ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Experts say there's a massive untapped source of energy in the American Southwest that could meet the nation's electricity needs.
But that's only if developers can get it out of the desert.
Even as renewable power projects get a boost from the federal government, a lack of transmission prevents sunny states such as New Mexico from converting solar potential into real watts that can charge smartphones and run air conditioners thousands of miles away.
U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu has said the renewable resources in the West are incredible but the country needs a distribution system that can accommodate them.
The problem is existing lines are maxing out and building new ones can take decades of cutting through a tangle of bureaucracy.
