Renewable Infrastructure: Power Transmission
Time to put your name on the line for more wind power in Texas!
Vince, over at Capitol Annex, has a post up this morning encouraging readers to sign State Rep. Mike Villareal's (D-San Antonio) petition encouraging the Texas Public Utility Commission to select a plan to build new transmission lines that maximize the geographical areas and capacity of new transmission lines designed to bring renewable energy east from wind farms in West Texas. Here's how Villarreal put it: It's
time to invest in solving our energy crisis. Part of that solution is
a commitment to maximizing the transmission lines that carry renewable
energy from west Texas to our population centers. In the interest of
cleaner air, new jobs, and lower long-term energy costs, I urge you to
choose the bold grid development plan contained in CREZ Scenario 3.
Let me give a quick summary. You can take at a Powerpoint prepared for the PUC that gives the slimmest of outlines of the proposals here. The gist of the plans:
Scenario 1(A): The cheapest ($3 billion) and least flexible of the plans, would be capable of carrying 12 Gigawatt's (Gw) of power with least flexibility for future development.
Scenario 1(B): A step up from Plan A, mainly because it is more flexible by making future development easier. Like Plan A, it would deliver 12 Gw for around $4 billion.
Scenario 2: Delivers around 18 Gw for right at $5 billion.
Scenario 3: Delivers around 24 Gw for $6.5 billion.
Scenario 4: Delivers around 24 Gw for around $6 billion. It's cheaper than #3 but carries 1/2 a Gw less power and leaves out a section of the Panhandle.
Villarreal encourages Scenario 3 because it creates the most flexible plan with the highest capacity. Having read through the info I've found for this posting, I agree with him. The Environmental Defense Fund also supports this version of the plan:
"Texans should favor proposals providing
the most power possible from tapping into wind, an abundant, clean and
renewable energy source," saidScott Anderson, senior policy analyst with Environmental Defense Fund.
"Scenario 3, by enabling Texas businesses to build up to 24,859 MW of
wind capacity, will displace more high-priced power than any of the
other scenarios – particularly power from coal. All large power plants need transmission lines to
send power to customers. Wind power plants are no different. Just as it
built farm-to-market roads 65 years ago, Texas today needs power lines
to get its wind resource to market. Only by investing in new
cost-effective infrastructure to harness the wind can Texans maximize
the benefits of clean, secure wind power. Compared to rising costs of
fuel for generation, and costs from pollution, including air quality,
health effects and water consumption, building infrastructure to
support wind power development makes economic sense for Texas.
The Wind Coalition is a trade group for generating power from wind and so they've got a vested interest in pushing the most extensive project, but here's their thumbnail of why we need these transmission lines:
Makes sense. Here's the page from which the quote was pulled: The Wind Coalition.
If you want to go really deep with this, you can download the entire Transmission Optimization Study here: ERCOT'S CREZ Transmission Optimization Study.
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