From C/Net news

Xtreme Power announced Wednesday its PowerCell energy storage and Dynamic Power Resources energy management system will be used in what could be the most significant transmission station in the U.S. electric grid.

In March, Tres Amigas got approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to offer transmission services at negotiated rates across the three main arteries of the U.S. electrical grid. The agency is now considering allowing it to build and connect a mega-hub based in Clovis, N.M.

Specifically, the proposed Tres Amigas SuperStation would allow power to be transmitted as needed among three independently operating U.S. electricity grids: the Eastern Interconnection, the Western Interconnection, and the Texas Interconnection.

The three major grids currently supply power to people in Canada and Mexico, as well as the throughout the U.S.

While not all aspects of the endeavor are yet officially approved, comments made by FERC Chairman Jon Wellinghoff in March signal that the agency will ultimately support the project.

"This project, which is the first of its kind, will allow customers to trade power across the interconnections and to take advantage of opportunities to buy lower cost power from other regions. It may also open a new transmission path for customers interested in tapping the vast renewable energy potential in many parts of the country--Texas, the Southwest, the West and Northwest, the Southeast and the offshore Atlantic," Wellinghoff said in a statement from a hearing.

Tres Amigas, which counts American Superconductor as a stakeholder, claims its super hub and storage facility would be able to move substantial amounts of power among the three systems. The facility will use Xtreme Power's grid storage and management technology in an attempt to decrease brown-outs by offering more reliability and stability across the U.S., and enable renewable-energy sources like wind and solar to be better utilized.

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