海角大神

Out across this wind-swept, wheat-growing state, Jeffrey Nelson sees a new crop rising 鈥� electricity from the world鈥檚 largest wind-turbine farms sending electrons thousands of miles east to Chicago or Boston.

But it鈥檚 a vision the South Dakota Wind Energy Association president says will never happen without something far larger, more controversial, and even more expensive: gigantic new high-voltage transmission lines.

Depending on whom you talk to, emerging plans to build 765,000 volt transmission lines to bring power from the 鈥�Saudi Arabia of wind鈥� in the Dakotas to population centers in the Midwest and East Coast are either vital to the nation or a boondoggle waiting to happen.

鈥淭his state has vast resources it can鈥檛 use without building new power lines,鈥� says Mr. Nelson, gesturing at lines on a grid map at the East River Electric Power Cooperative in Madison, where he is manager. 鈥淭hese high-voltage lines are like farm-to-market roads, but instead of wheat, it鈥檚 electricity being transported. We need to think in those terms.鈥�
Many are clearly doing just that.

With political winds blowing toward renewable energy, power-line proposals are popping up to carry wind power around the country. President Obama has said he wants to see renewable wind from the plains help power cities like Chicago. The US Department of Energy last year reported that the nation could harvest 20 percent of its electricity from wind by 2020, much of it by tapping wind energy in places like South Dakota, which boasts the fourth best wind resource in the nation.

But to hook up to that steady 20- to 30-mile-per-hour breeze, the nation will need perhaps 15,000 miles of new transmission lines costing $80 billion, according to a new Joint Coordinated System Plan released Feb. 14, by the Midwest Independent System Operator (MISO), which coordinates regional power distribution.

鈥淭his is information we believe that our leaders need to consider as they begin work under a new administration and start defining our energy future,鈥� John Bear, president of MISO said in a statement.

But grass-roots activists cite not only traditional 鈥渘ot-in-my-back-yard鈥� (NIMBY) concerns about 150-to-200-foot-high towers, but question whether costs can be justified, compared with other renewable choices. As well, they note, such lines could carry far more 鈥渂lack electrons鈥� from coal-fired power plants than green ones from wind.

A case in point involves Titan, which could one day be the largest wind farm in the world located in the middle of South Dakota. The Titan plan for 2,000 wind turbines generating 5,000 megawatts of power caused barely a ripple of media attention when announced last spring. Yet the plan to connect Titan to population centers 鈥� a $12 billion, 3,000鈥搈ile power line dubbed 鈥淕reen Power Express鈥� announced Feb. 9 鈥� produced a gale of public attention among environmentalists.

While confirming that electrons from many types of power generation, including coal, would be carried by the proposed line, the key reason to build it is access to wind power, say company officials for Novi, Mich.-based ITC Holdings, which proposed the new line.

鈥淭he purpose of our plan is to build the infrastructure to where the wind blows most abundantly,鈥� says Lisa Aragon, director of strategic initiatives at ITC. 鈥淎s an independent transmission company, we can鈥檛 favor one type of energy over another. We do favor harnessing the wind for both environmental sustainability and energy security reasons.鈥�

Environmentalist response
But critics have dubbed the new transmission line plan the 鈥淕reen-wash Express鈥� saying it could easily transmit as much or more energy produced by coal-fired power plants in South Dakota as wind energy.

鈥淭here鈥檚 no regulatory jurisdiction over this 鈥榞reen-power鈥� power line, not even a fig leaf that would require it to carry wind power,鈥� says Paula Maccabee, counsel for Citizens Energy Task Force in Minneapolis, a group opposing the line. 鈥淚t鈥檚 name is just a public relations slogan.鈥�

Such plans, however, arrive amid a huge political push to harness wind power as one installment toward lessening US carbon emissions from energy production. President Obama has called for the United States to double renewable energy production in three years and get 25% of the nation's electricity from renewable resources by 2025. The new Obama stimulus plan includes $4 billion for a 鈥淪mart Grid鈥� and new transmission lines.

Add to that the impetus generated as soon as next month when Congress is expected to begin weighing a new national 鈥渞enewable electricity standard鈥� that would require all electric utilities to ensure a portion of their power is from renewable sources. A draft bill before the US Senate calls for at least 20 percent of power from renewable sources by 2021 with gains in energy efficiency permitted to make up a quarter of the total.

Even without federal legislation, however, state mandates in nearly half of all states will require a significant percentage of power to be from renewable sources. In Minnesota, for instance, the state鈥檚 renewable portfolio standard calls for 25 percent renewable power by 2025.

