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President Obama just announced over eight billion dollars for “smart grid” projects across the United States. New Mexico has the distinction of being left out with some other states. At least we do not show on the list presented by his administration.
We wonder if this was a unilateral effort on the part of POTUS or if our congressional members (New Mexico’s) could have seen to it that New Mexico received a buck or more without tacking it on someplace as an earmark.
Here’s the story from the Wall Street Journal. Once at the story you can find a link that points you to those who received money.
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That’s not entirely accurate. While no projects are funded directly through New Mexico utilities, three projects funded through out-of-state organizations involve work in New Mexico. These include El Paso Electric (electric systems distribution), the Navajo Tribal Utility Association (advanced metering systems) and the Western Electricity Coordinating Council (electric transmission systems). The latter affects the majority of the state.
While work may be performed in New Mexico, my article is accurate enough … no New Mexico business received a grant. Nice though that some work will be done in this State.
Apparently, I’m not the only one to take my position … seems like these folks who are in the business of checking on business did the same:
http://albuquerque.bizjournals.com/albuquerque/stories/2009/10/26/daily25.html?ed=2009-10-28&ana=e_du_pub
Scroll to the bottom of their article.
Thanks though for the additional information.
Glad to help. I had already linked to the award list from this morning’s article at NM-Central.com. I know you’re no longer among the New Mexico Central readership, but there’s also some information on the other energy stimulus money for New Mexico, including a bit of a “windfall” (pun intended) for Edgewood.
Argh; I goofed on the link AGAIN, apparently a cut-and-paste error. Sorry, Chuck, it’s http://nm-central.com/blog/?p=760.
Yes, thanks again. Looks a little like you don’t read everything on my blog. Guess we’ll have to get together and have a pity party.
http://gadabout-blogalot.com/2009/10/26/wind-generation-to-edgewood/
You’re right; that one got past me somehow. Not sure why as I’ve been reading pretty regularly; then again, I’m working more or less a job and a half, and it gets a little hectic. I hope they’re not going to use a lattice tower like the one in the picture – they exacerbate the bird problem.
I can’t imagine that a tower like that would be chosen. If you didn’t follow the link regarding that tower, you might want to. It’s an interesting story, possibly with information you don’t know.
Thanks for pointing that out; it’s a fascinating article! One thing I found striking was that the S. Morgan Smith Company placed their patents into the public domain. While the article doesn’t specifically state so, one might imagine that they believed that there was value in wind power, and even though they weren’t going to pursue it, they were willing to take something they’d spent a lot of money on and make it available to others who might be able to take advantage of it – and it turned out to be a great advantage.
Data can be worth a lot in the long run, and making real-world data was one of the things I was shooting for with the suggestion I made on the changes to the zoning ordinance regarding data (output, meteorological, etc.) reporting and incentives for making data available on the Town web site. Admittedly, there would have been some logistical hurdles and costs to deal with, and ultimately that may have been why the Council chose not to include that particular change. It might be simpler, though, for them to provide that kind of data with turbines directly owned by the Town. What do you think?
I thought it interesting that the Russians had beat them to the punch in a way (10 years ahead) but the American Company was first to tie to a grid.
You said, “Admittedly, there would have been some logistical hurdles and costs to deal with, and ultimately that may have been why the Council chose not to include that particular change. It might be simpler, though, for them to provide that kind of data with turbines directly owned by the Town. What do you think?”
I’m not sure where the data will come from, but I agree the data will need to be there. There are other questions to answer, most raised in your articles. I believe everyone on the “committee” and those on the council/staff want to see this done to the best benefit of all concerned.