIMBY problems too!
Solar, Wind, Wave, Hydro, Tidal and Geothermal are ALL renewable, or perpetual and need no refueling – Look at the Hoover Dam – check out the safety record! Get Wise! The only guys who want nuclear are the fuel-sellers! and we are back on the same hook as for oil! Wake up America, Last Call, Last Call!