Wind Power News: Texas
These news and opinion items are gathered by National Wind Watch to help keep readers informed about developments related to industrial wind energy. They are the products of the organizations or individuals noted.
Gimme a break: Commissioners to consider first step toward tax break
County commissioners could take a first step Monday toward granting a tax abatement to wind power giant Duke Energy.
Commissioners will vote on creating a reinvestment zone to determine the boundaries of where the abatement would take affect. Gary Vest, Odessa Chamber of Commerce economic development director, said this step will have to be taken before an official abatement agreement is considered.
Duke is asking for a 10-year, 100 percent property tax abatement — to begin in 2010 — for . . .
Power line project change introduced
Until last week, the staff of the Public Utility Commission had recommended that new power lines in Gillespie County be built by the Lower Colorado River Authority.
However, the PUC staff now wants the LCRA to work with San Antonio-based CPS Energy on local projects, according to testimony filed Friday with the PUC.
“What they’d said first was, ‘Boy, it kind of makes sense for y’all to do this,’” Robert Cullick, executive manager in corporate communications for the LCRA, said. . . .
Babcock & Brown Unloads Wind Energy
Global investment firm Babcock & Brown on Monday announced that it has sold off wind assets to Magnum Capital for $1.46 billion.
The portfolio includes 515 mega watts of operating windfarms in Portugal and an additional 156 mega watts of wind farms under construction. The sale, effective immediately, will go toward paying off debt.
“We are pleased to be announcing the sale of this portfolio,” Babcock & Brown’s Antonino Lo Bianco said in a statement.
Babcock & Brown in February announced plans . . .
Wind project in Martin County on hold
The volatile economy and a need for electrical transmission lines knocked the wind out of a multi-million dollar wind energy project in Martin County, at least in the short term.
“We’re looking at three or four years,” Martin County Treasurer, Butch Howard, said. “All the paperwork has already been done.”
Howard says the Lenorah project, will add at least one hundred more wind turbines to Martin County, but was originally contracted to add double that number and start construction in . . .
Windmill farm gets county approval
A proposed wind farm in northern Young County took a major step toward reality Monday when commissioners voted to approve a tax abatement plan for British Petroleum.
After more than two hours of negotiations between BP and representatives from Young and Archer counties, Young County legal counsel Alan Carmichael announced an agreement had been reached.
“I’m really happy to announce we have an agreement,” Carmichael said. “The primary issue that was standing in the way was a threshold agreement. What . . .
Wind power, wildlife in the Coastal Bend
Part 1 of our discussion of wind power and wildlife, reported the number of bird deaths from well-sited, modern-design turbine designs was found to be relatively low, especially compared with impact deaths from other power sources, like buildings, power lines, vehicles and domestic cats. But does that mean we can locate high-wind coastal land - or offshore areas - and erect wind turbines and related energy-distribution facilities without considering their impact on land use and wildlife? No, it doesn’t. What . . .
What's next for pampa as T. Boone Pickens postpones his wind farm project
He has vowed to make pampa the wind capital of the world but now T. Boone Pickens is putting his plans on hold.
The impact of the financial markets is now infiltrating to the Panhandle.
Boone Pickens says the credit crunch has stopped him from getting the necessary funds.
” All the wind industry has had to take a step back. It’s because there’s a lot of economics involved. And I assume for Mesa it’s the same situation,” said James Wester, a Wind . . .
Credit crunch, lower natural gas, transmission congestion put brakes on wind power
When investor Boone Pickens put a hold on a huge wind power project in the Texas Panhandle that he had announced in the spring, he wasn’t alone.
A number of wind power developers and researchers say the ongoing credit crisis, together with transmission congestion in West Texas and falling natural gas prices, will slow the state’s breakneck expansion of wind capacity. Texas is the No. 1 wind power state, with more than 6,000 megawatts of capacity in operation and just . . .
Volunteers circulating petitions
Petitions asking local citizens to oppose private power line construction are being collected this week by volunteers in six Hill Country counties.
“We’re going to try to collect as many signatures as we can by Nov. 15; then we will hand deliver the petitions to the powers that be in Austin,” Suzy Stewart who has helped organize the petition drive, said.
Ms. Stewart is working with a Harper-based steering committee that held a public meeting Thursday to organize opposition to . . .
Texas adjusts its grid for wind
Wind energy in Texas has come to play such a prominent role in the state’s power supply, that grid operators need back-up for times when the wind doesn’t blow. (Photo: Brian Harkin for The New York Times)
The major problem with wind as a power source is that it doesn’t blow all the time. To remedy that, Texas is spending $30 million a year to bolster its back-up power, in a change to the electricity grid that began on Nov. 1.
Depending . . .
