Wind power, long considered to be as fickle as wind itself, can be groomed to become a steady, dependable source of electricity and delivered at a lower cost than at present, according to scientists at Stanford University.

The key is connecting wind farms throughout a given geographic area with transmission lines, thus combining the electric outputs of the farms into one powerful energy source. The findings are published in the November issue of the American Meteorological Society's Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology.

SOME of North Yorkshire's finest views are to become even more picturesque, as work begins to bury unsightly electricity lines underground.

Three areas of the North York Moors National Park have been selected for the burial scheme, with a further four lined up if funding allows.

NEDL, the company responsible for maintaining the power network in our region, received a £5.5 million grant from electricity regulator Ofgem last year to carry out undergrounding work in seven protected areas.

a number of the renewable energy-rich areas are too far from the electric transmission grid to render them useful.

"We've made tremendous progress developing the transmission plan to bring electricity from the wind-rich Tehachapi Mountain area to Southern California customers. Our goal with RETI is to identify the next Tehachapi."



-- Dian M. Grueneich, Commissioner, California Public Utilities Commission