Jul 8, 2010
National Geographic touts wind energy efforts in Abilene
By Kimberly Gray and Jamie Lober
July 8, 2010
West Texas, the “Saudi Arabia of wind,” is featured in the July edition of National Geographic magazine, with a photo of a wind farm in the Abilene area illustrating the article.
Wind energy, according to the article, is part of the big picture when it comes to solving the nation’s energy problems such as meeting demand during peak usage times and maintaining a steady flow of energy at all times, combating the threat of blackouts or brownouts in metro areas, and facing the grid’s vulnerability to terrorist attack.
Greg Wortham, executive director of the Texas Wind Energy Clearinghouse based in Sweetwater, said Texas is a leader in the industry because it has to answer only to Austin — the Public Utility Commission (PUC) and the Legislature. Other states have to deal with Congress because of agreements that date back to the New Deal, Wortham said.
That is why the state is in the process of building $5 billion worth of primary transmission lines, much of which is going through Nolan and Scurry counties.
Wortham said almost every time the PUC meets in Austin, which is about every two weeks, it discusses a new line to transmit wind energy.
Oncor is in the process of constructing many of those lines. According to the Oncor website, once a need is identified by the PUC, planning for a Competitive Renewable Energy Zone project (CREZ) begins. A project study area is established and a route analysis is performed.
A preferred route and several alternative routes are planned. Then things like community and environmental impact, as well as cost and engineering constraints are considered.
Then the PUC must certify or approve the project. Once filed for certification, a CREZ project must be acted on within 180 days by the PUC, instead of the standard 12 months for lines outside the CREZ.
This is where problems and conflict arise. People want electricity in their homes, but they don’t want to see the lines near their homes or recreational areas.
“There’s a need to build new lines, but no matter where you propose them, people don’t want them,” Roy E. Dotter, company spokesman for electricity conglomerate PJM, told National Geographic.
The residents and City Council in Winters are an example. They were unhappy with the fact that the views from their homes, their park and lake would be bombarded with lines. They attended a hearing in Austin last month to let their complaints be heard, but the PUC approved those lines anyway.
Rural residents are more affected than any other populations. The National Geographic magazine article pointed out that most energy comes from communities that most people have never heard of because there is room to make electricity and because of accessibility to sources of energy such as coal, bodies of water, and wind.
Wortham said rural residents benefit because each new line means more jobs, a new school, a new factory and even lower energy prices. West Texas, particularly Nolan County, produces a huge amount of wind energy.
“The five largest wind projects in the world are either in Nolan County or adjacent to it,” said Wortham.
Seven of the largest projects are in West Texas.
“Texas, and mainly West Texas, can supply about 2 million homes-worth of electricity from the wind projects that are built,” Wortham said.
Thousands of people are working to make these projects happen, Wortham noted. Factories in Abilene such as Zoltek, which produces carbon fiber, and Tower Tech, which builds towers for wind turbines, are among the business benefiting from the wind energy industry.
“Sweetwater has 40 companies related to wind and employs hundreds of people,” Wortham pointed out. “General Electric has a major operations center there. There are also high altitude rescue companies like Altezza.”
Business development is not coming to a halt anytime soon. Wortham pointed out the new factory from Argentina that opened last week in Sweetwater to make huge components for wind projects.
“They already have well over 20 percent of the United States market even when building from Argentina, and now they are building here in Sweetwater,” Wortham said.
The National Geographic article said blackouts, such as the one in 2003 that shut down the New York Stock Exchange, and global warming “have provided a strong impetus for grid reform.”
Storing electricity will be part of that discussion since more ways to store it will make wind and solar energy more reliable. Wortham said the Wind Alliance plans to discuss storage options at its next meeting in Houston.
Wortham predicted a bright future for the wind industry and local companies that are a part of it.
“Let’s step back and appreciate what we have here,” he said, “which is a huge global industry that is only going to grow in the next 50 years.”
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