The Pine Ridge Reservation is in the southwest corner of South Dakota,
and it is windy. In fact, Lyle Jack realized his tribe, the Oglala
Lakota Nation, and many other tribes in this area, could pay for lots
of things they needed, just by harvesting some of that wind.
Which is why, for the past 20 years, Lyle has been trying to
build a wind farm on the reservation. He's overcome a lot of hurdles,
like persuading a majority of the tribes in South Dakota to join
forces and form a company. They picked a spot to build the windmills
where the wind blows hard and – crucially – where there's a power
line. That will allow this wind farm to connect to the electric grid.
These power lines on the Pine Ridge Reservation, in
South Dakota, would need to be rebuilt to
carry electricity from a planned wind farm. Dan Charles/NPR
This is where Lyle ran into the obstacle that stopped his project in
its tracks. So many people want to connect their new solar and wind
projects to the grid right now that it's creating a massive traffic
jam. All those projects are stuck in line: the interconnection queue.
On today's show: the long line for power lines. Green energy
may be the future, but at the moment, the people who run the country's
electric grid are trying to figure out how to bring all those new
projects online. It's a high-tension tightrope act, but if they
succeed, it could ensure the future of the planet. No pressure.
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