October 15, 2006
New York
New York
The recent dedication of Maple Ridge Wind Farm in Lewis County and the fifth-anniversary celebration at Fenner Windpower Project in Madison County nearly coincided with a warning from National Grid that we had better beef up our transmission networks if we want keep building wind power.
Grid recently issued a 26-page white paper called “Transmission and Wind Energy” in which it warns that the nation will need additional transmission infrastructure to accommodate new-generation sources such as wind farms.
Regional planning to integrate wind and other renewable generation into the existing grid is of the utmost importance, the company said.
“Transmission is the essential infrastructure needed to facilitate access to new generation sources such as wind power,” Masheed Saidi, National Grid senior vice president for U.S. transmission, said in a prepared statement. “If U.S. policymakers and customers want to tap the potential benefits of the nation’s renewable resources, including wind, policies must be established to facilitate the integration of these resources into the electric grid reliably and cost-effectively.”
Grid notes that the problems are not insurmountable. Several European countries have tackled transmission issues associated with wind power and could serve as examples for the United States.
Staff writer Tim Knauss reports on energy and telecommunications for The Post-Standard. To contact him, call 470-3023, fax 470-2142 or send e-mail to tknauss@syracuse.com
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2006/10/15/wind-and-power-lines/