From The Christian Science Monitor:
Depending on whom you talk to, emerging plans to build 765,000 volt transmission lines to bring power from the “Saudi Arabia of wind” in the Dakotas to population centers in the Midwest and East Coast are either vital to the nation or a boondoggle waiting to happen.
To hook up to that steady 20- to 30-mile-per-hour breeze, the nation will need perhaps 15,000 miles of new transmission lines costing $80 billion, according to a new Joint Coordinated System Plan released Feb. 14, by the Midwest Independent System Operator (MISO), which coordinates regional power distribution.
The Titan plan for 2,000 wind turbines generating 5,000 megawatts of power caused barely a ripple of media attention when announced last spring. Yet the plan to connect Titan to population centers–a $12 billion, 3,000-mile power line dubbed “Green Power Express” announced Feb. 9–produced a gale of public attention among environmentalists.
Critics have dubbed the new transmission line plan the “Green-wash Express” saying it could easily transmit as much or more energy produced by coal-fired power plants in South Dakota as wind energy.
There are also concerns about the siting of power lines and who will foot the bill. Read the full story at the link below.
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Maybe the Dakotas could offer dirt cheap electricity to Dakotans to heat their homes and power their electric cars. That would case a “boom” out in the Dakotas as people migrate away from energy-starved, overpopulated areas.