News on improving the American electrical grid:

The Tres Amigas Project will be the nation’s first renewable energy market hub, which aims to connect 3 main power grids in the US (Eastern, Western & Texas Interconnections), allowing for a faster adoption of wind, solar and geothermal energy. American Superconductor (AMSC) will be a big beneficiary in the nation’s move to an updated, smarter power grid. The company is announcing this morning that it will buy a minority stake in Tres Amigas LLC as well as supply the wire and cable systems for the Tres Amigas SuperStation which will be constructed in Clovis,New Mexico. The project still has a bit of red tape to clear before construction can begin.
AMSC’s superconductor wiring and cable systems will comprise several miles and provide the transfer of many GW’s of renewable energy power across the US, Canada and Mexico. Yes, this is big news not only for AMSC, but for the nation as well. AMSC CEO Greg Yurek called it a tremendous opportunity to help unify the US power grid and achieve the nation’s energy goals.
Said the CEO of Tres Amigas LLC,”To truly open up the market for electricity generated from renewable sources of energy we must enhance transmission in the United States. Tres Amigas will serve as a renewable energy market hub by connecting all three of America`s power grids to enable the transfer of green power from region to region. The system will also add a new dimension of reliability and security for U.S. power supplies.”

Today’s WSJ has more. An excerpt:

Current FERC Chairman Jon Wellinghoff, in an interview Friday, said he thought the Tres Amigas concept was a “very interesting idea” and said his agency would “look closely at the proposal” when documents are filed. He added that the FERC needs “more of these creative proposals to allow for more renewable-energy development.” He noted, however, that it was too early to endorse the project.
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, an energy secretary under President Bill Clinton, also supports the project and is expected to give a briefing on it Tuesday. If the substation were to be built, he said, it would mean that “we are going to be able to export the renewable energy we create in New Mexico to other parts of the country.”
Public Service Co. of New Mexico has more than 7,000 megawatts of proposed wind generation in its footprint that could benefit from the Tres Amigas project.
The project still is in an early stage and could unravel if it is unable to obtain financing. It also faces regulatory hurdles, since the FERC is being asked to waive jurisdiction over power sales in and out of Texas. Because Texas removed most electrical connections to other states decades ago, most of its wholesale power sales aren’t subject to FERC regulation.