MADISON, S.D. — Out across this wind-swept, wheat-growing state, Jeffrey Nelson sees a new crop rising – electricity from the world’s largest wind-turbine farms sending electrons thousands of miles east to Chicago or Boston. But it’s a vision the South Dakota Wind Energy Association president says will never happen without something far larger, more controversial, and even more expensive: gigantic new high-voltage transmission lines. Depending on whom you talk to, emerging plans to build 765,000 volt transmission lines to bring power from the ‘Saudi Arabia of wind in the Dakotas to population centers in the Midwest and East Coast are either vital to the nation or a boondoggle waiting to happen. ‘This state has vast resources it can’t use without building new power lines, says Mr. Nelson, gesturing at lines on a grid map at the East River Electric Power Cooperative in Madison, where he is manager. ‘These high-voltage lines are like farm-to-market roads, but instead of wheat, it’s electricity being transported. We need to think in those terms. Many are clearly doing just that. With political winds blowing toward renewable energy, power-line proposals are popping up to carry wind power around the country. President Obama […]