In an effort to accommodate increasing demand, and to support both current and new power generation, billions will be spent over the next couple of decades on energy infrastructure development and upgrades. Certainly it will be a costly undertaking, but also a very necessary one. After all, while it's no secret that the rush is on to develop new power plants (using both renewable and non-renewable resources), if you can't move the megawatts, you can't sell or consume the power.

So it was definitely reassuring when we found out that ITC Holdings (NYSE:ITC) filed the paperwork this week for a massive transmission project capable of moving 12,000 megawatts of power over a network of lines that will run from the Dakotas, Minnesota, and Iowa to Midwestern cities.

Not only does this project deliver a much-needed infrastructure upgrade, but it also offers a way to move all that new wind power generation that's now being built or planned in an area where the wind resource is massive. According to the DOE, across the Dakotas, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, there are over 300 GW of wind generation capacity. It's really just a matter of developing the sites, harnessing the resource, and moving the juice. And considering the total generating wind capacity in the U.S. is currently around 25 GW (enough electricity to power the equivalent for about 7 million homes) - that's some serious growth potential for the industry.

Now before you draft your "wind only works when it's windy" comments, understand that no one is suggesting these wind resources would completely displace our need for coal or natural gas or nuclear right now. However, being able to harness even half of this region's wind potential could allow us to significantly lessen our dependence on fossil fuel resources. And given the very real issues of fossil fuel depletion and loss of natural capital associated with coal, natural gas and nuclear - this is a good thing, both environmentally and economically.

The new ITC project, which is being called the Green Power Express, is expected to cost between $10 billion and $12 billion. And partnering with ITC will be NorthWestern Corporation, FPL Group's,NextEra Energy, and Iberdrola Renovables S.A.

When completed, the Green Power Express will include about 3,000 miles of extra high-voltage (765-kilovolt) transmission.

Jeff