Earth Day began as a simple idea from a student named Dennis Hayes. With the support of Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin and Congressman Pete McCloskey of California, Dennis Hayes' simple idea transformed in to a huge movement. Together, they organized the first Earth Day in 1970 where approximately 20 million Americans rallied together to bring attention to air and water pollution and to build support for a healthy, sustainable environment. Today, hundreds of millions of people in over 7,000 cities and 150 countries will participate in Earth Day to show their support for a cleaner environment. A simple idea turned into a global movement.
 

It’s been a busy start of 2013 for the Grain Belt Express Clean Line team. We have much to report about development efforts over the past several months, and we’d also like to take this opportunity to thank you for your continued engagement in the process. We value public involvement every step of the way and remain committed to developing the project in an open and transparent manner.

Lawrence Berkeley National Lab recently released a report called “Revisiting the Long-Term Hedge Value of Wind Power in an Era of Low Natural Gas Prices.”

Plains & Eastern Clean Line - Clean and Afrodable Energy for the Mid-South and Southeast

To learn more about the Rock Island Clean Line, visit www.rockislandcleanline.com

Bloomberg analysts highlight in a recently released fact book on the clean energy industry that the U.S. power generation is rapidly shifting towards renewable energy due to the reductions in the costs of renewables. Clean Line Energy believes that adding wind energy to the power mix reduces electricity prices, helps prevent future price shocks, and makes the energy market more competitive. Across regions, wind power production costs are dropping and the savings are passed on to consumers. We have created a handout to highlight the cost-effectiveness of wind energy in the electric grid.

This week, the Grain Belt Express Clean Line team was in Kansas meeting with over 150 local vendors and potential suppliers to the Grain Belt Express Clean Line project. Clean Line Energy is committed to using local and in-state contractors, service providers, and materials from the project area states whenever possible during the construction of our projects. The Grain Belt Express Clean Line team will be back in Kansas again from January 29 – February 1st to host public open house meetings in Kansas.

We are delighted to announce that National Grid, one of the largest investor-owned energy companies in the world, will be making a $40 million equity investment in Clean Line Energy. Clean Line is working hard to prove out the thesis that the development of long distance direct current transmission projects are a much needed addition to the U.S. electric grid, and having an investor of National Grid’s caliber will help us take another step forward in building the right infrastructure for the 21st century. 

Businesses and consumers in the Southeast have a growing appetite for low-cost clean energy. The Southeast’s largest energy provider, Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), which provides power to nearly all of Tennessee and other Southeastern states, is now importing wind from eight wind farms in the Midwest. Alabama Power, a subsidiary of Atlanta-based Southern Company, last year made one of the largest wind purchases ever from producers in Oklahoma. Leaders in government and the private sector will come together today to discuss the energy future of the Southeast; the current status of transmission planning in the region; and the potential for renewable energy in Tennessee

In this current era of lengthy environmental regulations, it is hard to imagine a brief policy being passed by Congress. But the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA, achieved sweeping reform in barely three pages. While it is clear that the authors intended to bring environmental issues into national focus, they could not have predicted that their little-noticed bill, aimed at federal government actions, would also give a voice to the budding conservation movement and lay the groundwork for best practices in project planning.

Today, GreenTech Media published my response to a column by Sam Maslin on “The California Transmission Upgrade Debacle.” 

This week, I had the chance to travel with the Rock Island Clean Line team across the state of Iowa for local business open house meetings. The Rock Island Clean Line held over six meetings in Sioux City, Fort Dodge, Des Moines, Waterloo, Cedar Rapids and Davenport.  It was great to talk to potential suppliers and contractors about the Rock Island Clean Line transmission line project, and learn more about their capabilities.

Transmission Hub and WIRES joined forces to host Reshaping the Western Grid: Overcoming Key Transmission Issues, a four-part free webcast series.  Topics covered have included compliance with FERC Order No. 1000, planning and cost allocations, advanced technology, renewables integration, permitting, project risk management, and much more.  Clean Line employees Keith Sparks Dave Berry participated in the webcasts.

Deral Danis and I attended the 2012 IEEE PES (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Power and Energy Society) General Meeting in San Diego, CA.  The conference was attended by over 3,000 industry and academic professionals from around the world and always provides a great venue for interacting various utility engineers and executives as well as a chance to see where the latest and greatest research is headed.  The conference also features a fairly intensive student program for graduate and undergraduate engineering students to attract interest to the power and energy engineering field.

Yesterday, my op-ed debunking the myths surrounding wind energy was featured in The National Review Online. The article responds to Robert Bryce’s NRO piece, “Economists Without Calculators.” I labeled Mr. Bryce’s piece as “yet another of his recycled, questionable diatribes on the wind power industry.”

So, you want to know more about FERC Order No. 1000 and how it will affect the merchant segment of the transmission industry .  When it first came out, Clean Line wanted to know if Order No. 1000 would usher in a new wave of transmission development or, at a more basic level, would make what we’re doing easier. 
 

Today, we are faced with a similar challenge.  Clean energy is essential to fuel our economy and keep it moving forward.  The lowest cost alternative is land-based wind from the Plains states of the United States.  The most effective means of moving large amounts of electric energy over long distances is through direct current (DC) technology.

This is an incredibly exciting time to be developing infrastructure projects. We have had a good month, with Oklahoma stepping out...