concerns that if you did deliver this wind to the ERCOT grid there would be some overloads to ERCOT systems,” Crowder said. “There needed to be ERCOT upgrades to accommodate the wind.”
Crowder said he sees ETT’s and Sharyland’s proposed transmission projects as being complimentary to one another. Given there close proximity, he sees several potential points at which the two projects would interconnect.
Crowder calls the third phase of ETT’s proposal a “visionary plan” to build an extra-high-voltage transmission system. This long-rage phase is estimated to cost $4 billion but is conceptual and could change significantly, according to ETT. The third phase is less about spreading wind around ERCOT and more about the long-range stability of Texas transmission.
“Planning must begin now to ensure
the future viability of the ERCOT grid,” Crowder said.
ETT is currently a subsidiary of AEP but is awaiting regulatory approval to become a 50/50 joint venture between AEP and MidAmerican Energy Holdings. ETT would then operate as a regulated transmission utility in Texas.
Completing the “big, bigger, biggest” triumvirate of Texas energy news is the proposed buyout of TXU Corp. The buyout, like Sharyland’s and ETT’s transmission plans, has a decidedly eco-friendly, green bent to it.
Announced in late February, the buyout would break TXU into three separate businesses (generation, T&D and retail), scrap eight coal-fired generation projects and carry with it $400
million in demand-side management investment. The emphasis on reducing coal-fired generation and increasing investment in renewables and demand-side management won the buyout an endorsement by Environmental Defense and Natural Resources Defense Council—two unlikely proponents of multi-billion-dollar energy deals.
With TXU, AEP, MidAmerican and KKR, the original “barbarian at the gate” all behind this flood of early-2007 news, Texas, a state better know for oil and gas tycoons, may have set itself up as the epicenter of green power in the U.S. ❮❮
Go to www.elp.com and click on the Currents Podcast button for more about Texas’ big transmission plans. Episode 5 of Currents includes more from Pat Wood and Calvin Crowder.
Electric Light & Power & Utility Automation & Engineering Webcasts
FILENET AN IBM COMPANY PRESENTS
A Real Case Study - Connecting the Remote Worker Join this live webcast to hear about how Consolidated Edison (Con Edison) is providing field-based construction inspectors real-time access to content managed on corporate systems via mobile offices, using an IBM FileNet ECM system. Wireless computers allow inspectors to update documents, drawings, project progress reports and more while still in the field, ensuring that all content is accurate and up-to-date. And regardless of whether it is being retrieved from the main office or a remote location, onsite or offsite, the data is available immediately to help keep projects on schedule.
During this 60 minute event, you will learn more about:
• Trends in Energy & Utilities Technology - what’s driving changes?
(Steve Brown, Penn Well Publishing)
• How Con Edison transformed the way their mobile workers get their job done.
(Denis Smalley, Con Edison)
• The role of IBM FileNet in the Con Edison transformation (Dr. David Shipman, IBM)
Date: March 29, 2007 Time: 1:OO PM EST
Go to http://uae.hotims.com for more information.
Log on to http://uaelp.pennnet.com and click “webcasts” to register.
References:
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