Texas invests $4.9 billion to pipe green energy from wind turbines
By Matt Jansen
Soon it may be difficult to fly a kite in Texas because of all the wind turbines there, but the air is almost crackling with energy and excitement as the Lone Star State commits to another round of funding for green wind energy. $4.9 billion to be exact, and that’s not even to build additional wind turbines. This initiative is focused on building transmission lines that will remove the bottleneck choking the flow of green power to locations that need it.
Texas is already producing more wind energy than any other state in the U.S. clocking in at about 5,000 megawatts, according to the Associated Press. It seems that Texans are willing to foot the bill for progress, showing their support by voting 2 to 1 in a vote by the Public Utility Commission.
Approval of the initiative means Texans could be paying about $4 more per month on their electric bill, unless energy savings realized by the new transmission lines offsets the additional cost first.
Patrick Woodson, vice president of E.On Climate & Renewables North America says “people think about oil wells and football in Texas, but in 10 years they’ll look back and say this was a brilliant thing to do.” Woodson may be right as oil prices continue to skyrocket and consumers seek out ways to save money and go green. Wind energy is renewable and the only potential downfall is the erection of wind farms otherwise usable land. Of course, wind turbines could just as easily be installed on the tops of buildings.
The transmission lines would take 3-5 years to build, but Texas is trying to send a strong message out to a global audience that it’s committed to renewable energy in a big way.
Startlingly, PUC Commissioner Paul Hudson revealed that “[Texas] will add more wind than the 14 states following Texas combined”.
Critics of the plan point out that companies building wind farms should help pay for the new transmission lines, and they worry that wind energy can be erratic because air movement is unpredictable.
The kicker? Money from oil is helping to drive the effort:
The wind energy industry has benefited from the support of billionaire oilman T. Boone Pickens, who is planning to build the world’s largest wind farm on about 200,000 acres in the Texas Panhandle. When completed, Pickens’ 2,700 turbines will be capable of producing enough electricity to power 1.3 million homes.
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July 18th, 2008
The tons of steel needed to construct a wind generator tower is produced by an electric arc furnace which requires huge amounts of power from a coal-fired plant. In its entire lifetime, will a wind generator produce enough power to create, say, a wind generator?