Unique Electricity Transmission Mega Hub Tres Amigas to Facilitate Green Energy through Creation of US Super Grid

Tres Amigas LLC is a company that is building the first of its kind Electricity Transmission Mega Hub in New Mexico.This Smart Grid Hub will be spread out over an area of 22.5 sq. miles and unite the 3 main US grids through Interconnection.The Western,Eastern and Texas Interconnection will be United through a Massive 5 GW Superconducting Cable.The Superconducting Technology will be supplied by American Superconductor (AMSC) which has developed a Low Energy Loss Transmission Technology.This project is estimated to cost about $1 Billion and has already received preliminary approval from US regulator FERC.Note a Large Interconnected Grid is a necessity for the large scale deployment of  Green Energy.Unlike Fossil Fuel Energy Sources which can produce power 24/7,Renewable Energy forms like Solar and Wind are intermittent in nature.For a large scale deployment of intermittent sources a larger consumption catchment is a prerequisite.A Recent Study by DOE had said that USA could accommodates 35% of  Electricity from Solar and Wind Sources (up from current 3%) without any radical change.For this an interconnected SuperGrid will play an important role as  Wind Power in Texas and  Solar Power in US Southwest is transmitted to Large Energy Consuming Centers in the US.

The Tres Amigas Facility will be the first of  its kind in the world and would be profitable allowing sale of power between the Three Grids.This unique initiative has received support from numerous stakeholders like utilities,transmission operators,Green Energy Suppliers etc.Extreme Power has been selected to provide Energy Storage Facilities and Energy Management Technology for this project.If this project gets built it will lead to the building of similar such facilities in the rest of the world and be a big boon in the quest of Mass Adoption of Green Energy.This Project certainly seems to deserves a DOE Grant much more than the Billion Dollar Loans to Abengoa and Solyndra.

Xtreme Power to supply proposed U.S. grid connector – CNet

Xtreme Power announced Wednesday its PowerCell energy storage and Dynamic Power Resources energy management system will be used in what could be the most significant transmission station in the U.S. electric grid.

In March, Tres Amigas got approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to offer transmission services at negotiated rates across the three main arteries of the U.S. electrical grid. The agency is now considering allowing it to build and connect a mega-hub based in Clovis, N.M.

“This project, which is the first of its kind, will allow customers to trade power across the interconnections and to take advantage of opportunities to buy lower cost power from other regions. It may also open a new transmission path for customers interested in tapping the vast renewable energy potential in many parts of the country–Texas, the Southwest, the West and Northwest, the Southeast and the offshore Atlantic,” Wellinghoff said in a statement from a hearing.

The station would also make use of direct current superconductor power cables buried underground that will be powered by American Superconductor high-temperature superconductor wire and high-powered voltage-source AC/DC power converters. American Superconductor had said that using underground superconductor cables greatly reduces the loss of energy during transmission compared to existing overhead power lines.

U.S. power grid could tap more wind, solar: study – Reuters

Large amounts of solar and wind power could be added to the western U.S. power grid without significant spending if utilities make operational changes, the U.S. Department of Energy said on Thursday.

The DOE report, conducted by the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) over a 3-year period, focused on how the WestConnect power grid would respond if 35 percent of its electricity was generated by renewable sources.

The results, researchers said, were surprising.

“You need to make some significant changes to operational practice to accommodate wind and solar, but you don’t need a whole lot of additional infrastructure to handle that,” said Debbie Lew, a senior project manager at NREL.

Wind and solar power together make up less than 3 percent of the total U.S. power generation, but both are growing rapidly amid a range of state and federal incentives.