Wyoming Governor's Advisor Urges Congress To Invest In, Modernize Grid

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CHEYENNE, Wyo. - An advisor to Wyoming Governor Dave Freudenthal testified in Washington yesterday, urging Congress to invest in electricity transmission infrastructure and to work toward modernizing the existing grid to help Western states deliver their significant renewable energy resources to market.

Steve Ellenbecker, Director of Governmental & External Relations for the Wyoming Infrastructure Authority and an energy policy advisor to the Governor, testified before the U.S. House Subcommittee on Water and Power/Committee on Natural Resources.

"Wyoming is taking center stage in being recognized for its true world-class wind resource potential as an electric energy source,” Ellenbecker said. “The key to its development remains the construction of major high voltage transmission lines that must be built to move this sought-after product to market. It's been obvious in meetings this week with the Department of Energy and Federal Energy Regulatory Commissioners that Gov. Freudenthal's voice on these critical energy issues is being heard in Washington.”

Ellenbecker’s testimony focused on the role of the Western Area Power Administration (WAPA) in the development of transmission across the West given the recent provision of $3.25 billion in borrowing authority under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), commonly known as the federal economic stimulus bill.

Ellenbecker said it is critical that this authority be used to construct and modernize electric transmission facilities that deliver renewable energy resources that meet the nation’s global climate goals in an environmentally responsible manner.

“There’s no question about it - Congress and federal energy agencies are working at a feverish pace to promote a major deployment of renewable energy resources and the electric transmission facilities that will be needed to carry those energy supplies to consumers,” Ellenbecker said. “I was pleased by the subcommittee’s focus during the hearing on making an effort to evaluate the implications of their policy considerations on the rates of electric utility consumers as they consider major changes to U. S. energy policy in 2009.”

The federal stimulus legislation directs WAPA to support remote solar and wind generation projects. Since the transmission grid in the West is essentially at capacity, new transmission would pave the way for the development of Wyoming’s remote, yet abundant, wind generation to satisfy the growing renewable energy demands across of the West.

“To protect natural resource values in Wyoming, Gov. Freudenthal believes it is in the state’s best interest to minimize the number of transmission corridors that will be needed for these projects while maximizing the flow of electrons. This leads to an optimum use of corridor and line capacity,” Ellenbecker said.

The Governor also advocates for reevaluation of the regulatory process for approving transmission in western states.

“The current model is too cumbersome and time-consuming,” Ellenbecker said. “In the Governor’s opinion, it is unsatisfactory to many of the landowners affected by transmission construction since it favors protection of resources on public lands to the detriment of private lands. There shouldn’t be a difference. As it exists today, the regulatory process lacks “teeth” to address and balance private land concerns. Gov. Freudenthal believes it is time to consider a streamlined, regulatory model for transmission similar to that presently employed by FERC to approve natural gas pipelines. Landowners should not have their concerns unaddressed simply because the issue is associated with private lands.”

In his testimony, Ellenbecker said WAPA should not view the stimulus money simply as a resource to apply to its current backlog of projects, but instead should focus on the opportunity to contribute to the construction of a of high voltage transmission to open the door to a new era of renewable resources.

Ellenbecker concluded with three points for the Committee to consider:
o Through its role in marketing hydroelectric power and the new transmission borrowing authority in the stimulus package, WAPA is strategically positioned to make a significant contribution to the nation’s renewable energy and climate goal; and
o Adequately sized transmission to access the nation’s best renewable resources is less likely to be developed without the financial participation of Western.
o Making investments in a manner to leverage Western resources to attract private sector dollars will accelerate the construction of a more robust grid.

Ellenbecker has a long history of representing Gov. Freudenthal on transmission issues in the West including a wide range of public policy venues involving the energy and electricity industries. These include supporting the Governor in his tenure as Chairman of the Western Governors Association (WGA) as well as leadership roles in the Rocky Mountain Transmission Study (RMATS), the Committee on Regional Electric Power Cooperation (CREPC), the Frontier Transmission Line feasibility study, WGA’s Clean and Diversified Energy Advisory Committee (CDEAC), and most recently, WGA’s Western Renewable Energy Zone Initiative (WREZ). He has also served as the Chairman of the Wyoming Public Service Commission.

Source: Wyoming Governor