DOE to invest up to $2.3M on project to pool renewable energy in Western US

摘要

The Energy Department said last week that it plans to invest up to $2.3 million to help Western states identify areas with renewable energy resources and quickly develop and deliver those resources to meet the region's energy needs. DOE joined the Western Governors' Association and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last March to develop the Western Renewable Energy Zones project, an effort to pool renewable-energy information among Western states into a central electronic repository. The program is designed to help the states share energy to meet their renewable portfolio standards (IE, 24 March, 12). The mission of the project is to break the West up into zones so that load-serving entities, which provide electricity, would work together in resource planning. The project would help develop transmission by showing pockets where it could be built to facilitate delivery of the renewable resources. Kevin Kolevar, DOE's assistant secretary for electricity delivery and energy reliability, said the project "stresses the importance of regional electricity planning to prevent the balkaniza-tion of new renewable sources and develop the infrastructure necessary to carry this power to consumers." Rich Halvey, a manager for the WREZ project, said WGA hopes to identify potential renewable zones by the end of the year. The next phase will entail developing transmission plans to access power from the zones. The last two phases of the project still need to be spelled out, he said.