Forum foresees future of electrical power
10:58 PM 10/20/03
Judy Newman Business reporter

A few years from now, major transmission lines carrying electricity across Wisconsin could be made of ceramic and built underground, instead of mounted high on towering structures. <

Stores and factories, meanwhile, could get a good share of their electricity from small generators in the basement of their buildings. <

Those were among the visions of the state's future energy picture sketched out Monday at the Chancellor's Energy Policy Forum at the Fluno Center on the UW-Madison campus. <

A new kind of transmission line being developed can carry 5 percent to 10 percent more electricity, Bud Kehrli, manager of transmission and distribution planning for American Superconductor, told about 150 people at the forum. The Boston area company also has operations in Middleton. <

Built underground, the superconducting lines would bring more power into the state and spark less opposition from residents over environmental or aesthetic concerns, he said. <

"This is breakthrough transmission that should be part of our planning tools," Kehrli said in an interview, alluding to proposals by American Transmission Co. for $2.8 billion worth of new and upgraded high-voltage lines over the next decade. <

Another way to meet growing needs for energy is distributed generation - that means installing small units, such as microturbines or fuel cells, in individual buildings to supplement electricity from utilities. <

The small units about the size of a refrigerator - use less-polluting fuel and their waste heat can be captured to heat the building, said UW-Madison electrical and computer engineering professor Robert Lasseter. He is site director of a coalition of universities and utilities around the country that is developing new strategies for power needs. <

A series of microturbines "provides very good power quality and emergency backup," Lasseter said, in an interview. <

Meanwhile, UW-Madison Chancellor John Wiley told the conference that nuclear energy should be "back on our agenda." In an interview, he urged lifting the state's moratorium on building nuclear power plants, calling them "the cleanest, safest, most environmentally friendly way to produce electricity." <

Modern nuclear plants are much more technologically advanced than the state's existing reactors, which Wiley said are "the equivalent of model Ts." <

A conference on nuclear energy is scheduled Wednesday and Thursday at Monona Terrace. <

Wiley also told the forum it is time for environmentalists, utilities and the public to "build bridges of cooperation and compromise and shared vision" to construct the power structure that's needed while improving the environment. <

Battles over the location of power plants and transmission lines don't prevent them from being built, he said. "Instead, they make them cost more and they make us - all of us - live and work under an increased threat of failure." <