Tres Amigas grid hub attracts more than renewables

Tres Amigas, proposed as energy "hub" to allow new sources of wind and solar power to move from remote areas of the U.S. Southwest to power-hungry cities, is attracting interest from nuclear and fossil-fueled generators as well, said Tres Amigas Chief Executive Phil Harris on Wednesday. To be built near Clovis, New Mexico, the Tres Amigas superstation will serve as a power hub, not only to only allow electricity to flow between the nation's three separate grids, but to improve the overall efficiency of the grid, Harris told attendees at the Gulf Coast Power Association conference in Houston. Likened to a highway rotary, Tres Amigas will allow multiple power transmission lines from the three U.S. grids to feed power into and out of the superstation through multiple alternating- and direct-current converters connected by DC superconducting cables...more