Michael Skelly moves into transmission lines
USA, Texas, Houston: The former CEO largely responsible for building Horizon Wind Energy is today on a new mission.
Image source: Harvard Business School
USA, Texas, Houston: The former CEO largely responsible for building Horizon Wind Energy is today on a new mission.
Skelly’s new venture, Clean Line Energy Partners, hopes to string up a 1,200 km transmission line that will unlock up to 7 GW of high capacity factor Oklahoma wind power and deliver it to Tennessee and other points east where good wind is scarce and demand for renewables is on the rise.
The project will begin in the western Panhandle region of Oklahoma, renowned for its high winds, cross entirely over that state of Arkansas, and stop outside Memphis, Tennessee. A key element of the plan is to transmit the power through high voltage direct current wires.
These require expensive $200 M conversion stations on each end to change the wind power from AC to DC in Oklahoma and back again in Tennessee. The economics of high capacity factor wind in Oklahoma will pay for the expense, says Skelly. The cost will be paid directly and indirectly by the projected 7 GW of future wind projects that will use the line to wheel power eastward.
One of Clean Line’s private financial backers is the Zilkha family, the original founders and backers of Horizon Wind.
Horizon first started in 1998 under the Zilkha name, was bought by Goldman Sachs in 2005 and sold to EDP Renováveis S.A. in 2007. Horizon now operates over 2.8 GW of wind plants.
Source: Windpower Monthly