Michael Skelly, a speaker at the marcus evans Transmission & Distribution Summit 2013, on getting low-cost wind power to market. Interview with: Michael Skelly, President, Clean Line Energy

1. Interview with: Michael Skelly,
President, Clean Line Energy
“With renewable energy getting
cheaper by the day, the rationale for
making the investment to get low-cost
energy to market makes more sense
now than ever before,” according to
Michael Skelly, President, Clean Line
Energy. “New HVDC transmission lines
can play a key role in getting this low-
cost energy to market,” he adds.
Skelly is a speaker at the marcus
evans Transmission & Distribution
Summit 2013, in Atlanta, Georgia,
November 4-6.
Why are today’s transmission lines
unable to meet the demands of the
new energy economy?
Transmission lines are used to get
energy from where it is generated to
where it gets used - that is clear. While
coal, natural gas and uranium can be
transported with pipelines and railroads
to the location where they will generate
electricity, that is not the case with wind
and hydro power. The best resources for
wind are in the middle of the country,
but that is not where the people are.
The current AC lines cannot take wind
power over large distances into highly
populated areas. To continue to grow
the industry, new HVDC lines must be
built.
The existing transmission system was
created primarily to connect population
centers with nearby fossil fuel power
plants. It is now insufficient to meet the
demands of the new energy economy.
Is HVDC the only way to get wind
power to market?
There are many ways to get more
renewable energy on line. You could fix
the AC grid to enhance its capacity.
Market rules can be modified to allow
for intra-hourly scheduling, which would
facilitate more wind. More AC lines are
getting built in the US, but still more are
needed. HVDC lines can play a key role.
DC lines make sense for distances over
400 km. DC is controllable and over
long distances cheaper than AC. More
importantly, DC power lines can get
huge amounts of wind energy to
market.
Any time electric power must be
moved across long distances, it is better
to do it with DC lines.
Is this renewable power low cost?
Many wind contracts are being signed
for less than three cents in the middle of
the US. That is pretty low-cost power.
Brazil has a declining clock auction
system where without any sort of tax
incentive, wind energy is being sold in
the low four cent range. The
combination of a good wind resource
and an effective market leads to
inexpensive wind power.
Will this new technology give wind
generation the push it needs?
The wind industry is already the fastest
growing source of generation in the US.
Close to USD 20 billion was invested in
wind last year. Wind in the US only
started to really pick up speed about ten
years ago. Anything with electric power
infrastructure takes a long time. We
would like to think that we are
beginning to solve some of the
transmission issues, but there is a lot of
work to do still.
How would you describe your public
outreach programs? How do you
build stakeholder support for new
projects?
We talk with the land owners and
county officials. We get input from state
agencies, local environmental NGOs and
business organizations. The more input
we get the more informed we will be as
we put together the route. If we are
building lines from Western Kansas to
Southern Indiana, there are many
possibilities for the route. We listen to
what different stakeholders have to say
and try to come up with the most
sensibly-sited route.
The current
AC lines
cannot take
wind power
over large
distances
into highly
populated
areas
Building Access to Low-Cost Wind Power in the US

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To view the web version of this interview, please click here: www.t-dsummit.com/MichaelSkelly