Billion-dollar boon: Montana Alberta Tie would open door to flood of wind projects

[jpak]

http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070422/NEWS01/704220302

The open country north of Great Falls stretching to the Canadian border — long known for its wheat — may be about to see an explosion of a new crop.

Harvested from towers twice as tall as the old Milwaukee Depot, with blades that reach nearly 400 feet into the sky, that crop is wind.

The growth hinges on regulatory approval and construction of the Montana Alberta Tie, a 203-mile-long transmission line that would tie into the U.S. power grid at Great Falls and the Canadian grid in Lethbridge, Alberta.

Three wind power developers have signed up to use the line, which would move power from up to 400 giant wind turbines, each putting out enough electricity for at least 300 homes.

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[JohnWxy]

1. The beginning of the Plains States great wind expansion. This also will mean cheaper electricity

for consumers. Especially in coming years as the price of natural gas keeps climbing.

HEre is more from the article:


Now, Calgary-based Montana Alberta Tie Ltd., a subsidiary of the publicly traded Toronto-based Tonbridge Power Inc., is proposing the new north-to-south line that would connect Great Falls to Lethbridge and the Canadian power grid. The company was formed to finance large infrastructure projects and the Montana-Alberta line is its first.

If approved, the overhead arterial could lead to 600 megawatts of wind farm construction between Great Falls and Cut Bank in the next couple of years. That's more electricity than the 520 megawatts churned out by PPL's five Missouri River hydro facilities near Great Falls.
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tried to recommend but was too late.