Texas expects to double use of wind energy

Fuel Fix:

New West Texas transmission lines helped Lone Star wind power reach new gusty heights, hitting a record of more than 10,000 megawatts of generation late Wednesday night.

The new West Texas transmission lines – with the unwieldy name of Competitive Renewable Energy Zone lines – cost the state almost $7 billion by the time they were completed last December, but are expected to earn their keep, giving the state the ability to nearly double its use of wind energy.

“These Texas wind records were made possible by the completion of the Competitive Renewable Energy Zone transmission lines earlier this year,” said Michael Goggin, the transmission expert for the American Wind Energy Association in a written statement “These power lines connect world-class wind energy resource areas in West Texas and the Texas Panhandle to electricity demand centers in other parts of the state.”

Wind generation accounted for nearly 30 percent of the 35,768 megawatts of electricity at its peak that evening, and made up nearly 40 percent the following morning, according to the American Wind Energy Association.
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Wind power makes up about 10 percent of Texas power generation--when the wind is blowing.  Offshore  wind turbines in the Coastal Bend region of Texas could generate more consistent power.  The administration which has designated a prairie chicken  as threatened by oil and gas production, refuses to disclose data on the birds killed by the wind mills.