We have focused on wind energy frequently, and with just about everyone on board for additional wind power we are now bumping into some of the logistical issues that really need to be solved if we as a country are to produce renewables in quantities that matter.
The nations energy transmission grid is a mishmash of competing interests and companies, designed with the states essentially running the show. The limitations of this system have been placed into focus by two recent pieces, one an editorial in the Wall Street Journal, and one in the New York Times.
The Journal editorial assailed those who advocate for wind power, but then try to block transmission lines that would take such power from the place of generation to the place of consumption. From the editorial, called “windjammers”:
In this year’s great energy debate, Democrats describe a future when the U.S. finally embraces the anything-but-carbon avant-garde. It turns out, however, that when wind and solar power do start to come on line, they face a familiar obstacle: environmentalists and many Democrats.
To wit, the greens are blocking the very transmission network needed for renewable electricity to move throughout the economy. The best sites for wind and solar energy happen to be in the sticks — in the desert Southwest where sunlight is most intense for longest, or the plains where the wind blows most often. To exploit this energy, utilities need to build transmission lines to connect their electricity to the places where consumers actually live. In addition to other technical problems, the transmission gap is a big reason wind only provides two-thirds of 1% of electricity generated in the U.S., and solar one-tenth of 1%.
Only last week, Duke Energy and American Electric Power announced a $1 billion joint venture to build a mere 240 miles of transmission line in Indiana necessary to accommodate new wind farms. Yet the utilities don’t expect to be able to complete the lines for six long years — until 2014, at the earliest, because of the time necessary to obtain regulatory approval and rights-of-way, plus the obligatory lawsuits.
In California even the governator is frustrated:
In California, hundreds turned out at the end of July to protest a connection between the solar and geothermal fields of the Imperial Valley to Los Angeles and Orange County. The environmental class is likewise lobbying state commissioners to kill a 150-mile link between San Diego and solar panels because it would entail a 20-mile jaunt through Anza-Borrego state park. “It’s kind of schizophrenic behavior,” Arnold Schwarzenegger said recently. “They say that we want renewable energy, but we don’t want you to put it anywhere.”
The Times story details some of the problems facing our transmission grid without highlighting some of the opposition to specific projects. But those problems are real.
When the builders of the Maple Ridge Wind farm spent $320 million to put nearly 200 wind turbines in upstate New York, the idea was to get paid for producing electricity. But at times, regional electric lines have been so congested that Maple Ridge has been forced to shut down even with a brisk wind blowing.
That is a symptom of a broad national problem. Expansive dreams about renewable energy, like Al Gore’s hope of replacing all fossil fuels in a decade, are bumping up against the reality of a power grid that cannot handle the new demands.
The dirty secret of clean energy is that while generating it is getting easier, moving it to market is not.
As real progress is made in technology to produce renewables companies are examining the geographic areas that would produce the most bang for the buck. Our windy heartland, and our sunny desert areas are obvious choices. But apparently you can’t get there from here.
The grid’s limitations are putting a damper on such projects already. Gabriel Alonso, chief development officer of Horizon Wind Energy, the company that operates Maple Ridge, said that in parts of Wyoming, a turbine could make 50 percent more electricity than the identical model built in New York or Texas.
“The windiest sites have not been built, because there is no way to move that electricity from there to the load centers,” he said.
The basic problem is that many transmission lines, and the connections between them, are simply too small for the amount of power companies would like to squeeze through them. The difficulty is most acute for long-distance transmission, but shows up at times even over distances of a few hundred miles.
T. Boone Pickens is building an enormous wind farm in Texas, but he is using a right of way he owns for a water pipeline to construct his own transmission line. He knows that few companies will be able to do that, and has urged Congress to act. But getting Congress to act is not an easy task.
Yet experts say that without a solution to the grid problem, effective use of wind power on a wide scale is likely to remain a dream.
The power grid is balkanized, with about 200,000 miles of power lines divided among 500 owners. Big transmission upgrades often involve multiple companies, many state governments and numerous permits. Every addition to the grid provokes fights with property owners.
These barriers mean that electrical generation is growing four times faster than transmission, according to federal figures.
In a 2005 energy law, Congress gave the Energy Department the authority to step in to approve transmission if states refused to act. The department designated two areas, one in the Middle Atlantic States and one in the Southwest, as national priorities where it might do so; 14 United States senators then signed a letter saying the department was being too aggressive.
Governor Bill Richardson, a former energy Secretary, understands what needs to be done.
But Bill Richardson, the governor of New Mexico and a former energy secretary under President Bill Clinton, contends that these piecemeal efforts are not enough to tap the nation’s potential for renewable energy.
Wind advocates say that just two of the windiest states, North Dakota and South Dakota, could in principle generate half the nation’s electricity from turbines. But the way the national grid is configured, half the country would have to move to the Dakotas in order to use the power.
“We still have a third-world grid,” Mr. Richardson said, repeating a comment he has made several times. “With the federal government not investing, not setting good regulatory mechanisms, and basically taking a back seat on everything except drilling and fossil fuels, the grid has not been modernized, especially for wind energy.”
This is a national problem, and the federal government has the authority and the money to solve it. We have seen that power, excercised through FERC (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission)locally when FERC governed processes allowed two gas pipelines to be built in the Merrimack Valley by essentially negating all local regulations. The FERC process allowed some local input, but after listening to the locals pipelines were built quickly and without much regard for the concerns expressed. Transmission of wind and solar power must be a national priority, and the regulatory process must be shortened to allow this transmission without having to do six years of hearings. We cannot be for wind power, and then against its transmission.
“We need an interstate transmission superhighway system,” said Suedeen G. Kelly, a member of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
Yes we do, state concerns notwithstanding.
Read the Wall Street Journal editorial here.
Read the New York Times piece here.
Bill Manzi.com 