alternative energy leaders

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What do you think of the federal government overriding states authority concerning energy?

The following was taken from a news article:

“Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said he will soon introduce legislation that gives federal regulators authority to override states on electric grid placement decisions as part of a package of energy proposals the Senate is expected to take up in the coming weeks.”

In other words basically telling the states instead of placing a necessary power grid, they need to use “alternative energy” instead. A lot of this alternative energy is underdeveloped and more costly.

U.S. Power Grids

It is important to note that there is no “national power grid” in the United States. In fact, the continental United States is divided into three main power grids:

The Eastern Interconnected System, or the Eastern Interconnect
The Western Interconnected System, or the Western Interconnect
The Texas Interconnected System, or the Texas Interconnect.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Distributed Energy Program was established in fiscal year 2001. The program develops a portfolio of advanced, on-site, small-scale, modular energy conversion and delivery systems for industrial, commercial, residential, and utility applications.

Program activities are organized under two main thrusts:

Distributed Generation Technology Development
This effort seeks to develop a portfolio of electricity generation and heat utilization technologies with a focus on efficiency, emissions, RAMD (reliability, availability, maintainability and durability) and meeting cost targets. By improving the efficiency of thermally activated systems and advancing the efficiency and emissions characteristics of these power generation technologies, the program provides the building blocks necessary to develop advanced, integrated systems.

Integrated Energy Systems
The focus of this effort is to develop highly efficient integrated energy systems that can be replicated across end-use sectors and that will help demonstrate an R&D objective or address a technical barrier.

Dept of Energy

By H. JOSEF HEBERT
Associated Press Writer
Published: February 23, 2009

4:28 p.m.

WASHINGTON (AP) – Democratic congressional leaders and the Obama administration indicated Monday that they will push for greater federal authority to locate electric transmission lines, saying the current power grid stands in the way of developing alternative energy sources.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said he will soon introduce legislation that gives federal regulators authority to override states on electric grid placement decisions as part of a package of energy proposals the Senate is expected to take up in the coming weeks.
“We cannot let 231 state regulators hold up progress,“ Reid said, referring to the members of state public utility commissions that decide on transmission locations in the states. He said states should be given every opportunity to participate but that “there may come a time when the federal government will have to step in,“ including directing the taking of land for grid corridors.
A clean energy conference that included former Vice President Al Gore and former President Bill Clinton focused extensively on the need for a national “smart” grid to transport electricity, including an expansion of the system to bring wind and solar energy from remote locations to the nation’s cities”…

” Former New York Gov. George Pataki, one of the few Republicans at the conference, said the federal government must get more involved in establishing power transmission lines.
“If you try to run a wire through someone’s community, that becomes about as contentious as you get,“ said Pataki, and if that power is going through a state, he said, “you don’t have to take a poll – no one is going to be for it.“

They are state regulators! Over 200 of them

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