FPL and WP&L — Bent Tree wind project
March 13th, 2009
News from Wisconsin… Interesting times… info has surfaced that Florida Power and Light has done an about face and is now working on a deal with WP&L, and it seems their deal is premised on approval, by Minnesota’s PUC, on the Bent Tree wind project! Oh, now that’s interesting! And it’s no secret — it’s in the Wisconsin State Journal!
David Morris – Grids and Grids
March 12th, 2009
Last week, David Morris had a great transmission piece in Grist — I’ve been sick, in la-la-land, and am just catching up:
Grids and grids
A smart grid, yes. A new national grid, no.
Posted by David Morris (Guest Contributor) at 11:19 AM on 04 Mar 2009
The new mantra in energy circles is “national smart grid.”
In the New York Times, Al Gore insists the new president should give the highest priority to “the planning and construction of a unified national smart grid.” President Barack Obama, responding to a question by MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, declares that one of “the most important infrastructure projects that we need is a whole new electricity grid … a smart grid.”
Allright, America…
March 12th, 2009
Thanks to Jonathan Larson for sending this, among others, today. Check his site at www.elegant-technology.com and dig in!
For more of these, see www.icanhascheezeburger.com
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Amy Klobuchar does something STUPID… again!
March 11th, 2009
Whatever is she thinking? Amy Klobuchar, Senator Amy Klobuchar, did it again… a STUPID STUPID move… she’s been stumping for coal gasification (STUPID), transmission (STUPID), and now she thinks burning garbage is a good thing (WAY STUPID).
She signed on to a letter to Senators Jeff Bingaman and Lisa Murkowski to include garbage incineration in the definition of “renewable.”
Oh, pleeeeeeea-ze…
Waste-to-energy can provide double brenefits: it diminishes waste reserves and produces clean energy while offsetting greenhouse gas emissions.
…
Through the combustion of waste that would have otherwise been landfilled, these facilities decrease our reliance on fossil-fuel fired electric generation.
So, once more with feeling, rattle Amy’s cage and let her know that GARBAGE IS NOT RENEWABLE! BURNING GARBAGE IS NOT CLEAN ENERGY! As the MPCA says, BURNING GARBAGE IS MAKING POISON!
or
Washington, DC
302 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
phone: 202-224-3244
fax: 202-228-2186Metro Office
1200 Washington Avenue South, Suite 250
Minneapolis, MN 55415
Main Line: 612-727-5220
Main Fax: 612-727-5223
Toll Free: 1-888-224-9043
MISO’s big transmission plans
March 9th, 2009
Another little birdie said that the MISO meeting to update everyone sitting in queue about their transmission plans was a bust… the good news, from my perspective, is that they don’t seem to be able to promise transmission for wind. Projects are added and drooled over, but there’s always problems and it’s not going anywhere, the same problems exist throughout:
At the meeting, they identified about 7 projects that might be able to make the transmission work from Group 6, one of which is Bent Tree I in Freeborn County. But there’s bad news — it will only require 7 new 345 lines to make these projects work, including a double-circuited 345kV line 345 double-circuit from Lakefield Jct. to Adams, extending the “Split Rock to Lakefield” as I expected since that 2002 SW MN 345kV project. Essentially, they’re doing #9 of the WRAO Report.
So, to recap, they’re talking 7 – 345kV lines, some 765kV lines, they’re talking a SECOND double circuit of the Brookings CapX 2020 line… building massive transmission TO THE EAST COAST!
AAAAAAAAAGH!
When will they understand what NYISO and ISO-NE understand — that there is renewable energy there too — where’s the market? And tranmission is no way to do this, there are better ways. Applies to the Chicago market too:
Michigan looks offshore for energy
By GEORGE WEEKS
Syndicated ColumnistMichigan was the Arsenal of Democracy in the mid-20th century. Gov. Jennifer Granholm strives to make it an arsenal of alternative energy in the early 21st century.
“She wants Michigan to be the leader in every sector of energy,” Stanley “Skip” Pruss, director of the Department of Energy, Labor and Economic Growth, said in a phone interview Friday.
Pruss, former deputy director of the Department of Environmental Quality and an assistant attorney general under Granholm and legendary Frank Kelley, said Michigan could be a “game changer” in wind energy.
He revealed that Wisconsin Gov. James Doyle seeks “a collaborative effort” on generating energy from offshore windmills in Lake Michigan.
Offshore wind has more punch than onshore wind. And the deeper the water, the more the punch, so near-shore is not as potent as far out.
Last week, an extensive examination of the offshore issue in the Traverse City Record-Eagle had this alert: “Nothing’s imminent, but state and environmental regulators are preparing for the possibility that utility developers may want to harness wind power from Lake Michigan and other big lakes.”
Subsequently, seriousness of such offshore preparations was underscored at assorted state forums, including the Michigan Wind Conference in Detroit, where Jennifer Alvarado, executive director of the Great Lakes Renewable Energy Association, sought to “showcase Michigan’s potential in being a major player when it comes to wind energy.”