Citizens Energy Task Force

… for a sustainable energy future

Smart Grids on MPR

Posted on | October 1, 2008 |

MPR’s Stephanie Hemphill had a good story on Smart Grids yesterday, in which Xcel Energy spokesman Tom Henley said

… the new technologies are expected to reduce Xcel’s power needs in the region by 7 percent.

Excel’s saying that?  I wonder if they said it in the CapX2020 application’s demand forecast.

Some experts say all this potential energy saving means we should re-think the electrical system from top to bottom.  Smart grid pilot projects on the West Coast have shaved 20 percent from peak demand — more quickly and more cheaply than building new power lines.

(Emphasis mine.)  So while CapX2020 extrapolates old trends to forecast increasing energy usage, other regions are reducing peak demand by 20% using smart grid technology.

The federal government wants state regulators to require utilities to at least consider smart grid technologies before they propose big projects like power plants or transmission lines — including projects like CapX 2020, where several utilities want to build four big new power lines criss-crossing the state.

Yes, CETF wants this too.  I guess we’ll see.

Read the whole story.

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    The Citizens Energy Task Force (CETF) is a coalition of neighbors and citizens concerned about the proposed CapX2020 high voltage transmission lines in Minnesota and Wisconsin. As a legally registered "intervening party" in the CapX2020 permitting process, we represent the concerns of citizens who question the need for these particular high voltage power lines, and who support clean, sustainable, locally-generated power sources.

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