ITC creates alt energy infrastructure with Green Power Express

metromode, 12/10/2009

--This article originally appeared on February 19, 2009

Solar panels and wind turbines are the sexy part of alternative energy. What's not as attractive is creating the infrastructure to transport all that alternative energy to population centers out in the middle of nowhere.

Novi-based ITC Holdings is creating that infrastructure and investing between $10 billion and $12 billion to make it happen. ITC owns much of the electric grid not only in Michigan but in the Midwest.

The firm plans to expand the grid to, say, wind farms in the Upper Peninsula so that they link up with places like Minneapolis or Detroit. This Green Power Express will eventually transport 12,000 megawatts of renewable energy to city centers.

ITC is also working to upgrade the rapidly aging grid. Such upgrades are expected to help make the system more efficient, conserving lots of energy that is currently lost in transport.

Source: ITC Holdings
Writer: Jon Zemke

Novi