Texas' $4.83 billion wind-power plan takes big step closer to reality
State regulators put Texas on course to spend $4.83 billion on power lines needed to carry electricity from wind farms in the Panhandle and High Plains to the state’s urban centers.The move Thursday by the Public Utility Commission stopped short of a more aggressive $6.4 billion plan to harness the state’s wind potential. But renewable-energy advocates and the electricity-generating industry hailed it as a fair compromise that would go a long way toward ensuring a reliable supply of power....MORE
From Dow Jones via CNN Money:
The operator of California's electric grid has a plan for improving the way new renewable power facilities can connect to it, but solar and wind power developers say the plan falls short.
The California Independent System Operator plans to file with federal regulators later this month a new set of rules for reviewing new power project interconnections. The new rules will streamline the process and cut down the amount of time it takes to make a decision, said
Gregg Fishman , a spokesman for the ISO.The organization will review projects in clusters, rather than individually to speed the process, and will require a much larger application fee to discourage less viable projects.
Industry groups representing wind and solar power developers said they were pleased the ISO is taking action to speed up interconnections, but that they found the new rules inadequate....MORE
