- Over 1600 MW of wind capacity has been added this quarter with 436 MW of additions in Texas this past quarter. Texas is still number one in total capacity with 8,787 MW.
- The fastest growth in wind development is being seen in Arizona, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Wyoming and New Mexico.
- Manufacturing continues to fall behind 2008 levels. Twenty four manufacturing facilities have been built, announced or expanded to date this year. That is in comparison to 36 at this time last year.
- The grant program that has come out of the ARRA has proved to be a key for unlocking financing for wind developments. Fifteen different projects representing over 1700 MW of wind have received grant money.
- There is over 300,000 MW of wind development in queues throughout the U.S. This represents general interest in wind developments, from developments that are in early planning stages to projects that are close to being fully operational. Over 63,000 MW of that is in Texas.
- There are some new names that will be showing up on the top 20 list of developers in the industry when the list comes out at the end of the year.
- AWEA's focus now is on what they have been referring to as mid-term action (as their immediate action items have been checked off the list); it is to secure the passing of comprehensive legislation that will create a National Renewable Electricity Standard and include national transmission legislation that will upgrade reliability of the grid and also aid in the delivery of more renewable energies from coast to coast.
- Approximately 50% of the value of wind turbines is being manufactured domestically.
- Wind development growth in 2010 really depends on legislation that is currently in the works. Many state policies are helping to spur development currently but these need to be replicated on a national level.
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AWEA's 3rd Quarter Report
This afternoon AWEA held an hour long webinar in which they presented their 3rd Quarter Market Report. The report in its entirety can be found here. Just in case you don't have time to read over the entire report, I thought I would share a couple tidbits of information that I took away from the webinar this afternoon. You can also find a summary of the report in this recent press release.
Wind Symposium
Advanced registration for a one-day wind energy symposium to be held in College Station, Texas, on October 27th is only $25. Those interested in learning about wind energy development and the benefits it offers might want to take advantage of this reasonably priced event.
The agenda for the Texas/EU Wind Energy Symposium includes an industry update, a customer perspective to wind energy, regulatory, infrastructure and workforce issues as well as a roundtable on challenges and opportunities in wind. The event will be focused around the experiences with wind development in Spain and the potential for university, industry and community collaborations.
Speakers scheduled for the event include: Susan Williams Sloan, strategic partnerships manager at AWEA; Vaughn Nelson, director of the Alternative Energy Institute at West Texas A&M University; John Hofmeister, retired president of Shell Oil Company and founder and CEO of Citizens for Affordable Energy; Emilio Gomez Lazaro, director of the Institute of Renewable Energy at Universidad de Castilla La Mancha; Mark Wilby, Shell Wind Energy; Barry Smitherman, Chairman of the PUCT along with many others.
You can find out more about the symposium click here .
The agenda for the Texas/EU Wind Energy Symposium includes an industry update, a customer perspective to wind energy, regulatory, infrastructure and workforce issues as well as a roundtable on challenges and opportunities in wind. The event will be focused around the experiences with wind development in Spain and the potential for university, industry and community collaborations.
Speakers scheduled for the event include: Susan Williams Sloan, strategic partnerships manager at AWEA; Vaughn Nelson, director of the Alternative Energy Institute at West Texas A&M University; John Hofmeister, retired president of Shell Oil Company and founder and CEO of Citizens for Affordable Energy; Emilio Gomez Lazaro, director of the Institute of Renewable Energy at Universidad de Castilla La Mancha; Mark Wilby, Shell Wind Energy; Barry Smitherman, Chairman of the PUCT along with many others.
You can find out more about the symposium click here .
WANTED: Wind Developers
CPWEA's main goal is to connect landowners with wind developers. Currently, we are working on creating a list of interested developers so that we can provide their names to landowners who don't have their land leased for wind development but are interested in doing so.
Its important to note that most of our landowners have really great relationships with their neighbors, making it mighty easy to get large contiguous blocks of land together for development. Our association is made of mostly of landowners in Hale, Floyd and Motley Counties, an area that's ranked as class 4 winds (just in case you were wondering). Our association has maps available for developers to check out; we have our members' land marked and let me just say, there is a lot of interest in wind development.
What we want to do is whatever we can to get developers connected with landowners. Not just any developer though, it is very important to us to connect our landowners with developers who understand their needs and wants, a developer who will be sensitive to landowner concerns and who isn't merely in the business to make a buck, but wants sincerely to help out rural communities.
One thing we have starting doing is to feature developers who we think our landowners would like to work with in our monthly newsletter. We would like to continue doing so, so if you know a developer out there who you think would be a good fit, please contact me or leave a comment on this post.
Many developers seem to be waiting until the new transmission lines are built in the area before they make any significant actions towards developing a wind farm, but getting your name out there with landowners could never hurt. The first step in having a successful development is creating a good relationship with landowners; we can help developers with that step.
We would also like to work on getting a list together of local contractors or other companies who could be involved in the development process when the time comes. Hopefully we can provide developers with this list and bring work to local companies. If you fall into this category, please contact me as well because other than bringing in wind development to our area one of our main goals is to strengthen our local communities!
