Texas Renewables

It's no secret that Texas has become a leader in the renewable energy industry. Texas has the most MWs of installed wind capacity in the nation and industry leaders are working to make Texas a leader in solar development as well. The Texas Renewable Energy Industries Association (TREIA) recently celebrated the state's success at their 25th annual renewables conference, but they did more than celebrate 25 years of statewide progress with renewable energies. Industry professionals gathered to look toward the future for renewables in Texas and discuss how we get there.

There were three topics that stuck out to me at the conference and I just thought this would be the best venue for discussing them. I encourage anyone with comments or any insight into any of these topics to leave comments, please!!

Topic #1: Governor Perry's Keynote

This was my first time to ever hear Governor Perry speak in person and I was intrigued; apparently so much so that I didn't realize the local news station's camera crew that was obviously there. Check out this video posted on KXAN.com; and no you won't see me in the video, I checked!



You can find out more about Gov. Perry's luncheon address here.

Governor Perry was clear in stating that he thought the rest of the nation should look at what Texas has done with renewables as an example. He also noted that should a cap and trade bill make it through congress it would negate the progress that Texas has had, saying that an energy tax would cause all products that use energy to become more expensive. Perry voiced his concern that this new regulation would place our country at an unfair advantage. His suggestion was for the federal government to study the success that Texas has had and encourage entrepreneurs to be innovative.

Check out this article for more information:
Texas Gov. Perry tells renewable energy industry that cap-and-trade would hurt state

Topic #2: Looking at Solar

Now I am sure it is apparent from our association's name, but just in case you didn't notice our association focuses on promoting our area for WIND energy development. Over the past week I believe that I, as well as our board, may have seen the light (excuse the pun) when it comes to solar development and the potential it offers our area.

We all know that the wind resources in the Panhandle of Texas are good, but turns out the solar resources are pretty good as well! Who knew?! The TREIA renewable conference helped me to understand that an integration of both renewable sources is really the ideal situation because (to put it very straight forward) the sun shines when the wind tends not to blow.

I could talk more about the benefits of solar, but I think I will leave it up to the experts as its a fairly new topic to me and I feel like I should do some more research before I try to talk about it intelligently. I recommend this article in Solar Today Magazine ~ Texas: The Next Solar Superpower?


Topic #3: PUCT Docket # 37567

This topic probably wasn't one that got a lot of attention from many attendees at the conference and really there was only a brief mention of it during one of the breakout sessions, but it was directly related to wind development in the Panhandle of Texas so, of course, it got my full blown attention. A representative from the PUCT brought up the recent CREZ proceedings and the new petition that has been filed by the commission which is meant to determine whether or not there is sufficient financial commitment by developers in Panhandle A and Panhandle B CREZs to justify the PUCT's granting of CCN's to transmission service providers. In English, before the new transmission lines in the panhandle area are going to be built the PUCT wants to make sure that developers in the area are serious about going forward with wind developments that merit the build out of transmission to the Panhandle.

After doing a little research on the topic when I got back to the office last week I found that as of the PUCT's latest schedule developers must submit an intent to file collateral by December 4th and then there will be a hearing at the commission on January 21st.

You can find all filings relevant to this particular PUCT proceeding by going to PUC Interchange, clicking on login and entering 37567 as the control number.

Of course they were many more topics discussed at the conference and many great industry contacts available to network with; if you attended the conference and have anything to add about what you learned at the conference please feel free to post your thoughts in a comment.

Until next time...