Feb 24, 2010
Austin Energy Seeks More Wind Farm Land
AUSTINBUSINESSJOURNAL
Austin Energy Seeks More Wind Farm Land
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Austin City Council members will decide Thursday whether to add another 4,664 acres to Austin Energy's growing stockpile of potential wind farm land.
If approved, the 30-year lease would bring the utility company's total West Texas holdings to 22,000 acres. A spokeswoman for the group said other contingencies must be resolved before turbines actually hit the ground, but construction could begin as early as 2013. The city would pay about $50,000 a year for the land.
The utility company currently supplies about 12 percent of its electricity from renewable sources, mostly wind, but the power is purchased from third parties. If the 22,0000 acres are built-out, it would be the first time Austin Energy produced wind power first hand. The group hopes to generate at least 200 megawatts.
One of the biggest issues weighing on the project is whether Texas can construct infrastructure to move the wind power from West Texas to the rest of the state. Austin Energy has contributed about 4 percent of what it would cost to build a transmission lines network, according to officials.
Austin Energy is racing to meet climate protection goals that increase renewable energy sources to 30 percent of electricity needs by 2020, or 35 percent if the council approves a revised plan sometime next month.
Comments
No comments yet.
Post a Comment
Please keep your comments relevant to the post. Inappropriate or promotional comments may be removed. Email addresses are required to confirm comments but will never be displayed.