To that end, there is CapX, a joint effort by 11 utilities that own transmission lines in Minnesota and surrounding regions to bring Dakota wind power to their city centers. Yet the new CapX line could one-day carry power transmitted from Big Stone II, a coal-fired power plant in South Dakota, documents show. And that has Jeremy Chipps, who lives near Lacrescent, Minn., where the line would run, up in arms to fight it.

Efficiency, cost, environmental concerns, and national security are Mr. Chipps鈥檚 talking points. Beside transmission line losses, the cost and potential of such lines as a terrorist target point to the need for more localized renewable power generation such as solar panels and local wind turbines, he says. And then there鈥檚 the coal-power carried on the lines.

鈥淚t really is time to deploy an energy production and smart-grid systems that are much safer, more intelligent, and much more efficient,鈥� Chipps says. 鈥淚f we do this, we won鈥檛 need massive, costly networks of new transmission lines.鈥�

Who will pay for the lines?
Transmission costs traditionally end up paid for by rate-payers in the states that the lines cross. The Green Power Express, for instance, would cross seven states, each with its own siting requirements and ways of allocating who pays. So, how will South Dakotans feel if they end up paying higher electric rates for lines serving other states?

鈥淭o what extent do [rate-payers] have an appetite for increasing utility bills?鈥� asks Dusty Johnson, chairman of the South Dakota Public Utility Commission. 鈥淭here are some very significant geopolitical concerns when people start talking about multibillion [dollar] transmission projects.鈥�

He agrees with Chipps that there is a 鈥渢echnological risk鈥� and danger in investing in costly lines that might not be needed in the future.

鈥淚f it ends up being more cost effective for everyone to have small wind turbines in their backyard and solar panels on their roads, do we need these lines?鈥� he asks. 鈥淚 think we do. But such investments are not without risk.鈥�

Other experts have concerns, too. Before the MISO report came out, Gordon van Welie of ISO New England and Stephen Whitley, president of New York Independent System Operator 鈥� grid operators for much of the East Coast 鈥� issued a pointed dissent from the MISO plan.

鈥淯ntil additional scenarios that include the development of local resources are analyzed, we do not believe any single transmission plan can be presented as a solution to the integration of additional renewable energy resources in the United States,鈥� the men wrote in a Feb. 4 letter.

Given the renewable development, energy efficiency, and likelihood of new ties to Canada, the need to construct long transmission lines to the Midwest 鈥渨ould likely be reduced and in turn overall transmission costs may be lower,鈥� the system operators wrote.

Where to put the lines?
Even in the middle of wide open spaces, power line towers and wind turbines can reduce the area available to farm. Closer to urban areas, 150-200 foot towers spoiling the view and noise from crackling power lines can provoke local resistance that can delay construction for years.

鈥淲e鈥檙e advocating a streamlined process,鈥� ITC鈥檚 Ms. Aragon says. 鈥淚n many states there is no defined time for how long siting can go on.... If siting can鈥檛 be completed in the current [state] model, we may need to move to a federal siting process.鈥�

Under federal law, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has designated several 鈥渘ational corridors鈥� for power lines on the East and West coasts. It could designate others. If states can鈥檛 complete siting on power lines within the corridors, FERC can override states.

But there is also growing sentiment that FERC should not have the broad transmission siting authority granted under the Energy Policy Act of 2005.

Not surprisingly, parks-advocacy groups and others are furious at utility plans to build transmission lines near national parks and heritage sites like the Appalachian Trail and civil war battlefields. As many as 14 restive US senators reportedly agree and are poised to fight FERC authority. Those votes could be critical in any future battle over transmission lines.

Yet proponents of transmission lines say there鈥檚 not much question they will be built 鈥� only where, and who will pay.

鈥淚t will be critical for the federal and state government to provide some form of expedited regulatory approval, additional financial incentives and tax relief for new interstate transmission projects,鈥� writes John Lamb, president of Clipper Windpower Development, developer of the Titan plan in an e-mail.

Out in South Dakota, the PUC鈥檚 Mr. Johnson is inclined to agree.

鈥淲e need a lot more transmission,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 hard in Washington to divvy up money according to merit and not politics. But if they do it on merit, South Dakota is going to do very well. We鈥檝e got the wind.鈥�

[Clarification: The proposed CapX transmission line mentioned above will not connect directly to the Big Stone II coal-fired power plant, as originally stated, but is expected to eventually carry power transmitted to it over a separate line from the plant.]