New national power hub to connect renewable energy sources

Wednesday, November 25, 2009 by: Paul Louis, staff writer
Tags: renewable energy, power grid, health news

(Natural News) A newly formed energy group called the Tres Amigas Project has put forth a proposal to interconnect three regional areas of natural energy sources, covering wind, solar, hydro, and geothermal generated electrical energies. The project may cost 1 billion dollars and take five years to complete.

The three regional grids to be connected are the Eastern interconnection, the Western interconnection, and the Texas interconnection. The connecting high speed substation would be placed in a 22.5 square mile area near Clovis, NM. Three high voltage converters capable of converting 5000 megawatts of direct current would be installed, forming a triangle over the Clovis 22.5 square mile area.

Those three converters would be linked with direct current superconductor cables from American Superconductor. The superconductor cables are meant to be underground, which minimizes environmental and property ownership issues. The cables are also very efficient at transmitting electricity.

Their power loss during transmission is around 3 percent, while conventional overhead cables often lose more than 10 percent of transmitted power. American Superconductor creates superconductivity with a ceramic wire that is cooled with liquid nitrogen circulated around the wires.

The proposal was announced last October, 2009 by New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson. Governor Richardson had previously served as the U.S. Energy Secretary. The newly forming Tres Amigas Project has its headquarters in Santa Fe, New Mexico's state capitol.

Why it's needed

Most of the renewable energy is produced in American rural areas, but the highest energy demands are in urban areas nearer the coast lines. The group's CEO, Phil Harris, says more transmission lines need to be built to take advantage of renewable energy sources.

Currently, only 2.5 percent of America's electrical energy is supplied from renewable energy sources. With existing technology, it could go to 10 percent by 2020 according to The National Research Council's 2009 report on renewable energy sources. The renewable energy sources available in America include wind, solar, and hydroelectric energy.

The Tres Amigas Project would be a major step toward linking with another proposed project. A 3,000-mile wind energy trail called the Green Power Express is scheduled for completion by 2020. These two new technologies would enable electrical power from renewable energy sources to exceed the National Research Council's 2009 expectations.

Sources for this article include:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-10373880-5...

http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/ariel-schwar...

http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-10285552-5...