Wind Today - Q4 2008 - (Page 33) creates a challenge now with markets that allow power to be moved across Wind American Wind state lines. Association Energy Association When a state public Str treet, 1501 M Street, NW utilities commmission Suite 1000 considers the feasibility of Washington, DC building a new transmis20005 sion line they do a cost/ 202-383-2500 benefit analysis and may www.a .aw www.awea.org only look at the benefits that will accrue to people in their state. A more efficient and cost effective plan that would benefit more people in a region and even the entire country may not be considered. Siting authority also presents a similar challenge. It would be helpful for states to work together, setting up a regulatory framework to build lines that benefit all of them. Pa Who Pays These lines pay for themselves. Consumers get much lower electric rates when utilities can access renewable energy from areas that can produce power more efficiently at a reduced cost. There are billions of dollars in consumer benefits from building a better grid. People are willing to pay for building new transmission if they can find a way to capture those benefits. We need to set up regulatory structures that internalize those benefits. Integration Other Integration Issues Once we have a more integrated transmission grid, we can have larger, more efficient balancing areas. Right now, power generators across the country adjust output to keep track with changes in demand. There will be even more of these variations as resources like wind or solar are put on the grid. Integrating these areas would save money in operations and help smooth out the variablity of the resources by providing more access to power plants that can increase and decrease their output. Listen to a podcast of Michael Goggin’s interview at www.windtoday.net/articles/-66584.html Response No. 331 33 http://www.awea.org http://www.awea.org http://www.windtoday.net/articles/-66584.html http://xmap.com/wind http://xmap.com/wind
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