$$$ TO TRANSCONTINENTAL WIRE HOOKUP

Tres Amigas Announces $12 Million Investment from Mitsui & Co., Ltd.; Smart Green Information Technology and Renewables to be Focus
December 27, 2011 (Business Wire)

"…[T]he U.S.-based national grid interconnection project known as the Tres Amigas SuperStation, announced…Mitsui & Co., Ltd., a global trading, IT and industrial infrastructure services company, has agreed to invest $12 million. In exchange, Mitsui will obtain an equity position and…further internationalize their…Smart Grid IT, renewable energy development and management, and CO2 emissions mitigation strategies.

"The SuperStation project represents, in essence, the world’s first high capacity 'Renewable Energy Hub,' although trading of conventional sources of electricity will be accommodated, too. This first-of-its-kind power transmission hub is designed to interconnect America’s three primary electricity grids, the Eastern (Southwest Power Pool), Western (Western Electricity Coordinating Council) and Texas (Electric Reliability Council of Texas) networks by utilizing information technology…"

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"…Coordinated via market-based dispatch through the Tres Amigas SuperStation…the new strategy will allow customers to purchase a reliable portfolio of power with the largest possible component of solar and wind power. The clean generating capacities and the needs of varying regions, including the state’s renewable portfolio standard requirements, will have more opportunities to be accommodated.

"The buildout of the $1.5 billion SuperStation is expected to occur in stages. Engineering design for Phase I is well underway, with construction scheduled to commence in 2012, and Phase I commercial operations scheduled for 2015. The initial power transfer capacity will be 750 MW between the Western and Eastern grids…[allowing] energy producers and marketers…to transfer sizable blocks of power from region to region. Energy purchasers will also have access to regions heretofore inaccessible…In addition to improving the reliability, efficiency and economics of the nation’s separate grids, the SuperStation will provide value-added services and larger market opportunities to intermittent power sources such as wind, solar, geothermal and storage…"