Key barrier seen to 'green' power
Jun 18 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Steve Tetreault Las Vegas
Review-Journal
The dearth of power lines in remote areas where the wind blows hardest and
the sun shines brightest stands as a major barrier to the nation's use of
renewable energy, a Senate committee was told on Tuesday.
A handful of states, including Texas, Minnesota, California and Colorado,
and a committee organized by Western governors, is actively planning
improvements to transmit electricity generated by solar, wind, geothermal
and other natural sources.
But witnesses told the Senate energy committee that building transmission
lines is costly and lengthy. The federal government can do more to resolve
problems with federal siting and permitting, and with loan guarantees and
allocating the costs of power line projects.
The Energy Department in a report last month said wind energy alone could
supply 20 percent of the nation's electricity needs by 2030 but transmitting
power to where it is needed would be an obstacle.
Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., used the hearing to promote a bill to finance
construction of transmission systems that would be dedicated in large part
to geothermal, solar, wind and other renewable sources.
The bill written last September is an outgrowth of Reid's campaign to
discourage Sierra Pacific Resources and other generators from building
coal-fired power plants in eastern Nevada.
The 1,500 megawatt Ely Energy Center planned by Sierra Pacific Resources
includes a 250-mile transmission line reaching south to Nevada Power and its
customers in Las Vegas and north to Sierra Pacific Power in Reno.
Utility executives have said the transmission corridor makes sense only if
coal-generated power is the main part of the traffic. Reid took aim at that
during his testimony.
"Utility executives like to say that we can't afford to build transmission
lines that carry only or mainly renewably generated electricity," Reid said.
"They like to say it just doesn't pencil out.
"But if they say that, I just don't think they've really tried very hard or
very seriously to crunch the numbers," he said. "Cost is an issue but it is
not an excuse for inaction."
The Reid bill would designate zones with potential to generate at least
1,000 megawatts of electricity from renewables and then provide companies
with financing to build hookups and transmission lines into the power grid.
If no private companies invested within two years, the government would have
$10 billion in bonding authority to finance the transmission lines, which
would be required to carry at least 75 percent of their load from renewables,
he said.
"The federal government has to add its weight and support to help convince
the pencil pushers of the necessity and cost-effectiveness of investing in
renewables." Reid said. |