A NATIONAL TRANSMISSION SYSTEM EMERGING

Ameren, others prepare grid for wind energy

Jacob Barker, March 8, 2015 (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)

“…[U]tilities and independent transmission developers are investing…billions of dollars in the nation’s grid…Regulators and experts say the higher returns are necessary to prepare the grid for a coming build-out of wind power in the sparsely populated Great Plains that is wired to urban areas…[W]ind energy, as well as solar energy from the desert Southwest, will become even more important if President Barack Obama’s plan to cut carbon emissions becomes a reality. Experts say a more resilient grid will be needed to both transport renewable energy and accommodate changes brought on by the closing of coal-fired power plants…The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which regulates electricity transmission…[is holding talks on reliability risks to the grid due to changes…[After it] offered higher profit rates to utilities to spur them to invest more...new transmission investment increased fivefold from 1997 through 2012, to a total of $14.1 billion…The bigger issue for getting the grid ready for the future of energy production may be the same problem that has always dogged it: It takes a long time, and residents don’t like the high-voltage power lines running through their backyards and farm fields…” click here for more

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