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Posts Tagged ‘CREZ’

Texas Senate Votes to Abolish Renewable Energy Programs

Posted in Renewables, Texas Legislature, tagged , , , , on April 14, 2015 |

Texas wind farmToday, the Texas Senate passed Senator Fraser’s anti-renewable energy Senate Bill 931.  If passed by the House, this bill will abolish two of Texas’ few renewable energy programs – the renewable portfolio standard and building of competitive renewable energy zone transmission lines.

Job growth, economic development, stable business climate – I thought those were conservative bread and butter.  The wind industry should have earned the good graces of Texas lawmakers.  Wind farms annually pay over $85 million in taxes to rural Texas counties, plus about $65 million in lease payments to landowners.

solar panels - photo from ShutterstockAnd the solar industry is rapidly becoming a significant driver of Texas job growth as well.  As of November 2014, there were almost 7,000 solar jobs in Texas.  That’s a 68% increase from 2013, a job growth rate 24 times greater than in the Texas economy overall.

And yet, the Texas Senate has decided that Texas should have no renewable energy goal and that it should be more difficult for the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUC) to build transmission lines to prime areas for wind and solar energy development.

Abolishing the Texas renewable energy portfolio standard would cause a devaluing of the Texas Renewable Energy Credit (REC) market and would cause renewable energy developers to lose a revenue stream they counted on when making investments.  Existing projects used REC revenue when applying for financing.  Now developers will have to go back to their financers and let them know that the Texas market has changed, and not for the better.

Competitive renewable energy zones have been established and transmission lines built to bring electricity from west Texas to the parts of the state where electricity is needed.  But that project is not yet complete.  Some of the best areas for solar energy development still have no transmission lines.

So, just as the solar energy is really starting to boom, the Texas Senate has voted to put the brakes on the policies that would best be able to allow this industry, as well as the wind industry, to grow successfully.

SB 931 heads to the Texas House of Representatives next, now is the time to call your Representative to voice your opposition to this anti-renewable energy bill.  If you don’t know who represents you, look it up.

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Wind Energy – Happy Environment, Happy Wallet

Posted in Consumers, Energy, Renewables, Utilities, wind, tagged , , , , on March 3, 2014 |

In a recent blog post, I reported on the completion of a large amount of CREZ transmission lines – infrastructure that incentivizes the production of wind energy – here in Texas. While the discussion around wind energy is usually around environmental responsibility, it is important not to overlook some of the more salient effects of wind energy – namely, consumer savings.

Photo from Renewable Energy Magazine

Photo from Renewable Energy Magazine

A recent report by the American Wind Energy Association notes that states that get more than 7% of their energy from wind have seen electric rates go down by .37% over the last five years, whereas all other states have seen a 7.79% increase in electric rates. Luckily, Texas is one of these 11 states that get more than 7% of its energy from wind, along with Wyoming, Oregon, Oklahoma, Idaho, Colorado, Kansas, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Iowa.

There’s still more good news to come – as more wind develops in Texas, your electric bill could be lowered even more. Some reports show that when wind provides 14% of electricity, prices drop 10%, and when it reaches 24%, prices decline 15% .

Wind’s not just good for the environment, it’s good for your wallet, too.

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Texas CREZ Project Completed and Already Responsible for Expanded Wind Energy Development

Posted in Energy, Renewables, wind, tagged , , , , , , , , on February 10, 2014 |

“CREZ will turn out to be the most visionary thing this state has ever done electricity-wise,” predicts Jeff Clark, executive director at the Wind Coalition, a regional partner of the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA).

201-02-06 - Wikipedia

Wind turbines in west Texas

Only a few days ago, the final segment of Texas’s $6.8 billion, 3,600 mile Competitive Renewable Energy Zone (CREZ) transmission build-out was completed. The project, which has been in the works for over eight years, could signal the beginning of another era of wind power development in Texas.

In 2008, the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) identified five competitive renewable energy zones (CREZs) – geographic areas ideal for wind farms – in the Lonestar State . However, in order to get the energy generated in these CREZs to the areas that need energy most (Dallas-Fort Worth, Austin, Houston and San Antonio), transmission lines needed to be built. Instead of waiting for wind developers to come to Texas, and then begin the multi-year, multi-billion dollar project, the PUCT decided to put in the lines beforehand to entice developers to take advantage of the already existing infrastructure.

