Nacel Energy Corp (NCEN)

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NEW ENERGY WIRES, THE PLAN

Monday, February 23, 2009

The American Society of Civil Engineers gave the U.S. transmission infrastructure a D+. That’s the transmission infrastructure on which President Obama wants to double U.S. New Energy capacity. Think about that next time the lights flicker.

Former CIA Direction R. James Woolsey recently observed that it would be very challenging to INTENTIONALLY design a transmission system as brittle and vulnerable as the present U.S. transmission system. That’s the transmission system Silicon Valley’s ambitious information technology mavens want to make much smarter. Think about that next time there's a blackout somewhere that takes days to rectify.

There are almost 300,000 megawatts of wind projects waiting for access to the national grid. In California, 13,000 megawatts of solar power plants are waiting to connect. Think about that next time a threat of rolling brownouts is announced.

The New Energy industries are pushing for a whole new approach to transmission. Green Power Superhighways: Building a Path to America’s Clean Energy Future describes what they want and need. (For a recent assessment of an opposing point of view, see DOES BIG NEW ENERGY NEED BIG NEW TRANSMISSION?)

New Energy industry leaders are not calling for specific legislation. They’re not demanding specific sites. This is what American Wind Energy Association CEO Denise Bode called “a vision statement” focusing on 3 points: (1) More national planning, (2) more local and regional interconnection planning, and (3) a fair way to share costs and benefits.

... http://newenergynews.blogspot.com/2009/02/new-energy-wires-plan.html