The age old question, which came first the chicken or the egg, illustrates the problem for wind energy development in Texas. Without transmission developers don't want to build wind farms and without wind farms utilities don't want to build transmission. Throughout Texas people are hopeful that the proposed transmission construction within the Competitive Renewable Energy Zones (CREZ) will help to solve this problem.
The Texas Wind Energy Luncheon on Thursday February 26th in Sweetwater, Texas, hosted by the Texas Wind Energy Clearinghouse and the West Texas Wind Energy Consortium, featured Ken Donohoo, Oncor's director of system planning. Donohoo highlighted topics concerning scenario 2 of the CREZ, the companies who will be building the proposed lines, as well as time lines for completion of the project.
The lines that are planned to be constructed by several different utility companies will allow for approximately 18,500 MW of installed capacity in the state. Oncor who was awarded approximately $1.3 billion to construct an estimated 866 miles of transmission will be building lines around the Sweetwater and Synder area as well as lines coming North and West of the Dallas/Fort Worth area.
Relevant most directly to our area, Sharyland Utilities was chosen to construct an estimated 253 miles of transmission lines and was awarded approximately $394 million to do so. According to the map provided at the luncheon, one of Sharyland's lines is planned to go through Floyd County. Mark Caskey of Sharyland Utilties was also present at the luncheon and said that Sharyland will begin conducting research and contacting landowners in the area in order to develop a plan of action for constructing the lines.
The plan for construction of these lines was separated into priority and second tier projects. The Oncor project around the Sweetwater area was selected as one of the priority projects. All priority projects must file a certificate of convenience and necessity (CCN) by October of this year. When the company files their CCN they must have all primary and alternative routes that they intend to build selected. The timeline for second tier projects has yet to be announced, but it is estimated that they will have to file a CCN by April of next year.
During the planning stages the utilities companies involved will conduct public meetings in order to receive input from affected parties. Donohoo of Oncor said that they will negotiate proposed construction with landowners. He stated that while the use of eminent domain is always there, it is a last resort and the last thing their company wants to do.
The entire project (both priority and second tier) is estimated to be in service by 2012.
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Southwest Power Pool Transmission Expansion Plan
The SPP's recently approved a plan for expanding and improving transmission in their region. View the entire SPP Transmission Expansion Plan Report (STEP).
This plan includes the construction of "285 miles of 765 kV from Woodward EHV to Tuco EHV in Western Oklahoma and North Western Texas" (page 6 of STEP report).
Below is an image of the "recommended construction plan." See page 82 of the STEP Report.
This plan includes the construction of "285 miles of 765 kV from Woodward EHV to Tuco EHV in Western Oklahoma and North Western Texas" (page 6 of STEP report).
Below is an image of the "recommended construction plan." See page 82 of the STEP Report.
Today's Wind Headlines
Below are headlines concerning both ERCOT and SPP transmission issues. Click on the links to view.
Southwest Power Pool Transmission Expansion Plan Approved
Board Approves Nodal Budget
Caprock will provide links to the most relevant headlines for our area and those that we feel are most beneficial to our members. For daily updates on wind news worldwide try visiting these wind news sites:
National Wind Watch
AWEA Newsroom
North American Windpower
If you happen to come across a headline you would like to share, please post it as a comment.
Southwest Power Pool Transmission Expansion Plan Approved
Board Approves Nodal Budget
Caprock will provide links to the most relevant headlines for our area and those that we feel are most beneficial to our members. For daily updates on wind news worldwide try visiting these wind news sites:
National Wind Watch
AWEA Newsroom
North American Windpower
If you happen to come across a headline you would like to share, please post it as a comment.
Why Wind Energy?
The Good News:
As we all know there is currently a big push for going "green" in everything we do. Wind energy is one of the ways in which we can help to secure our future in energy production while decreasing our dependence on fuel which is not so "green."
With federal and state requirements being developed on the percentage of our energy that must come from renewables in the near future, it seems as if wind energy, among other renewable energy sources like solar and biofuel, is jumping to the forefront. Some groups are pushing to have 25% of our energy come from renewable sources by 2025. Visit the 25x'25 alliance's Web site. More specific to wind, many believe it is feasible to have 20% wind energy by the year 2030. Visit 20% Windpower by 2030 for more details.
What makes the wind industry even more exciting is that a lot of the progress being made is in Texas and our region specifically has excellent wind resources. The state of Texas leads the country in renewable energy potential. With wide open spaces and wind abundant resources, Texas has been called the Saudi Arabia of wind.
In 1999 Texas had approximately 180 MW of wind power capacity. After seeing massive expansion in wind energy development in 2008, Texas now has over 8,000 MW of installed capacity.
Specific to the area and landowners that Caprock serves, the wind in the Panhandle of Texas is rated as class 4 wind. This is better wind than what they have around Sweetwater and Abilene where in recent years wind energy development has seen tremendous growth. See below for the breakdown of wind ratings in Texas.
Source: The Energy Report 2008
Another positive is that our area has the potential to gain access to high voltage transmission lines. The Caprock Plains Region of Texas is positioned in close proximity to both the Southwest Power Pool (SPP) and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), two different electric grids located in Texas.
It seems as if the overall view of wind energy development in Texas is a fairly positive one. Many people would love to see wind farms put up on their property. Wind energy development could very well provide assistant to struggling farmers and ranchers in the area.
Current Challenges:
There are several issues that must be worked through in order to get wind energy development to our landowners. The first has to deal with the current credit crisis and the state of our economy. While the last couple of years seemed to be a time of increased investment in wind energy, in the last several months we have seen a slowdown in investments as well as a slowdown in development. CPWEA is hopeful that the recently approved stimulus package will help to reverse this trend. See the American Wind Energy Association’s (AWEA) comments on the stimulus package, click here.
