Wind Power: Resource is Free, but Transmission Lines are Expensive

SUGAR LAND--October 18, 2010--Written by John Egan for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--It would cost about $25 billion over the next 20 years to build enough high-voltage transmission lines to bring wind from the Upper Midwest to load centers in the Eastern U.S., according to a study released last week by Electric Transmission America (ETA), a transmission joint venture between units of American Electric Power (NYSE:AEP) (Columbus, Ohio) and MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company (Des Moines, Iowa), a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK-A) (Omaha, Nebraska). The study also received funding from American Transmission Company, Exelon Corporation (NYSE:EXC) (Chicago, Illinois), NorthWestern Energy (NYSE:NWE) (Sioux Falls, South Dakota) and Xcel Energy (NYSE:XEL) (Minneapolis, Minnesota).