Later this year, Florida Power & Light Company will start operating its new concentrated solar power plant that has enough mirrors to cover 80 football fields on the shores of Lake Okeechobee in Florida. The mirrors will direct sunlight and produce steam to turn a turbine and generate electricity. The 75 megawatt plant will provide enough power for 11,000 homes.

We' ve always maintained that the reak kingpins of wind energy are the various States in the Midwest that have good wind resources. Recently Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman signed a bill that removes barriers to the state’s wind development, especially for facilities built to export electricity to other states.

Why the Change?
Turns out that energy companies wanted no part of wind energy in Nebraska. That was becasue the States's antiquated 1934 Public Power Law gave public power authorities the right of eminent domain, both to build transmission lines and to take over any generation facility with only “reasonable compensation.”  So if someone spent $500 million to build a wind energy farm, the State could come in and condemn the project and pay the owner only $400 million.

The Federal government recently granted Google the authority to trade power and to buy and sell wholesale power. With this new authority, Google hopes to reduce its electricy bills by trading directly with suppliers. The federal government will specifically allow a newly created subsidiary, Google Energy, to do everything that a traditional utulity does.