Renewable energy vs. the electric grid - Solar, Wind and Land: Conflicts in Renewable Energy Development - page 168

9 See Vaheesan, supra note 3 at 113-14.
10 See generally Stale Navrud et al., Valuing the Social Benefits of Avoiding
Landscape Degradation from Overhead Power Transmission Lines: Do
Underground Cables Pass the Benefit-Cost Test? , 33 Landscape Res. 281
(2008).
11 See id. at 112-13.
12 For an excellent discussion of microgrids and their potential as a way of avoiding
energy sprawl, see generally Sara C. Bronin, Curbing Energy Sprawl with
Microgrids , 43 Conn. L. Rev. 547 (2010).
13 See Alan Goodrich, et al., Residential, Commercial, and Utility-Scale Photovoltaic
(PV) System Prices in the United States: Current Drivers and Cost-Reduction
Opportunities at 20, National Renewable Energy Laboratory Technical Report
NREL/TP-6A20-53347 (Feb. 2012) (showing utility-scale PV system costs at
between $3.80 and $4.40 per watt, compared to $4.59 per watt for commercial-
scale PV systems).
14 See Andrew Mills, et al., Exploration of Resource and Transmission Expansion
Decisions in the Western Renewable Energy Zone Initiative, Berkeley National
Laboratory at 13, LBNL-3977E (2010), available at http://eetd.lbl.gov/EA/EMP/
reports/lbnl-3077e.pdf (last visited Aug. 22, 2013).
15 See Deborah Behles, An Integrated Green Urban Electrical Grid , 36 Wm. &
Mary Envtl. L. & Pol'y Rev. 671, 677-78 (2012).
16 See The Honorable John R. Norris & Jeffery S. Dennis, Electric Transmission
Infrastructure: A Key Piece of the Energy Puzzle at 5, Nat. Resources & Env't
(Spring 2011)
17 See Norris & Dennis, supra note 16 at 6.
18 Ashley C. Brown & Jim Rossi, Siting Transmission Lines in a Changed Milieu:
Evolving Notions of the “Public Interest” in Balancing State and Regional
Considerations , 81 U. Colo. L. Rev. 705, 717 (2010).
19 See Vaheesan , supra note 3 at 116.
20 See Brown & Ross, supra note 18 at 724-25.
21 Paul Davenport, Arizona Regulators Skeptical of New Electrical Line to
California , U-T San Diego (2007), available at http://legacy.utsandiego.com/
news/business/20070530-1352-wst-sharingpower.html (last visited Sept. 19,
2013).
22 16 U.S.C. § 824(a).
23 Id.
24 See Jim Malewitz, Wind, Solar Could Benefit from Kansas Transmission Compact ,
Midwest Energy News (July 29, 2013), available at www.midwestenergynews.
com/2013/07/29/wind-solar-could-beneit-from-kansas-transmission-compact/
(last visited Sept. 19, 2013).
25 16 U.S.C. § 824p.
26 See Piedmont Environmental Council v. FERC , 558 F.3d 304 (4th Cir. 2009)
(holding that FERC's authority to site a transmission project under 16 U.S.C.
§ 824p does not apply if the state rejects the project permit application within
one year of its filing); California Wilderness Coalition v. Dep't of Energy , 631
F.3d 1072 (9th Cir. 2011) (invalidating a Department of Energy designation of a
“national interest transmission corridor”).
27 See Hannah Wiseman, Expanding Regional Renewable Governance , 35 Harv.
Envtl. L. Rev. 477, 516 (2011).
28 To download the Western Renewable Energy Zones Phase I Map and read more
about the initiative, visit the Western Governors Association's website at www.
westgov.org/component/content/article/102-initiatives/219-wrez (last visited
Sept. 19, 2013).