Wind Power in Texas - Overview

Overview

Wind power has a long history in Texas. West Texas State University began wind energy research in 1970 and led to the formation of the Alternative Energy Institute (AEI) in 1977. AEI has been a major information resource about wind energy for Texas.

The expanding wind power market will help Texas meet its 2015 renewable energy goal of 5,000 new megawatts of power from renewable sources.

The table below lists the larger wind farms in Texas, currently operating or under construction. Wind farms which are smaller than 120 MW in capacity are not shown.

Several forces are driving the growth of wind power in Texas: the wind resource in many areas of the state is very large, large projects are relatively easy to site, and the market price for electricity is set by natural gas prices and so is relatively high. The broad scope and geographical extent of wind farms in Texas is considerable:

Wind resource areas lie in the Texas Panhandle, along the Gulf coast south of Galveston, and in the mountain passes and ridge tops of the Trans-Pecos. There are still 80,000 windmills operating in Texas, used to pump water.

Texas farmers may lease their land to wind developers for either a set rental per turbine or for a small percentage of gross annual revenue from the project. This offers farmers a fresh revenue stream without impacting traditional farming and grazing practices. Although leasing arrangements vary widely, the U. S. Government Accountability Office reported in 2004 that a farmer who leases land to a wind project developer can generally obtain royalties of $3,000 to $5,000 per turbine per year in lease payments. These figures are rising as larger wind turbines are being produced and installed.

The wind power industry is also creating thousands of jobs for communities and for the state. Increases in the deployment of wind technology and the various aspects of producing electricity from wind power may help to offset lost jobs in Texas if oil drilling activity on land and in the Gulf of Mexico subsides.

Sabotage and industrial accidents can be potential threats to the large, centrally located, power plants that provide most of Texas’ electricity. Should one of these plants be damaged, repairs could take more than a year, possibly creating power shortages on a scale that Texans have never experienced before. Coal trains and gas pipelines are also vulnerable to disruption. However, wind power plants are quickly installed and repaired. The modular structure of a wind farm also means that if one turbine is damaged, the overall output of the plant is not significantly affected.

Wind is a highly variable resource. With proper understanding it can be incorporated into an electric utility's generation mix. When providing for the generating capacity to meet the peak demand in summer, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), which manages the Texas power grid, counts wind at 8.7% of nameplate capacity. Many areas in Texas have wind conditions allowing for development of wind power generation. The number of commercially attractive sites will expand as wind turbine technology improves and development costs continue to drop.

A drop in West Texas wind from 1,100 MW to 300 MW, as well as a failure of several energy providers to reach scheduled production, and a spike in electricity usage, caused supply problems one evening in February 2008. This resulted in interruptible customers being cut off to avoid rolling blackouts. The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) has said that technological advances will make it easier in the future to forecast wind energy, and that it would help to locate wind turbines in geographically diverse areas of the state.

The wind power boom in Texas has outstripped the capacity of the transmission systems in place, and predicted shortages in transmission capability may dampen the growth of the industry in years to come. It is said that until now, the growth in wind power "piggybacked" on existing lines, but has now almost depleted spare capacity. As a result, in winter the west Texas grid often has such a local surplus of power that the price falls below zero. According to Michael Goggin, electric industry analyst at AWEA, "Prices fell below US −$30/MWh (megawatt-hour) on 63% of days during the first half of 2008, compared to 10% for the same period in 2007 and 5% in 2006." In July 2008, utility officials gave preliminary approval to a $4.9 billion plan to build new transmission lines to carry wind-generated electricity from West Texas to urban areas such as Dallas. The new plan would be the biggest investment in renewable energy in U.S. history, and would add transmission lines capable of moving about 18,000 megawatts.