GreenBeat

New Mexico may become the epicenter of the cleaner, more efficient Smart Grid shaping up all over the country. A proposal unveiled by state governor Bill Richardson today calls for a massive electric transmission station in Clovis, N.M., dubbed the Tres Amigas Super Station, designed to connect the U.S.’s three main power grids and better channel solar and wind energy.

The proposed project, which would take about five years to build beginning in 2011 or 2012, would be the largest power converter in the world, covering 22 square miles and fundamentally changing how electricity flows across the country. New Mexico, which would benefit tremendously from the jobs and revenue created by the facility, was chosen because it is located nearest to where the three power grids — referred to as the East, West and Texas interconnections — meet up. On top of that, conditions in the state would allow it to generate up to 27 gigawatts of solar and wind energy.

According to today’s announcement the Tres Amigas energy hub will create 50 new permanent jobs and inject as much as $4 billion back into the local economy. It plans to bring in revenue from utilities that will pay to use the station to transmit their energy across longer distances.

Tres Amigas would route energy through underground superconductor pipelines (measuring 3 feet in diameter) equipped with AC/DC converters to provide seamless transmission between one region and the next. Enough energy would be delivered to keep the lights on in 2.5 million homes. To do so, the facility will have a capacity of 5 gigawatts to start, with potential to scale up to 30 gigawatts. So far, the price tag on the first phase of the project is estimated at $600 million — but this is probably conservative.

The structure of the pipelines, filled with superconducting wires developed at Los Alamos Labs, would go a long way toward connecting remote and isolated wind and solar developments into mainstream grids. That said, it will also be capable of handling energy generated by traditional sources like coal-fired power plants and even nuclear generation facilities.

But none of this is a reality yet. The next step will be for the project to win approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which oversees operations for the East and West interconnections. Tres Amigas LLC — the company created to construct and operate the station — has yet to make a formal request.

The development stages of the product were financed by private investors and strategic partners, including American Semiconductor (which owns a $1.75 million stake in the company already). The project has yet to secure long-term sources of funding. Considering its potential impact on the economy, and the government support its already enjoying, federal stimulus funding shouldn’t be too far behind.

That’s not to say there won’t be challenges along the way. As the Wall Street Journal pointed out earlier today, some eastern states are concerned they will lose out if the new energy economy sets down roots in the southwest (solar) or midwest (wind). Earlier this year, several of them — including New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts — sent a letter to Congress poking holes in plans for a national transmission superhighway, arguing that generating energy regionally will be more cost-effective than stringing thousands of miles of transmissions lines. Whether or not they have enough muscle to block the development of a national system remains to be seen.

VentureBeat is hosting GreenBeat, the seminal executive conference on the Smart Grid, on Nov. 18-19, featuring keynotes from Nobel Prize winner Al Gore and Kleiner Perkins’ John Doerr. Register and see a preliminary agenda at GreenBeat2009.com.

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Tags: co:American Semiconductor, co:Tres Amigas LLC