Wind power blows through the Midwest

This week, ITC Holdings, Novi, Mich., began a major electricity transmission project that will bring renewable energy from sparsely populated, wind-rich areas to heavily populated urban areas like Chicago and Minneapolis.

By Source: GreenBiz.com February 13, 2009

According to GreenBiz.com , this week ITC Holdings, Novi, Mich., began a major electricity transmission project that will bring renewable energy from sparsely populated, wind-rich areas to heavily populated urban areas like Chicago and Minneapolis. The “Green Power Express” will transmit 12,000 MW of power through transmission lines from wind farms in North and South Dakota, Minnesota, and Iowa to larger cities in the Midwest.

The project is designed to improve the country’s electric infrastructure and switch from the centralized power generation plant model.

“The Green Power Express is in many ways the true definition of a ‘smart grid’,” said Joseph L. Welch, the CEO of ITC Holdings. “According to a study by CRA International, efficient movement of up to 12,000 MW of wind power through the Green Power Express would result in a reduction of up to 34 million metric tons in carbon emissions, which is equivalent to the annual emissions of about seven to nine 600 MW coal plants, or nine to eleven million automobiles.”

The transmission lines will cover more than 3,000 miles and cost between $10 billionr to its energy supply in the next 15 years, it will take around 15,000 miles of new transmission lines to deliver it all to market.