Karl Burkart

How would you spend $7 billion

Green consultant and author of blog Greendig, Nov 02, 11.

The proposed roughly $7-8 billion project would deliver wind power generated by 1,000 2-3 megawatt (MW) turbines located in the gusty and ironically named Carbon Country, Wyoming, via a new super DC (direct current) transmission line to a hub in southern Nevada. If successful, it would produce 9 million MWh’s (megawatt-hours)* of zero-carbon, zero-pollution electricity per year — roughly enough to power the entire city of Los Angeles ... forever. No mining. No drilling. No pollution. Just clean energy from a free resource.
The cost per MWh (about $80) would be significantly lower than existing coal power (about $90) and that is without any federal or state renewable subsidies. So for those of your skeptical about my last post in which I posited that wind power would soon be cheaper than coal, this project makes it a reality.
DWE + Sierra Madre would also create as many as 18,000 jobs (12,688 in the wind farm and 5,000+ in the transmission project) helping the U.S. to regain its lost foothold in two important growth industries (wind power and next generation energy transmission) while capitalizing on what some are calling a renewable “Kuwait” for America — a pocket of Class 7-10 winds that are unrivaled in the world. The new transmission line would also help to bolster the stability of the entire western electric grid.
What a contrast with the Keystone XL pipeline! This proposed $7-8 billion project, expected to hit President Obama’s desk in the next few weeks for approval, would largely benefit one foreign company (TransCanada) forcing the U.S. to pay a premium for oil that no one else wants because it is so expensive and so ‘heavy,’ requiring much more refinement than typical oil.

Full Story: How would you spend $7 billion?
Source: Mother Nature Network, September 5, 2011

More Commentary