Until next time...
Its important to note that most of our landowners have really great relationships with their neighbors, making it mighty easy to get large contiguous blocks of land together for development. Our association is made of mostly of landowners in Hale, Floyd and Motley Counties, an area that's ranked as class 4 winds (just in case you were wondering). Our association has maps available for developers to check out; we have our members' land marked and let me just say, there is a lot of interest in wind development.
What we want to do is whatever we can to get developers connected with landowners. Not just any developer though, it is very important to us to connect our landowners with developers who understand their needs and wants, a developer who will be sensitive to landowner concerns and who isn't merely in the business to make a buck, but wants sincerely to help out rural communities.
One thing we have starting doing is to feature developers who we think our landowners would like to work with in our monthly newsletter. We would like to continue doing so, so if you know a developer out there who you think would be a good fit, please contact me or leave a comment on this post.
Many developers seem to be waiting until the new transmission lines are built in the area before they make any significant actions towards developing a wind farm, but getting your name out there with landowners could never hurt. The first step in having a successful development is creating a good relationship with landowners; we can help developers with that step.
We would also like to work on getting a list together of local contractors or other companies who could be involved in the development process when the time comes. Hopefully we can provide developers with this list and bring work to local companies. If you fall into this category, please contact me as well because other than bringing in wind development to our area one of our main goals is to strengthen our local communities!
Until next time...
I've Got a Question?
I received a call yesterday afternoon from a landowner in our association (side note, I love getting calls from landowners; it helps me to keep perspective on what our association is really all about). This particular landowner owns land in Floyd County, Texas and wanted to know several things about how development is progressing in the area. One question he had in particular got my wheels turning. Let me back up and tell you how we got to that question.
The first question I got was one that I get all the time: are developers looking to develop in the area? The simple answer to that one was yes, yes they are. The more complicated answer is that while yes they are looking to develop in the area they are all sort of at a stand still while waiting for the transmission line build-out to come along.
So the next question was a very logical one: what is the status of the transmission lines? Once again, easy answer to this one is they are currently being planned. What's the more detailed answer you ask? Well, transmission companies throughout Texas are currently working on coming up with several different routes in which the lines could be built. They are working with community leaders and landowners to develop a primary and several alternative routes that they will submit to the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT). The PUCT will then choose which route they will build. Construction of the entire system is scheduled to be complete by 2013.
The next question was a very straight forward one: so, the lines are going to be built? The answer to this one was simple again. Yes, the lines are going to be built including a line that is planned to cross the Northeast corner of Floyd County.
Here comes the wheel turner. If the developers are interested in the area and they know that the lines will be here eventually why aren't they already out here securing the land? This was one of those moments when I had to stop and say, "well, I am not sure."
Now before I go any further let me stop and give a disclaimer. I know that there are developers in the area who are talking with landowners and even some landowners who have their land leased, but a lot of that type of stuff is done under the radar. Developers don't necessarily want to broadcast the possibility of developing a wind farm until it's pretty set in stone. Even for those landowners who haven't been talking with developers in our area, it is very possible that developers have their eye on your land.
With that said, I was pretty curious about that question myself. I guess you could say I am a little biased though; I would like for all of our landowners to secure their land with wind developers and I would like for it to happen today. Putting aside my biases, I realized that there must be some logical reasons why developers are slow to jump on the opportunity to secure land with great wind potential like what we have here in the Caprock Plains Region of Texas. Who better to answer this question than a developer who is in this exact situation.
After my discussion with a developer interested in development in the area, I found a little clarity. This is what I got out of that discussion:
The first question I got was one that I get all the time: are developers looking to develop in the area? The simple answer to that one was yes, yes they are. The more complicated answer is that while yes they are looking to develop in the area they are all sort of at a stand still while waiting for the transmission line build-out to come along.
So the next question was a very logical one: what is the status of the transmission lines? Once again, easy answer to this one is they are currently being planned. What's the more detailed answer you ask? Well, transmission companies throughout Texas are currently working on coming up with several different routes in which the lines could be built. They are working with community leaders and landowners to develop a primary and several alternative routes that they will submit to the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT). The PUCT will then choose which route they will build. Construction of the entire system is scheduled to be complete by 2013.
The next question was a very straight forward one: so, the lines are going to be built? The answer to this one was simple again. Yes, the lines are going to be built including a line that is planned to cross the Northeast corner of Floyd County.
Here comes the wheel turner. If the developers are interested in the area and they know that the lines will be here eventually why aren't they already out here securing the land? This was one of those moments when I had to stop and say, "well, I am not sure."
Now before I go any further let me stop and give a disclaimer. I know that there are developers in the area who are talking with landowners and even some landowners who have their land leased, but a lot of that type of stuff is done under the radar. Developers don't necessarily want to broadcast the possibility of developing a wind farm until it's pretty set in stone. Even for those landowners who haven't been talking with developers in our area, it is very possible that developers have their eye on your land.
