PUC grants river authority more time to look at alternative wind power routes
The Public Utility Commission decided today to give the Lower Colorado River Authority more time to look at alternative routes for proposed transmission lines that would carry wind power from West Texas to the central part of the state.
LCRA made the request a week ago.
The LCRA won the right to build, own and operate about 600 miles of new and existing transmission lines to link centers of renewable energy to consumers.
One line could stretch through Kimble, Gillespie, Kendall and Kerr counties; a second may run through Gillespie, San Saba, Llano, Burnet and Lampasas counties.
The current study areas for the transmission lines had led to pushback from some Hill Country landowners, who worried the lines would run over their properties.
The lines will be strung from tower to tower, each tower standing as high as 180 feet tall and about 1,300 feet apart. They will run through a clear-cut easement as much as 160 feet wide.
“By any measure, today’s ruling by the PUC is a victory for the future of this fragile, beautiful region,” said Bill Neiman, president of Clear View Alliance, a group of landowners and organizations, in a news release.
The LCRA wanted more time to look at situating the lines along U.S. Highway 277 and Interstate 10 and along existing transmission line routes. The new deadlines are January and July for portions of the route that initially had a late October deadline, and a late October deadline for a portion of the route that initially had an early October deadline.
The wind transmission line issue has spun out of a state legislative mandate to raise the amount of power Texans get from renewable sources.
By Asher Price
24 September 2009
Tags: Wind power, Wind energy
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