| Wind Watch is a registered educational charity, founded in 2005. |
Texas wind farms choked off from grid due to insufficient power lines
Translate: FROM English | TO English
Translate: FROM English | TO English
Thousands of wind turbines in the US are sitting idle or failing to meet their full generating capacity because of a shortage of power lines able to transmit their electricity to the rest of the grid.
The issue of transmission capacity will be high up the agenda as 10,000 wind power industry executives descend this week on Houston, Texas, where the shortage of power lines is hampering the state’s alternative energy plans. The problem is particularly acute in Texas because of the speed with which it has grown its wind power industry, two years ago surpassing California as the state with the most capacity. The solutions devised in Texas could form a model for the future of the industry in the US and elsewhere, as energy companies look beyond fossil fuels for cheaper and greener sources of power.
A proposal for $6.4bn of new power lines linking new wind farms with the state’s public electricity grid, whose cost will be borne mainly by consumers, is proving politically controversial. Wind farm developers are examining building their own private lines.
“Delivering electricity is a very complex system, and wind adds another level of complexity,” Jone-Ling Wang, managing director of global power for Cambridge Energy Research Associates, told the Houston Chronicle before yesterday’s conference. “In Texas, the success of wind means the challenges will be great, too.” In a moment of high symbolism, the American Wind Energy Association’s annual Wind Power conference this year will for the first time be held in Houston, capital of the US oil industry.
State laws requiring alternative energy options for consumers, as well as federal tax breaks, vast open land and high winds have combined to make the Texas panhandle one of the fastest-growing areas of wind farm development in the world.
By Stephen Foley
3 June 2008
This article is the work of the source indicated. Any opinions expressed in it are not necessarily those of National Wind Watch.
The copyright of this article resides with the author or publisher indicated. As part of its noncommercial educational effort to present the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development to a global audience seeking such information, National Wind Watch endeavors to observe “fair use” as provided for in section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law and similar “fair dealing” provisions of the copyright laws of other nations. Send requests to excerpt, general inquiries, and comments via e-mail.
| Wind Watch relies entirely on User Funding |
 (via Stripe) |
 (via Paypal) |
Share:
[ Short URL: https://wind-watch.org/news/?p=53490 ]
