Sharing Wind And Sun In The West

How to Get Wyoming Wind to California, and Cut 80% of U.S. Carbon Emissions; High-voltage direct-current transmission lines hold the key to slashing greenhouse gases.

James Temple, December 28, 2017 (MIT Technology Review) “…Once complete, the [1,000 turbine Chokecherry and Sierra Madre wind project] could generate around 12 million megawatt-hours of electricity annually, making it the nation’s largest wind farm…[The developer also hopes to build the TransWest Express Transmission Project, a 730-mile, $3 billion, high-voltage direct-current transmission line to deliver] as much as 3,000 megawatts of Wyoming wind power to the electricity markets of California, Nevada, and Arizona. With the right deals in place, the transmission line could deliver solar-generated electricity back as well, balancing Wyoming’s powerful late-afternoon winds with California’s bright daytime sun…[Transmission isn’t sexy but a growing body of studies conclude that the time-consuming, expensive] building out a nationwide network of DC transmission lines could hold the key to enabling renewable sources to supplant the majority of U.S. energy generation, offering perhaps the fastest, cheapest, and most efficient way of slashing greenhouse-gas emissions…” click here for more

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