The next big issue then is transmission. Without transmission a wind farm does our area no good. We must have some way of getting the energy generated to the places that need it. Some relief may come from the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) who has recently allocated approximately $5 billion to utility companies to start construction of transmission lines throughout the state of Texas in the near future (click here to read related article.) Transmission will still be an issue for a lot of the panhandle of Texas who may not be directly affected by these lines (click to see transmission line scenario 2 adopted by the PUCT). Another potential solution to the transmission problem may come in the form of Federal regulation (click to read more on the issue).
These challenges represent some of the things that Caprock is dedicated to helping its members with. Together we can overcome the challenges facing wind energy today and take advantage of the potential our area has for wind energy development. Caprock’s overarching goal is to get our landowners’ land developed and collecting royalties from the development.
As we all know there is currently a big push for going "green" in everything we do. Wind energy is one of the ways in which we can help to secure our future in energy production while decreasing our dependence on fuel which is not so "green."
With federal and state requirements being developed on the percentage of our energy that must come from renewables in the near future, it seems as if wind energy, among other renewable energy sources like solar and biofuel, is jumping to the forefront. Some groups are pushing to have 25% of our energy come from renewable sources by 2025. Visit the 25x'25 alliance's Web site. More specific to wind, many believe it is feasible to have 20% wind energy by the year 2030. Visit 20% Windpower by 2030 for more details.
What makes the wind industry even more exciting is that a lot of the progress being made is in Texas and our region specifically has excellent wind resources. The state of Texas leads the country in renewable energy potential. With wide open spaces and wind abundant resources, Texas has been called the Saudi Arabia of wind.
In 1999 Texas had approximately 180 MW of wind power capacity. After seeing massive expansion in wind energy development in 2008, Texas now has over 8,000 MW of installed capacity.
Specific to the area and landowners that Caprock serves, the wind in the Panhandle of Texas is rated as class 4 wind. This is better wind than what they have around Sweetwater and Abilene where in recent years wind energy development has seen tremendous growth. See below for the breakdown of wind ratings in Texas.
Source: The Energy Report 2008Another positive is that our area has the potential to gain access to high voltage transmission lines. The Caprock Plains Region of Texas is positioned in close proximity to both the Southwest Power Pool (SPP) and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), two different electric grids located in Texas.
It seems as if the overall view of wind energy development in Texas is a fairly positive one. Many people would love to see wind farms put up on their property. Wind energy development could very well provide assistant to struggling farmers and ranchers in the area.
Current Challenges:
There are several issues that must be worked through in order to get wind energy development to our landowners. The first has to deal with the current credit crisis and the state of our economy. While the last couple of years seemed to be a time of increased investment in wind energy, in the last several months we have seen a slowdown in investments as well as a slowdown in development. CPWEA is hopeful that the recently approved stimulus package will help to reverse this trend. See the American Wind Energy Association’s (AWEA) comments on the stimulus package, click here.
The next big issue then is transmission. Without transmission a wind farm does our area no good. We must have some way of getting the energy generated to the places that need it. Some relief may come from the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) who has recently allocated approximately $5 billion to utility companies to start construction of transmission lines throughout the state of Texas in the near future (click here to read related article.) Transmission will still be an issue for a lot of the panhandle of Texas who may not be directly affected by these lines (click to see transmission line scenario 2 adopted by the PUCT). Another potential solution to the transmission problem may come in the form of Federal regulation (click to read more on the issue).
These challenges represent some of the things that Caprock is dedicated to helping its members with. Together we can overcome the challenges facing wind energy today and take advantage of the potential our area has for wind energy development. Caprock’s overarching goal is to get our landowners’ land developed and collecting royalties from the development.
Introduction
The purpose of this blog is to offer our members a way to stay up to date on what Caprock is working on and also to provide the latest news from the wind energy industry.
In case you are unfamiliar with Caprock Plains Wind Energy Association (CPWEA), here is a little background:
We are a non-profit membership-based association dedicated to promoting wind energy in our area (the Caprock Plains area of Texas). CPWEA represents landowners in the area who are interested in wind energy development. Our focus is to recruit wind energy developers into the area who have our landowner's best interest at heart. On top of that another focus of CPWEA is to secure transmission in our area.
CPWEA was officially formed in August 2007 in order to promote our area as a prime location for future wind energy development. Currently CPWEA has approximately 400 members most of whom are landowners in Hale and Floyd county Texas. CPWEA also has members who are residents of Motley, Crosby, Dickens, Castro, Swisher and Kent counties. Membership is also open to individuals, businesses, etc. who aren't landowners, but wish to support Caprock in its endeavors. If you aren't currently a member of Caprock but would like to be please visit our Web site at www.caprockplainswind.com to learn more about becoming a member.
Please check back for updates and current news throughout the wind energy industry.
In case you are unfamiliar with Caprock Plains Wind Energy Association (CPWEA), here is a little background:
We are a non-profit membership-based association dedicated to promoting wind energy in our area (the Caprock Plains area of Texas). CPWEA represents landowners in the area who are interested in wind energy development. Our focus is to recruit wind energy developers into the area who have our landowner's best interest at heart. On top of that another focus of CPWEA is to secure transmission in our area.
CPWEA was officially formed in August 2007 in order to promote our area as a prime location for future wind energy development. Currently CPWEA has approximately 400 members most of whom are landowners in Hale and Floyd county Texas. CPWEA also has members who are residents of Motley, Crosby, Dickens, Castro, Swisher and Kent counties. Membership is also open to individuals, businesses, etc. who aren't landowners, but wish to support Caprock in its endeavors. If you aren't currently a member of Caprock but would like to be please visit our Web site at www.caprockplainswind.com to learn more about becoming a member.
Please check back for updates and current news throughout the wind energy industry.