The new transmission lines, which will be able to transmit up to 18,500 megawatts of power across the state, will increase the wind capacity in Texas by over 50%, which will be three times as much as any other state in the nation. The large amount of potential wind energy in Texas, along with the new infrastructure, has already resulted in more wind developers coming to Texas, including a project in the panhandle by Pattern Energy Group that broke ground back in October.

All in all, the completion of the Texas CREZ Project is a huge step forward to moving our state towards absolutely clean, renewable energy. Instead of waiting for developers, PUCT has been proactive in creating a better future for our state.
(more…)

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Texas Hill Country CREZ (Transmission line) Project Approved

Posted in Energy, Global Warming, Renewables, tagged , , , , , , on January 23, 2011 |

Brazos Wind Farm in the plains of West Texas

Brazos Wind Farm in the plains of West Texas - by Wikipedia

The Public Utility Commission passed a scaled-back version of a controversial power line project through the Hill Country to bring West Texas wind energy to the urban centers on Thursday, January 20th.  The commission was under a Monday deadline to act on the project.

The three-member panel spent much of that morning tweaking the routes of the lines and towers that will be built by the Lower Colorado River Authority for the project that covers portions of Schleicher, Sutton, Menard, Kimble, Gillespie, Kerr and Kendall counties.

The case had been ongoing for well over a year and was even sent back to the drawing board once due to protests from property owners concerned that the lines would mar scenic Hill Country vistas.

During PUC’s deliberations, Smitherman spoke at length on the need for affordable, reliable power – saying that the state cannot prosper without it. He also pointed out that even though the project is part of a $5 billion package called the Competitive Renewable Energy Zones, the transmission lines would also be available to traditional fossil-fuel generating plant.  And, there is also the potential for utility scale solar in parts of West Texas served by the new transmission lines.

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By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, and cleaner air for all Texans, we hope to provide for a healthy place to live and prosper. We are Public Citizen Texas.

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CREZ Project Wins Unanimous Approval at PUC hearing

Posted in Energy, Renewables, tagged , , , on November 11, 2010 |

The Public Utility Commission (PUC) approved a controversial project to construct new power lines in the counties in the area around Hillsboro over the objections of numerous landowners from the area and several local elected officials.

The 3-0 vote came late yesterday afternoon after testimony from people likely to be affected by the $170 million project and a lengthy discussion among the three commissioners.

PUC Chairman Barry Smitherman announced to the room that he knew, “this is going to disappoint a lot of you, but I’m going to follow the ALJ’s (administrative law judge’s) recommendations.”

Most of the testimony revolved around the recommendations of the judges who presided over the detailed hearing on various possible routes for the segment of the Competitive Renewable Energy Zones, or CREZ, that would extend to several counties, including Hill, Bosque, Navarro, Shackelford and Scurry.

Commissioner Donna Nelson explained that the panel is tasked with balancing a wide range of competing interests to ensure that the state has the power it needs to keep up with ever-growing demand. and went on to note that everybody wants electricity, but nobody wants transmission lines.

The hearing room, along with two overflow rooms, was packed with people who came to Austin from the area where the power lines are planned.  To view the archived video of the hearing, click here.

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PUC Chair’s TX Tribune Interview: Needs Lege Direction on Efficiency, One Agency Idea Might Make Sense

Posted in Air Quality, Consumers, Efficiency, Energy, Global Warming, tagged , , , , , , , , on August 12, 2010 |

Public Utility Commission Chairman Barry Smitherman recently sat down with Texas Tribune reporter Kate Galbraith to talk about energy efficiency, CREZ, smart-meters, non-wind renewables, the switch-hold rule, the Lege, and Federal climate legislation (or lack thereof?). It’s a good read/listen if you have some time. Some interesting highlights:

On the efficiency agency idea (we’ve had something to say about it here, here and here in conjunction with the rather lame energy efficiency rule adopted on July 30):

Galbraith: What do think of the environmentalists’ proposal to house all aspects of energy efficiency under one roof?

