MDU and the Nation's Electrical Transmission Grid

This month's issue (July, 2010) of National Geographic has a great overview of the nation's electricity grid. There is a fold-out of the North America (US and Canadian) grid which is very, very  interesting. Two things jump out at you from right away if you are from North Dakota:

• one of the very few conglomerations of power plants on the Great Plains is centered around Bismarck; and,
• there are only four long-distance DC lines in the US: two of them from Bismarck to Minnesota (one to Duluth; one to Minneapolis); and, two from out-of-state to California

According to the National Geographic, only 1.9% of all transmission lines in North America carry DC, and two of those transmission lines, as noted, begin in/near Bismarck.

The Oregon-southern California DC link is the largest single transmission line in the US.

The fourth DC line is from Utah to southern California.

DC is more expensive (apparently) to generate but it loses less power over long distances than AC.  DC is therefore used for long-distance (>400 miles) transmission.

I've been hard on MDU on this blog with regard to success of their oil exploration and production arm (Fidelity) in the Bakken, but I have to admit, the conglomeration of power plants around Bismarck tells another part of the MDU story. MDU is also invested with power plants in the upper northwest (Oregon/Washington), another area with a number of power plants.

I can't find a good link on the internet to show the grid highlighting the DC lines, etc., so if you can, check out this month's issue of National Geographic. The foldout will be easy to find.  [Well, that wasn't hard to find: here's one interactive link to America's power grid.]

When (and if) the economy ever recovers, MDU should do very, very well. For a long-term investor, this might be a good time to start