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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.
HVDC
technology
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.
wiredInUSA - December 2016
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