As I’ve written before, the Tres Amigas Superstation which is being to constructed to connect America’s 3 major electricity grids is a great project. Well, the project recently received a 12 million dollar investment by Matsui, a Japanese company. Matsui will take an equity stake in the Tres Amigas.
This is great news because anything to stabilize and further the completion of the Tres Amigas plant is fantastic, in my opinion. To recap, the Tres Amigas plant will interconnect the 3 major electricity grids in the U.S.: the Texas electricity grid, the Eastern grid, and the Western grid. Right now Texas is almost completely cut off from the rest of the country. This makes it difficult to get additional power resources during times where there is an energy shortage. Perfect examples of this were last February’s cold snap, last summer’s record temperatures, and potentially this summer as well. In fact, during last summer’s record high temperatures, Texas had to purchase electricity from Mexico to get some relief because they have better connections there than with any of our bordering states.
The Tres Amigas plant would allow for excess energy from other grids to flow into Texas during times of crisis, which would be a huge stabilization factor for what is considered to be inadequate reserves in Texas. Additionally, during times of the year when Texas has excess energy, particularly wind or other green energy, the new development would allow for this to flow into the rest of the country. Right now some people question the cost of transporting wind energy from where it’s collected in the panhandle to places like Houston. Shipping it to New Mexico would be cheaper and allow for excess Texas green energy to flow into the rest of the country. In my opinion, everybody wins.
Anyway, as I’ve said, this is great news for Texans. Anything that encourages this plant to completion and operation is good for the whole country. Additionally, Matsui, the company investing in the superstation, has a vested interest in smart grid technology, Carbon Dioxide Emissions, and renewable energy. It stands to reason this means that the Tres Amigas will also implement many environmentally friendly technologies that should make Green Advocates happy.