Wind, solar stuck in transmission.

• Author: Best, Allen
• Position: ENERGY - Conference news

Wind and other renewable resources tend to be located distant from cities and other major markets. But getting the electricity there will not be easy.

Jurisdiction over long-distance transmission lines remains localized, financing is problematic, and environmental reviews can be thorny, said speakers at CLE International's Renewable Energy Transmission, a conference held in Denver during March.

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Utilities say that building a wind or solar farm remains far easier than getting the electricity to consumers.

The High Plains Express, for example, has been under conceptual development for several years. It would collect afternoon wind energy north of Cheyenne, Wyo., then sweep southward down across the wind-rich eastern plains of Colorado. Either one or two lines--the configuration remains unclear--would then continue south to Albuquerque, then west to Phoenix, picking up more wind and solar energy along the way.

Studies have shown that variable sources of renewable energy tend to balance each other over longer lengths. Transmission planners estimate the first phase of the High Plains Express would cost $5 billion.

Colorado's two largest electrical providers, Xcel Energy and Tri-State Generation and Transmission, are among the 11 partners.

Even within Colorado, building transmission capacity poses many issues: What's to prevent one county or even one landowner from blocking the line, as is currently the case involving a proposed line across La Veta Pass, between Alamosa and Walsenberg?

Mark Safty, a lawyer from Holland & Hart LLP, said Colorado has not fully addressed the legal framework for condemnation to allow erection of high-voltage electrical transmission. Proponents of renewable energy also see the need to spread the cost more broadly, such as is allowed in Texas.

Most analysis of transmission argues for a more assertive federal role in transmission planning similar to that used to create interstate highways.

"It should not take 10 to 15 years to site a transmission line," said Jeremy Turner, executive director of the New Mexico Renewable Energy Transmission Authority. He predicts construction of the High Plains Express in five to seven years.

The rebuilt electrical grid, however, will operate more smartly, said...