Babcock & Brown Gulf Coast wind project clears legal hurdle
Babcock & Brown said that a federal court in Texas dismissed a lawsuit, clearing a path for the company to continue its plans for a wind farm on the Texas Gulf Coast.
The Coastal Habitat Alliance filed suits related to the construction of two separate wind energy generation facilities, including the Babcock & Brown facility, in December 2007. The federal suit challenged the state’s decision to allow the developments to be built without required environmental review and public comment and sought possible injunction against the Texas Land Commissioner, the commission and the developers of the two wind farms, PPM Energy and Babcock and Brown.
The suits were filed a week after the Public Utility Commission of Texas approved a $60 million transmission line project to be built by AEP Texas that would connect two wind farm sites to the state’s power grid.
In Texas, developers need neither state nor federal approval to erect wind turbines on private land. But the Alliance claimed that because Texas receives federal funds to help protect the coastal region through the Coastal Zone Management Act, a thorough environmental review of the wind projects was required.
Once operational, the Babcock & Brown’s facility will reportedly consist of 118 wind energy turbines with a total capacity of more than 283 MW. The Babcock & Brown and PPM wind farms, as well as AEP’s transmission line, are planned to be built on the Kenedy Ranch, a neighbor of King Ranch, a member of the Coastal Habitat Alliance.
Both wind projects are scheduled to be operational by late 2008 and should generate around 388 MW in total. The projects would cover 60,000 acres and would include more than 500 wind turbines.
Power Engineering International
7 August 2008
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