Texas To Build $4.93B Wind-Power Project 250
Hugh Pickens points out a story in the NYTimes about Texas' $4.93 billion wind-power transmission project. One of the major goals of the project is to improve electrical throughput to the population centers. Current transmission lines are unable to handle all of the power generated by Texas' wind fields. State citizens will be paying slightly more to help cover the cost, though the project is expected to eventually lower the cost to consumers. Quoting:
"The lines can handle 18,500 megawatts of power, enough for 3.7 million homes on a hot day when air-conditioners are running. 'The project will ease a bottleneck that has become a major obstacle to development of the wind-rich Texas Panhandle and other areas suitable for wind generation. The lack of transmission has been a fundamental issue in Texas, and it's becoming more and more of an issue elsewhere,' said Vanessa Kellogg, the Southwest regional development director for Horizon Wind Energy, which operates the Lone Star Wind Farm in West Texas and has more wind generation under development. 'This is a great step in the right direction.'"
Re:Whatever happened to orbital solar panels (Score:2, Funny)
...an old staple of science fiction. Why haven't these come to fruition?
I think you just answered your own question.
...an old staple of science fiction. (Score:3, Funny)
Well, if we are going to SciFi power sources, then I perfer to hold out for fusion (hot or cold), or perhaps a device that sucks out all of the static electricity in the atmosphere and harnesses that.
Re:Whatever happened to orbital solar panels (Score:1, Funny)
My first impulse was to be a grammer nazi, but I refrained ;-).
It's funny that you would mention that, because my first impulse was to be a spelling nazi.
Number crunching (Score:2, Funny)
As we're talking about Texas here, can somebody convert that into a unit its governors will understand — i.e., number of electric chair activations?
Re:Whatever happened to orbital solar panels (Score:3, Funny)
Not if all that heat/light is collected and converted into electricity!
My Diabolical Plan (Score:3, Funny)
1. Become T. Boone Pickens.
2. Purchase controlling interest in the companies that build and service windmill generators.
3. Persuade government to foot the bill for installing thousands of said expensive windmill generators in open areas of Texas.
4. Snicker behind my hand as I realize that Texas gets every bit as many tornadoes as the so-called "Tornado Alley".
5. ???
6. PROFIT!
Re:Something to keep in mind (Score:3, Funny)
see what a deregulated energy market combined with smart energy traders can come up with.
Enron. The smartest guys in the room.