With that said, I was pretty curious about that question myself. I guess you could say I am a little biased though; I would like for all of our landowners to secure their land with wind developers and I would like for it to happen today. Putting aside my biases, I realized that there must be some logical reasons why developers are slow to jump on the opportunity to secure land with great wind potential like what we have here in the Caprock Plains Region of Texas. Who better to answer this question than a developer who is in this exact situation.
After my discussion with a developer interested in development in the area, I found a little clarity. This is what I got out of that discussion:
First of all, wind developers want to make sure that lines are up, operating and open before they move forward with a project. When developers build a project in a specific area they have to request an interconnection into that grid for a certain amount of MWs that they think their project will provide. For ERCOT and SPP this process takes time and there are lots of studies that have to take place to find out what kind of power generation will affect the lines it goes into as well as the other lines down the road. Until they get farther along with the CREZ process they aren't exactly sure how it will affect the grid. The CREZ lines will allow for more wind farms to be built but it will also help with congestion problems. As the congestion areas are taken care of and developers are convinced that new lines will continue being built and on schedule then we will be more likely to see development pick back up.
One other issue is money. Developers looking at large scale developments will generally lease about 10,000 acres. When they are paying $3 to $4 an acre it can really add up, especially when they are looking at 2012 and 2013 as a projected completion date for the lines. It turns into quite a bit of money the developer is out way in advance of ever seeing a return. Wind developers are also still a little skeptical of the time frame for the transmission lines and are generally waiting to make sure the build-out continues as scheduled.
One other issue is money. Developers looking at large scale developments will generally lease about 10,000 acres. When they are paying $3 to $4 an acre it can really add up, especially when they are looking at 2012 and 2013 as a projected completion date for the lines. It turns into quite a bit of money the developer is out way in advance of ever seeing a return. Wind developers are also still a little skeptical of the time frame for the transmission lines and are generally waiting to make sure the build-out continues as scheduled.
Needless to say, after my discussion with the developer I feel much more prepared to answer that question next time it comes up. And next time it won't require so many wheels turning!
Until next time...
Until next time...
Windy Landowners Seminar
This seminar put on by the Alternative Energy Institute at WTAMU in Canyon, Texas is targeted at landowners, county officials and economic development representatives. Just from glancing over the agenda I can tell you that this is going to be a beneficial seminar to attend if you are interested in wind energy development.
Some topics for the seminar include: landowner issues, economics of wind farms, the future for ERCOT and SPP and much more. The event will take place on Saturday October 17th from 1:30 to 5pm. Register before October 13th for $30 or on site for $40.
Find out more details about the event here: http://www.windenergy.org/wlo/
Some topics for the seminar include: landowner issues, economics of wind farms, the future for ERCOT and SPP and much more. The event will take place on Saturday October 17th from 1:30 to 5pm. Register before October 13th for $30 or on site for $40.
Find out more details about the event here: http://www.windenergy.org/wlo/
Ports-to-Plains
The Ports-to Plains Trade Corridor Alliance recently held its 12th annual conference in Lubbock, Texas, the very city in which the alliance was formed. The conference brought in experts from all across the nation and a few from Canada and Mexico as well.
The alliance is made up of communities, business leaders, government officials and many experts concerned with energy, agriculture and transportation throughout the corridor. The region covers 2,333 miles stretching from Laredo, Texas into Alberta, Canada; it crosses right through the panhandle of Texas. The purpose of the alliance is to bring awareness and spur build-out of the transportation system in order to bring economic benefits to America's heartland. One of the main focuses is on energy development.
Transportation is key; this phrase became a theme for the conference. That phrase is very true for the wind development throughout the corridor. Transportation is vital for wind energy development in West Texas and the corridor runs right through the wind rich region. In order to deliver the equipment for one wind turbine some eight to ten trucks have to be used. Not to mention the fact that turbines continue to get larger and as they do it will be important to have a transportation infrastructure that can handle the growing wind industry.
You can find out more about the corridor and the alliance formed to support it at www.portstoplains.com.
Also, congratulations goes out to Plainview's John Bertsch who was elected chairman of the Ports to Plains Alliance Board of Directors. Read more in this Plainview Daily Herald article.
Until next time...
The alliance is made up of communities, business leaders, government officials and many experts concerned with energy, agriculture and transportation throughout the corridor. The region covers 2,333 miles stretching from Laredo, Texas into Alberta, Canada; it crosses right through the panhandle of Texas. The purpose of the alliance is to bring awareness and spur build-out of the transportation system in order to bring economic benefits to America's heartland. One of the main focuses is on energy development.
Transportation is key; this phrase became a theme for the conference. That phrase is very true for the wind development throughout the corridor. Transportation is vital for wind energy development in West Texas and the corridor runs right through the wind rich region. In order to deliver the equipment for one wind turbine some eight to ten trucks have to be used. Not to mention the fact that turbines continue to get larger and as they do it will be important to have a transportation infrastructure that can handle the growing wind industry.
You can find out more about the corridor and the alliance formed to support it at www.portstoplains.com.
Also, congratulations goes out to Plainview's John Bertsch who was elected chairman of the Ports to Plains Alliance Board of Directors. Read more in this Plainview Daily Herald article.
Until next time...