Smitherman: I talked to Smitty about it on Thursday, when I came back because I was out of the office last week, and I came in and I was catching up on the clips, and I called him up and I said, well that was quite a letter you sent to Speaker Straus, and we kind of laughed about it a little bit. You know, I think there’s some merit to it. Because whether it’s SECO or here or over at the housing agency, there’s at least three if not more places. Plus you’ve got the local community efforts where energy efficiency dollars are being expended, and there’s really no mechanism in place to coordinate that. And so if you want to take it and put it in SECO or put it over here, I don’t care. I think creating an entirely separate new agency is going to be tough next session because it’s going to be a busy session with redistricting and the budget and a number of other issues — Sunset — but it might make sense to take energy efficiency and house it in one place.

It is encouraging to hear the chairman agree that the nifty idea of combining efficiency programs under one roof makes sense.  PS- The “Smitty” he mentions is Public Citizen’s own Texas State Director Tom “Smitty” Smith, our boss.

On direction from the 82nd Lege:

Galbraith: Do you expect more direction next session?

Smitherman: I do. I think there are a number of members that believe very strongly in energy efficiency. And we saw that this last session with a couple of bills, and so I would expect there to be a robust debate at the end of the session. I don’t know where it will come out at the end of the day, but I think that the debate will be there. And what I hope continues to happen is that we use a broad portfolio of tools to address our energy security and independence and price stability, and energy efficiency is one of those tools. I wouldn’t suggest that we do only energy efficiency and not build the CREZ, for example; or not try to promote a new nuclear plant. But there are some people who really believe that energy efficiency is the way to go.

I don’t know who is advocating for only energy efficiency to accomplish clean air, lower bills and energy security, but it certainly should be a top priority, no?

Check out the entire transcript here to get the rest of the good stuff.

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By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, and cleaner air for all Texans, we hope to provide for a healthy place to live and prosper. We are Public Citizen Texas.

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Texas Coastal Wind Production

Posted in Energy, Renewables, tagged , , , , , , , , on July 21, 2009 |

One type of wind that is being developed extensively and contributing to Texas’ renewable generation assets is coastal wind.

In 2009, several new wind projects have been brought online and are continuing to be developed. This was after an extensive, multi-year long study to minimize the risk of environmental impact in the area. Numerous concerns had been raised about migratory bird issues, wetland protection, and interference with any possible endangered species that might be in the area. Good engineering and construction practices by the developers and innovative use of new technologies help bring these generators safely online.

At Babcock & Brown’s wind farm on King Ranch, which we toured this spring, access roads twist and turn like a crazed snake trail through the brush to avoid any interruption of the natural water flow. The wind tower bases were also completely buried to allow normal water flow and a radar system developed for the military to track birds was put in place.

DeTect, Inc is the company that makes the “avian avoidance systems.”  They installed the radar and collected data for over three years to profile the migratory bird habits and further developed the software for this application. The project developers then hooked the radar tracker into the wind farm control system and allows it to shut down the turbines if approaching migrating bird flocks are at risk.

So now we have a new clean, well engineered source of energy in the south part of Texas.

This is important for several reasons.  The transmission problems that have occurred in the north Texas wind areas which require the build out of large amounts of transmission lines (CREZ) is avoided, but more important is the time of day that the wind blows on the coast. In Texas there is a large increase in the consumption of electricity that starts around noon and peaks between 5 and 6 pm. North Texas wind blows mostly at night, but the coastal wind starts going strong around 2 and peaks right at the same time that the demand is the highest. (See geeky chart supplied by Babcock and Brown).

b&b graph

There is still opposition to situating wind farms in the coastal areas and offshore in Texas but it’s an energy resource that matches our use and is too valuable to waste. With good planning and proper site controls and installation, this will be a major factor in Texas’ clean energy future.

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You so CRE-Z

Posted in Energy, Renewables, tagged , , , , , on July 18, 2008 |

So the Public Utility Commission of Texas announced today that they will go with Scenario 2 on CREZ (Competitive Renewable Energy Zone).

This explains what’s going on pretty well.

[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7905263642828210852&hl=en]

CPS Energy looks kind of ridiculous in it. They originally endorsed Scenario 1b (the least amount of transmission to be considered), but last week the Express-News reported on their change of tune.

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