Snipped from TechnologyReview.com.

There is talk about a new power-grid linking the midwest, where the wind and sun are for renewable energy, to the coasts where the power is desperately needed, but is there a diminishing return on such an investment? An MIT economist says there is.

Here is a small portion of the article:

Energy experts generally agree that the electrical grid in the United States needs to be upgraded if the country is to increase its use of renewable-energy sources like wind power and significantly reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. But plans to string new high-voltage lines to bring wind power from the midsection of the country to the coasts, where most of the demand is, could be expensive and unnecessary, and a distraction from more urgent needs, some experts say. …

A national system would also be expensive. A study by the utility AEP suggests that a new national system of 19,000 miles of high-voltage lines would cost $60 billion. It’s unclear whether the costs of such a system will be competitive with other approaches to reducing emissions, says Steven Hauser, vice president of grid integration at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, in Golden, CO. “It may be cost effective to build it from North Dakota to Chicago; building it to Boston or to Los Angeles may not,” he says. “From a cost point of view, where’s the point of no return?”

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