Siting Transmission Lines in a Changed Milieu: Evolving Notions of the "Public Interest" In Balancing State and Regional Considerations

This Article discusses how state public utility law presents a barrier to the siting of new high voltage transmission lines to serve renewable resources, and how states could approach its evolution in order to preserve a role for state regulators in a new energy economy in which renewable energy will play a significant role. The traditional approach to determining the "public interest" in siting transmission lines is well on its way to obsolescence. Two developments over the past fifteen years have begun to challenge this paradigm. First, policies at the federal level and in many states have encouraged increased competition in generation, contributing to de-monopolization of the bulk power side of the industry. Second, the increased emphasis on environmental, energy independence, and other public policy objectives, has resulted in a dramatically increased demand for renewable energy, particularly given heightened attention to climate change. Given that wind power -- the most economically viable renewable resource on a bulk power basis -- is feasible predominantly in locations far removed from, load centers, the demand for new multistate transmission facilities has been brought clearly into focus. After an introduction in Part I, Part II describes the existing arrangements in several resource rich Western states for siting new transmission lines, and the coexistence of those arrangements with a conventional understanding of the public interest in determining need and addressing environmental concerns under traditional state transmission siting laws. Part III discusses transmission issues related to the competitive wholesale market and increased attention to climate change and highlights how federal law has expanded to accommodate some of these concerns. Part IV emphasizes the need for a new definition of the public interest which might better reflect these new market circumstances and opportunities, and highlights the two main barriers to this: 1) legislative and/or regulatory inertia and 2) an outdated cost-allocation model. The public interest under most state siting statutes is sufficiently capacious to give regulators some flexibility to evolve, but in other instances legislative action may be needed. In addition, the state cost-of-service ratemaking model must evolve to a more regional approach to allocating the costs of new transmission

Effects of orbit squeezing on ion transport processes close to magnetic axis

It is shown that ion thermal conductivity close to the magnetic axis in tokamaks is reduced by a factor of {vert_bar}S{vert_bar}{sup 5/3} if (M{sub i}/M{sub e}){sup 2/3}(T{sub e}/T{sub i}){sup 4/3}/{vert_bar}S{vert_bar}{sup 5/3} {much_gt} 1. Here, S is the orbit squeezing factor, M{sub i}(M{sub e}) is the ion (electron) mass, and T{sub i}(Te{sub e}) is the ion (electron) temperature. The reduction reflects both the increase of the fraction of trapped particles by a factor of {vert_bar}S{vert_bar}{sup 1/3}, and the decrease of the orbit size in units of the poloidal flux {psi} by a factor of {vert_bar}S{vert_bar}{sup 2/3}

Effects of orbit squeezing on ion transport processes close to magnetic axis

It is shown that ion thermal conductivity close to the magnetic axis in tokamaks is reduced by a factor of {vert_bar}S{vert_bar}{sup 5/3} if (M{sub i}/M{sub e}){sup 2/3}(T{sub e}/T{sub i}){sup 4/3}/{vert_bar}S{vert_bar}{sup 5/3} {much_gt} 1. Here, S is the orbit squeezing factor, M{sub i}(M{sub e}) is the ion (electron) mass, and T{sub i}(Te{sub e}) is the ion (electron) temperature. The reduction reflects both the increase of the fraction of trapped particles by a factor of {vert_bar}S{vert_bar}{sup 1/3}, and the decrease of the orbit size in units of the poloidal flux {psi} by a factor of {vert_bar}S{vert_bar}{sup 2/3}

Local tests of parallel electrical resistivity in the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor

The motional Stark effect (MSE) polarimeter measures the local magnetic field pitch angle, proportional to the ratio of the poloidal to toroidal magnetic fields, in the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR). The authors have used the polarimeter to measure the temporal evolution of the local value of the magnetic field pitch angle during large changes in the current profile such as during a current ramp or discharge initiation. The measured evolution is compared to the evolution predicted by classical and neoclassical resistivity models. The neoclassical resistivity model is a better predictor of the local pitch angle temporal evolution than the classical model

Magnetic Field Line Tracing Calculations for Conceptual PFC Design in the National Compact Stellarator Experiment

The National Compact Stellarator Experiment (NCSX) is a three-field period compact stellarator presently in the construction phase at Princeton, NJ. The design parameters of the device are major radius R=1.4m, average minor radius <a> = 0.32m, 1.2 {le} toroidal field (B{sub t}) {le} 1.7 T, and auxiliary input power up to 12 MW with neutral beams and radio-frequency heating. The NCSX average aspect ratio <R/a> of 4.4 lies well below present stellarator experiments and designs, enabling the investigation of high {beta} physics in a compact stellarator geometry. Also the NCSX design choice for a quasi-axisymmetric configuration aims toward the achievement of tokamak-like transport. In this paper, we report on the magnetic field line tracing calculations used to evaluate conceptual plasma facing component (PFC) designs. In contrast to tokamaks, axisymmetric target plates are not required to intercept the majority of the heat flux in stellarators, owing to the nature of the 3-D magnetic field footprint. The divertor plate design investigated in this study covers approximately one half of the toroidal extent in each period. Typical Poincare plots in Figure 1 illustrate the plasma cross-section at several toroidal angles for a computed NCSX high-beta equilibrium. The plates used for these calculations are centered in each period about the elongated cross-section shown in Figure 1a, extending to +/- {pi}/6 in each direction. Two methods for tracing the edge field line topology were used in this study. The first entails use of the VMEC/MFBE-2001 packages, whereas the second entails use of the PIES code with a post-processor by Michael Drevlak; the same field line integration routine was used to evaluate the equilibria for this comparison. Both inputs were generated based on the {beta}=4%, =iota=0.5 equilibrium computed from the final NCSX coil set. We first compare these two methods for a specific plate geometry, and conclude with a comparison of the strike characteristics for two different target plate poloidal lengths using the latter method. The details of the magnetic topology differ when computed with VMEC/MFBE as compared with an iterated PIES solution. This difference is illustrated in Figure 2. The presence of islands in the PIES solution effectively reduces the radius of the last closed magnetic surface (LCMS) by about 8 cm. As expected, this difference in the edge topology translates to a difference in field line terminations

Improving the stellarator through advances in plasma theory

Improvements to the stellarator concept can be realized through advancements in theoretical and computational plasma physics. Herein, recent advances are reported in the topical areas of: 1) improved energetic ion confinement, 2) the impact of three-dimensional (3D) shaping on turbulent transport, 3) reducing coil complexity, 4) novel optimization and design methods, and 5) computational MHD tools. These advances enable the development of new stellarator configurations with improved confinement properties.</p