The Transmission Summit held in Sweetwater, Texas on Thursday April 9th featured an array of speakers representing many of the companies chosen by the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) to build transmission lines throughout the state. In addition to those companies building lines within the Competitive Renewable Energy Zones (CREZ), other speakers included representatives from Southwest Power Pool, Electric Power Engineers and Golden Spread Electric Cooperative.
BACKGROUND
The PUCT began working on the development of a CREZ a couple of years ago in order to help foster wind energy development in the state and most specifically within the Electric Reliability Council of Texas’ (ERCOT) power grid. The idea was basically created in order to break the “chicken and the egg” deadlock that many wind developers were facing. The creation of these zones would allow for more transmission lines to be built to carry energy created by wind farms. Several scenarios were developed but the PUCT eventually decided upon scenario 2 which would essentially allow for around 18,000 MW of wind energy to go online.
After deciding on a scenario the PUCT then chose companies to build numerous transmission lines and substations throughout the state. Fourteen companies in all were chosen to be involved in construction. Please see the map below for the breakdown of scenario two, including the general vicinity of where the lines will be placed and who will be building them.
Source: Texas Wind Energy Clearinghouse (Transmission Summit)
THE PROCESS
The construction of these lines will take place based on which category they have been designated under. Those categories are: default, priority and secondary lines. Default lines consist of already existing lines that will be rebuilt. Priority lines are those the PUCT felt were the most urgent. These lines will be built by Oncor and the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA). Priority lines are indicated on the map above. The rest of the lines are considered secondary lines.
As far as the timeline on these lines goes, each company must submit a Certificate of Convenience and Necesssity (CCN) to the PUCT indicating the routes in which they intent to build their lines. CCNs for default lines are to be filed by June, priority by October and secondary will be sometime the first half of next year. Before submitting their CCN the transmission companies will conduct studies and contact landowners who may be affected by the construction of the line. The company will then define an area and identify several geographically diverse routes in which they could build the proposed lines. Each company will be conducting community meetings in their area throughout the process and will notify landowners of potential routes.
After a CCN is filed the PUCT has one year (although their goal is six months) to decide on which of the various scenarios submitted is best. Once the CCN is approved then the company will begin discussion with landowners for Right of Way (ROW).
Community members will see many immediate as well as long term benefits from the construction of transmission lines in the area including, taxes paid to local communities, the creation of construction, operations and management jobs, significant payments made to landowners with the expansion of wind development in the area as well as environmental benefits.
All of the companies building transmission in the state may have different timelines for completing their projects, but the PUCT would like to see all construction complete by 2013.
SHARYLAND
The construction of transmission lines and substations in our immediate area will be completed by Sharyland Utilities. Sharyland is a privately owned, Texas based transmission and distribution service provider. They are responsible for building four collection stations and 253 miles of transmission lines in Armstrong, Briscoe, Castro, Carson, Deaf Smith, Dickens, Floyd, Motley, Randall and Swisher Counties.
Their tentative schedule for construction was broken down in this way, but is all subject to ERCOT’s plans. They plan to submit their CCN to the PUCT in the first or second quarter of 2010 and plan on receiving approval from the PUCT by the third or fourth quarter of the same year. After receiving approval they will begin working on ROW acquisition, engineering and design of the lines and hope to begin material procurement in the third quarter of 2010. Construction is slated to begin as soon as they receive approval of their routes by the PUCT. The line which is planned to come through the North East corner of Floyd County should be completed in the second quarter of 2012 if all goes as planned.
You can find out more about Sharyland and their current projects on their Web site at www.sharylandutilities.com. They have also set up a toll free number for interested members of the public to call in for more information. If you have questions or concerns and would like to speak with a Sharyland representative call 1-866-354-3335.
SOUTHWEST POWER POOL
Outside of ERCOT Southwest Power Pool (SPP) is the other electric grid which has a footprint in Texas. SPP is a regional transmission organization who, unlike ERCOT, is regulated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Their purpose is to help ensure power reliability, adequate transmission infrastructure, and competitive electric wholesale prices in their region. SPP is based in Little Rock, Arkansas and has members in nine states, see image of their footprint below.
SPP is not directly involved in the CREZ process, but their plans for the future of transmission will also help to make it feasible for wind developers to bring their projects to our area. While the SPP is not involved in the acutal construction of transmission they do have a plan for how it should be built out. As a part of SPP’s Transmission Expansion Plan (STEP) they hope to have 285 miles of 765 kV from Woodward EHV (Western Oklahoma) to Tuco EHV (North Western Texas) built. The Tuco station is located just north of Abernathy. This line would be part of a larger “backbone” line would extend all the way up to Kansas and would set up our area for potential connections to the line. EHV is short for Extra High Voltage and the EHV Overlay that the SPP is proposing would be a collection of 500+ kV projects that would be added to the existing system, ultimately reducing backup on the grid. For more about the EHV Overlay visit the SPP Web site. You can read the STEP report in its entirety here.
Right now these plans to build out transmission are just that, plans. The next step is for the SPP to figure out how costs for these lines will be allocated. Visit their Web site at www.spp.org for more information.
CONTACT INFORMATION
Several of the companies who were present at the summit offered ways in which you can contact them directly for more information:
Sharyland Utilities
Visit their Web site at www.sharylandutilities.com
Call their toll free number 1-866-354-3335
Oncor
Questions about transmission can be emailed to transmissionprojects@oncor.com
Lower Colorado River Authority
Visit their Web site at www.lcra.org
Cross Texas Transmission
Web site is under construction but should be up soon at www.crosstexas.org
Electric Transmission Texas
Visit their Web site at www.ettexas.com
2 comments:
Looks and sounds good. But how about Hale, Lamb, Bailey, Hockley and Lubbock counties? The wind blows there too?
Thank you for your comment. You are correct in that the wind throughout the entire region is good wind. The decision concerning placement of transmission lines in the CREZ was made by the PUCT and we are hopeful that this step is only one of many that will be made in order to bring transmission capacity to our area. While it may seem that these lines may not directly affect some counties, it is our hope that with adequate transmission in the area wind developers will be willing to build additional lines that could potentially connect with the CREZ lines and eventually with the 765 kV line that the SPP has planned. The build out of transmission throughout the state isn't something that can happen over night and what ERCOT,the PUCT and SPP are doing is definitely a giant step in the right direction.
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