The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has granted approval for the construction of the Plains and Eastern Clean Line wind power transmission cable. The 800 mile line will provide a high voltage direct current transmission for electricity generated by wind farms in western Oklahoma, southwest Kansas, and the Texas Panhandle, to customers in the Mid-South and Southeast.
Now that approval has been granted the company behind the transmission line can start to look for customers to build wind farms and make use of the new cable. The existing electrical grid is not equipped to efficiently transmit renewable power sources. The line has a capacity of 7,000MW and will be developed in two project of 3,500MW, the first of which is already underway, and will be completed in late 2017, with the associated wind farms being installed from start to finish in just two years.
It is estimated that the entire project will create 10,000 jobs, be able to provide generate enough energy to power two million homes, and save 400 billion gallons of water annually, which would have been used had thermal power plants been developed instead of wind farms.
By. Joao Peixe of Oilprice.com
Joao is a writer for Oilprice.com More