Free Republic

By commissioning expensive and inefficient wind and solar electric generating facilities, India may have dug the grave of its own efforts to save the critically endangered great Indian bustard. Erected to avert a faux climate crisis, the so-called renewable machines and their attendant transmission lines are helping to drive one of Earth’s largest flying birds to the brink of extinction. Avian aficionados such as myself have long bemoaned prioritizing wind and solar technologies at the expense of endangered species. Yet, the relentless push for needless climate solutions seems to ignore this as “green energy” installations and avian fatalities increase in...

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — PPL Corp. said Thursday it wants to spend billions of dollars to build a 725-mile system of electric transmission lines that will bring energy from the booming Marcellus Shale natural gas fields to customers on the heavily populated Eastern Seaboard. The Allentown-based utility said the 500-kilovolt line would span much of Pennsylvania and reach into New York, New Jersey and Maryland, although the route has not been determined. The cost was expected to exceed $4 billion, and it could take more than a decade to build....

A recent Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) ruling shifts virtually the entire responsibility of paying for transmission network upgrades to wind developers in the footprint of the Midwest ISO (Carmel, Indiana, U.S.). The FERC ruling requires that Midwest ISO wind generators pay 90% of the cost of transmission upgrades for projects rated 345 kV and higher. For projects rated lower than 345 kV, generators are required to pay the entire cost. The ruling comes as some wind developers struggle to finance projects under the traditional 50/50 cost-allocation arrangement. Jack Levi, president of developer National Wind (www.nationalwind.com), said the ruling “runs...

The man sought by federal authorities for allegedly sabotaging electrical transmission lines in the West by removing tower bolts is now custody. Michael Devlyn Poulin, 62, was arrested this morning in California when he was recognized by a state highway patrol officer, reports the Associated Press. Poulin had apparently grown tired of being on the run, and was looking to turn himself in. He went to the CHP office in South Sacramento to seek directions to the FBI. "I'm sort of getting a stiff neck from looking over my shoulder," Poulin told AP in a phone interview before his arrest....

<p>A novel plan to widen a notorious bottleneck in the state's electric grid is marching forward in Washington despite warnings in California that the work may not be needed.</p> <p>Path 15, a 90-mile stretch of the grid where three high-voltage lines dwindle to two, was linked to rolling blackouts last year that struck Northern California but spared the southern part.</p>

TESTIMONY: ISO staff say it's needed. Residents dislike SDG&E's route choice in the county.BY ROBERT T. GARRETT and SANDY STOKESTHE PRESS-ENTERPRISESAN FRANCISCO - Managers of California's electricity grid voiced strong support Friday for San Diego Gas & Electric's bid to build a new high-voltage transmission line in southwest Riverside County.Although the Independent System Operator hasn't officially blessed SDG&E's proposed route, its staff members sought to bolster SDG&E's case for the controversial line during hearings this week at the Public Utilities Commission.The ISO, a nonprofit corporation created by the state under its 1996 electricity deregulation law, coordinates operations of private...