Big Problem in Texas: Lots of Wind, No Way to Transmit It All

Texas, a big state, has a big problem. It has a wealth of wind energy production capacity, but its transmission lines can only handle about half of it. The issue has become the classic challenge for meaningful implementation of green Smart Grid technologies: how to get that precious renewable clean energy from where it's generated to the population centers where it's needed.

Texas is the country's top producer of wind power and has more than 8,500MW of wind capacity, mostly from its West Texas wind farms. But the state's transmission infrastructure can accommodate only about 4,500MW. That's a lot of clean energy going to waste because it can't get from point A to point B.

It's a headache the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) is trying to deal with. Council spokeswoman Dottie Roark told the Daily Texan newspaper that the growth in capacity was staggering: from 2,800MW in 2006 to its current capacity. The reasons for that growth, she noted, can be attributed to the state's new policy that rewards environmentally friendly businesses. Also, the state's energy sector was deregulated in 1999, which opened the doors for more companies to generate power.

ERCOT manages power for about 22 million customers in Texas, or 85% of the state's electric load. As the state's biggest electric grid operator, ERCOT has planned to oversee construction of a new high-voltage transmission line system, but it will be expensive at almost $5 billion. ERCOT expects the new transmission system, which private companies are being urged to build, will be up and running by 2013.

What is alarming Texas regulators and others right now is that the transmission system expansion is a long-term project, a concept at odds with the state's quickly growing population.

Most of that West Texas wind power doesn't stay in West Texas. Most goes to cities such as Dallas, Houston, Austin and San Antonio—on the opposite and more populous side of the state. And the Dallas metro area is now the country's highest growth region. Overall, the population of Texas has grown twice as fast as the national average in the past several years.

And there are other associated issues ERCOT, Texas regulators and others will need to deal with. The incorporation of more and more wind energy into the electric grid will require a balancing act with its other power sources, such as coal-fired plants, and also will require Smart Grid technologies to accommodate the variable and intermittent output of wind power.

The state has enough energy for now, but there will need to be much more in the future.

Apparently, everything is bigger in the Lone Star State—even its problems.

   Daily Texan news article

   Reuters additional coverage

   Texas Stimulus Toolkit on SGN