Senator Eliot Shapleigh - El Paso, Texas

A new proposal to build a transmission link to connect the nation's three major electricity grids -- Eastern, Western and Texas -- is generating interest among energy policy makers because of its potential to accelerate development of renewable energy.

The project, called the Tres Amigas "superstation," to be built at Clovis, N.M., would bring a major change to the U.S. electricity infrastructure by improving connectivity. For example, power produced in Phoenix at this point can't be shipped to Dallas.

The lack of interconnectivity is becoming a larger problem as the nation adds more solar and wind energy to its supply. Much of that power is produced in remote areas and needs to travel to distant population centers, which is problematic under the current setup. Greater connectivity among the grids could open up the market for some renewable-energy developments because the electricity could be sold across a wider region or moved to where it is most needed.

The substation is being proposed by Tres Amigas LLC, a company run by Phil Harris, formerly the chief executive of PJM Interconnection LLC, the nation's largest grid-running organization. The project, which likely would involve partners, could cost $1 billion or more. The location is key -- it would be less than 100 miles from substations in the grids to which it would connect electrically.

"This will unlock resources throughout the region," Mr. Harris said.

Patrick Wood III , a former chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, said a utility he is representing, Sharyland Utilities, would like to partner in the Tres Amigas project, perhaps building part of the Texas transmission link.

Some energy officials who have been briefed on the project are intrigued because it could enable more power-generating resources to get built, knowing there would be more outlets for the electricity they generate.

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.

The proposed substation, functioning like a traffic roundabout, would use superconducting cable from American Superconductor Corp. of Devens, Mass., capable of carrying 5,000 megawatts of electricity -- equivalent to the output of five nuclear-power reactors. Superconducting cable is chilled to minus-300 degrees Fahrenheit, which greatly increases its carrying capacity, and the rights-of-way the cable requires along its path are smaller -- and cheaper.

The Tres Amigas substation would use novel technology to solve a basic problem: that power can't easily flow among the three grids because they aren't synchronized. It would convert the alternating current of each region into a common direct current. Then it would convert specific electrons back into alternating current to match the grid to which the electrons were destined.

Currently, there are a half-dozen small alternate-to-direct-to-alternate ties between the Eastern and Western grids, but none is designed to move large amounts of electricity among all three grids.

It isn't just renewable energy that could be moved across grids. Coal is shipped from mines in Wyoming and Montana, in the Western Grid, to power plants throughout the Eastern U.S., among other places. With the superstation in place, more power plants could be built closer to the mines.

Although the concept is appealing to many experts, there could be opposition.

Not everyone is unhappy that electricity sometimes gets bottled up due to lack of transmission. For example, in West Texas, power prices sometimes tumble to almost nothing when there is an excess of wind power. If that power had another outlet, prices could rise and eliminate an advantage for local buyers of electricity.

Of course, if companies sell power for higher prices, they may be more likely to develop additional wind or solar resources.

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