Where's the energy going to come from to make pure hydrogen ? The Other Electricity Crisis: Transmission Lines
Over the next five or six years, if all goes according to plan,
there should be enough electricity to provide plenty of power
for every American.
But with all the generating capacity, will electricity actually
reach everyone who needs it?
The answer lies in transmission lines - those long, saggy
cables strung between ungainly steel towers. They're part of
the electricity superhighway that sends kilowatts flowing
from places that welcome power plants to those that don't.
And, unsettlingly, these lines are becoming congested,
pushed to their limits, close to burning out during peak
periods.
"It's probably the most vulnerable part of the system, if not
the most important part of the system, and the one that
people pay the least amount of attention to," says Thomas
Kuhn, president of Edison Electric Institute (EEI), a trade
group in Washington.
But building new transmission lines to ease the strain is not
an easy task. People who live near proposed corridors for
new towers, often joined by local environmental groups,
have become effective at delaying or rerouting new lines.
Landowners complain about lost property values and
question whether the lines cause health problems. To some
environmentalists, the steel towers can be an eyesore,
ruining a mountain trail. MEGAWATT CENTRAL: High-voltage
transmission lines near Buttonwillow, Calif., carry power
through the state's Central Valley to homes and businesses
in southern California.
ROBERT HARBISON - STAFF
The tensions have not gone unnoticed in Washington. Sen.
Frank Murkowski (R) of Alaska, chairman of the Energy
Committee, is considering provisions to speed the siting of
transmission lines. It's not yet clear if he'll proceed because
of the potential controversy over such legislation, Senate
sources say.
The siting controversy is heating up even as the lines are
increasingly used to transfer power among regions. In just
five years, power sales from one region to another jumped
from 25,000 transactions to more than 2 million, according
to EEI.
"The system was never designed for that," says Mr. Kuhn.
But building new transmission lines just to move power from
one part of the country to another is a sensitive issue,
particularly among landowners. Indeed, local objections
have forced many power companies, including American
Electric Power (AEP) Co. in Columbus, Ohio, to alter their
plans.
When AEP said in 1990 it wanted to build a major new line
from West Virginia to western Virginia, it knew getting
approval would be arduous. The new line would cross the
Appalachian Trail several times, as well as the New River - a
route that would require approval from two state regulatory
commissions and three federal agencies.
But more than tangling with the bureaucracy, AEP was also
fighting an aroused local populace. One key objection was
that power transmitted over the new line would not be used
locally, but sold for use as far away as eastern Virginia or
North Carolina.
"The transmission line would ruin landscape and property
values," says William Dougherty, president of FORCE
(Friends of Regional Culture and Environment), the local
group that sprang up to fight AEP's proposal.
Eleven years later, the company has shortened the route,
eliminating some regulatory hurdles. Even FORCE has
grudgingly accepted that something will be built. "Keeping it
short will help," says Mr. Dougherty.
The process, though, has consumed more time and money
than AEP expected. The plan had called for the line to be in
place by 1998. Now AEP hopes to have the juice flowing by
2005 - at a cost of $283 million, up $83 million from the
original price tag.
Meanwhile, to cope with rising demand, AEP has installed
load-shedding equipment that will let it institute rotating
blackouts to protect its system. "The lesson you learn is you
have to keep pace with demand - look at California," says
spokesman Todd Burns.
In fact, transmission capacity is a serious problem for
California. As part of a utility bailout deal, the state may take
over 32,000 miles of wire - even though some reports show
as much as $1 billion may be needed to upgrade the lines.
In particular, five power bottlenecks need to be corrected,
according to the California Independent System Operator
(ISO). One example: At transmission lines between Los
Banos and Gates (outside of Bakersfield), three 500,000-volt
lines are constricted into two lines - the equivalent of making
a three-lane highway into two lanes at rush hour. On both
days last month when California experienced rotating
blackouts, these lines were operating at capacity.
"When we took control of the system, it was one of our
biggest issues," says Lisa Szot, an ISO spokeswoman.
In this case, environmental groups are not protesting. "It's
fairly short and an area not likely to create a lot of
disturbance except on some agricultural lands," says Rich
Ferguson, director of energy programs for the Sierra Club,
based in San Francisco. He says the club is not opposed to
transmission lines per se, but looks at them on a
project-by-project basis.
"We'd like to see better use of wind power in the Dakotas -
and if that means more transmission lines to supply
Chicago or Detroit, we might support it," he says.
Some states are net importers, relying on surrounding
states for power.
That's the case with Wisconsin, which imports about 15
percent of its power during peak periods. Demand continues
to grow at almost 5 percent annually in urban areas, says
Larry Borgard, vice president for transmission at Wisconsin
Public Service. Until new plants are built, electricity to meet
that demand must flow over congested wires.
To prevent blackouts, WPS and Allete (formerly Minnesota
Power) hope to upgrade the connection to Minnesota at a
cost of $175 million. The company plans to complete the
new line in 2004.
Wisconsin may be in the vanguard of electricity
transmission. Last year, the local utilities spun off the
transmission assets into a new company, American
Transmission Co., which now controls 6,000 miles of wire
and 500 substations. It's hoping to make money not only
providing Wisconsin with power but also shuttling electricity
from power generators in South Dakota to energy
consumers in New York.
"It's up to us to make it a business," says Jose Delgado, the
president. "If we're successful, it will show Congress and
other utilities that divestiture should take place." For further
information:
Power and the people Salon Calif. Power Crisis May
Become National Mess Electricity Deregulation: The Issue
Center for Responsive Politics Energyland
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ogj.pennnet.com. ... original report
Here's a link to a better look of the PRODUCTION SOLID OXIDE FUEL CELL a.p.u., thanks to SH poster jbgood 23 (isn't that scotch whiskey?)
stockhouse.com. ... nice picture
Here's a link to GLE's pdf file for last years annual report, and a description of their work ...
globalte.com
Here's a pdf link to Delphi Automotive detailed description of their work with Global Thermoelectric
Development of SOFC stack, written on the bottom page 5 of an official Delphi Automotive pdf file titled ...
Solid-Oxide Fuel Cell Auxiliary Power Unit; a Paradigm Shift in Electric Supply for Transportation (2000)
James Zizelman and Dr. Jean Botti of Delphi Automotive Systems and Joachim Tachtler and Wolfgang Strobl of the BMW
Group
delphiauto.com ... original complete report
Here's a link to GLE's next scheduled tradeshow appearance ...
NACE CONFERENCES and EXPOS
The World's Leading Resource on Corrosion Control
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CORROSION/2001, NACE International's annual conference will be held
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A featured attraction every year, is the NACExpo , which is an assembly of
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Corrosion Prevention and Control Worldwide ... nace.org
point of interest ;
the gas and oil industry has made incredible progress in the transmission and point of use distribution of hydrocarbon fuels. In most cases the pipelines can be buried underground out of sight, with proper construction and maintenance they can safely do the job for a very long time. The changeover to pure hydrogen is not on the horizon for this century, if ever. |
