wiredInUSA December 2016

MAKING THENEWS $2.5bn project all the way from Memphis

A $2.5 billion project has been announced, to build an HVDC power transmission line between Oklahoma and Tennessee. When built, the line is expected to be the largest clean energy transmission project in the US, taking power from Oklahoma to Memphis. Power from Memphis will be distributed by the Tennessee Valley authority to other major power distribution systems in the south and southeast. Michael Skelly, president of Clean Line Energy Partners, explained that the project will be the nation’s first to take relatively cheap wind-generated electricity from a region where wind is abundant, and

carry it for 720 miles into a region where wind power is relatively scarce. The Houston-based company has four other HVDC projects underway. involves transmission systems built to convert alternating current to direct current. The lines can carry more electricity over longer distances, and then the power is converted back to AC. Technology for the Oklahoma to Tennessee line will be provided by GE Energy Connections, where Russell Stokes, president and CEO of the GE subsidiary, called the project “transformational”. The line is expected to be fully operational sometime in 2020. HVDC technology

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wiredInUSA - December 2016