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Upbeat
Update On Panhandle Wind Power Promises More In Future
By David Bowser
AMARILLO —
It's an ill wind that blows no good, but right now there don't
appear to be any ill winds in the Texas Panhandle.
The winds
here appear to blowing directly into a prosperous future.
A.J. Swope of
Class 4 Winds and Renewables, a wind advocacy organization,
indicated to Texas Panhandle county judges and county commissioners
at a recent gathering in Amarillo that wind energy and the future of
renewable sources of energy are looking bright.
Class 4 Winds
has about 130 members including Westinghouse, Owens Corning,
Amarillo National Bank, Ditch Witch, Sharyland Utilities, Xcel
Energy, Cielo Wind Power, West Texas A&M University, the Alternative
Power Institute, B&B Solvents, and Underwood Law Firm.
A state
project is well underway to provide wind-generated electricity from
the Panhandle to urban areas downstate.
There are
proposals to link the three major grids, east, west and Texas,
together and broaden the market for wind-generated power and
projects that would take power from Northern New Mexico, the Texas
and Oklahoma Panhandles and Southwest Kansas to the eastern and
southeast U.S. and to Southern California and Arizona.
"In Texas in
the last few years," Swope says, "there's been an unbelievable
amount of development."
A majority of
that, he says, was in West Texas, specifically Nolan County around
Sweetwater and Roscoe.
"Although the
Panhandle has superior wind compared to that region," Swope says,
"we didn't see that much wind development because we're in a
different grid that does not have the open transmission
infrastructure that they have."
He says the
Texas Panhandle and surrounding service area are at capacity as far
as what the area can use in electricity generation.
"We try to
serve the region," Swope says of his advocacy group, "specifically
landowners, public officials and business owners in the region who
may have some stake in wind, or at least an interest in knowing
what's happening about how wind or renewable energy can affect the
region."
The region of
which Swope speaks takes in Southwest Kansas, Southeastern Colorado,
Northeastern New Mexico, the Oklahoma Panhandle, and the Texas
Panhandle.
"We promote
the Class 4 Winds region to developers," Swope says.
Once
developers are actively looking at the region, he says, they try to
promote local businesses that could do some of the contract and
subcontract work.
The meat of
the discussion, Swope says, is what's happening with regard to the
transmission lines proposed for the area.
The state's
CREZ (Competitive Renewable Energy Zones) program should enable to
rest of the state to tap into the wind energy in the Panhandle.
The lines for
this region come up from the Dallas-Fort Worth area, across North
Texas through Wichita Falls, then up to near Pampa, over to Amarillo
and down to Hereford before starting back east to Silverton, forming
something that looks like a horse's head on a map.
Swope says
it's probably the best-known transmission project in the state of
Texas.
"It's a
system that will put about 18,500 megawatts of renewable energy on
the grid."
It will take
wind-generated electricity from the Panhandle, West Texas and
Trans-Pecos region to the metropolitan areas of Dallas-Fort Worth,
San Antonio and Austin.
"Those areas
of the state are growing rapidly," Swope points out.
He says they
need more electricity and an updated electric grid.
"If you ask
me," Swope says, "the State of Texas in its wisdom decided to use
one of their own natural resources, our incredible wind resource."
The problem
was not just the wind generation, but the ability to transmit that
power from one area of the state to another.
The last of
these transmission line segments to evolve was in the Panhandle, the
A and B CREZ zones.
One of the
more controversial routes, the Gray-Tesla, is supposed to be
starting construction in July with a planned finish date of March
2013.
The line will
stretch from the Gray Substation near Lefors, Texas, in Gray County
to the Tesla Substation near Kirkland in Childress County.
It faced a
number of questions, including objections by Eastern Texas Panhandle
ranchers worried about the line's path through the habitat of the
lesser prairie chicken.
Since the
small grouse is only proposed for listing under the Endangered
Species Act, it does not enjoy any federal protection, but area
ranchers, who have been fighting to protect the bird so it won't
become listed, worry that with the line going through the critical
habitat, the lesser prairie chicken could become listed and cattle
and oil and gas operations would be affected.
An extension
of that line, Gray-White Deer, goes before the Texas Public Utility
Commission this week.
Once the
commission gives its approval, the company, Cross Texas
Transmission, can start on the right-of-way process.
"Beginning
January 2012," Swope says, "is the planned construction date on that
grid."
It should go
into service, he says, in March 2013.
Hereford to
White Deer was the most controversial line segment in the Panhandle,
Swope says.
"The line was
approved December of 2010."
The
transmission company has started contacting landowners concerning
the transmission line and hopes to begin construction of the
transmission line in August and finish construction by June 2013.
Initially,
the line was to go across Palo Duro Canyon or through the Amarillo
and Canyon area.
"That didn't
set too well with a number of people," says Swope, a Panhandle
native.
The
transmission line now is planned to go north of Amarillo in Potter
County to Oldham County, then drop down to Deaf Smith County, where
the substation will be located.
Swope says
several landowners in the Panhandle wanted the transmission lines on
or near their property.
"In some
cases," he says, "that can lead to better chances of getting a wind
farm."
In the case
of the White Deer-Hereford line, landowners in southern Potter
County weren't interested in having wind transmission lines on their
property, he says.
"They're not
necessarily looking forward to having a transmission line going
through their property, but the Public Utility Commission realized
that if they went north of Amarillo, it will affect fewer people and
not go over a state park, the Palo Duro Canyon."
The Hereford
to Nazareth section of the transmission line was a less
controversial segment compared to those going from near Childress to
Lefors to White Deer to Hereford.
The line from
Nazareth to Silverton will likely be approved in mid-April.
"They'll
begin construction in April 2012," Swope says.
Construction
should be complete by March 2013.
The Silverton
to Cottonwood line was just approved.
Construction
should begin in August with a finish date of December 2012.
Silverton to
Tesla, a long east-west segment of the transmission line, completes
the Panhandle loop and was approved in January, Swope says.
"They'll
begin construction the first of next year, and finish up in
September 2013."
The line from
White Deer to Silverton, the bridle of the horse head, should be
approved in May. Construction is expected to begin in October.
"That's a
pretty quick turnaround."
That section
is expected to be finished by September 2013.
"All in all,"
Swope says, "these lines with as massive a project as this is, it's
pretty impressive."
He says
they've moved back the finish date a couple of months, but most of
them will be finished in 2013.
"They're
doing very well on the scheduling on this whole process. I think
that one more reason we can all be pleased with living in Texas is
that we don't seem to have as much red tape."
He says the
more serious wind farm developers in the region work well with
landowners and communities.
Last year,
the Public Utilities Commission asked developers to put up
collateral on the projects.
"These are
the ones that put up the collateral."
They were
supposed to put up $10,000 per plant megawatt.
While some of
the amounts don't match up with the plans that the developers have,
Swope thinks they have done well and met the amounts they needed to.
E.ON put up
the most with six million dollars of collateral for 600 megawatts
for the line they're running near Pampa.
Higher Power
ended up pulling out of the project at the last minute, and two
other developers had to pick up the slack.
"One of the
things I'm encouraged by," Swope says, "they are great names."
Cielo and
Pattern have already established themselves in the Texas Panhandle.
"They've been
very good to the landowners and very good to the communities."
He says they
are joined by such companies as Iberdrola, E.ON, Clipper, and
Horizon.
"It's very
encouraging to see the names. These are huge companies with major
successes in the wind energy industry."
He says the
project will be a good thing for many in the area.
The state is
divided up into two power grids, ERCOT and the Southwest Power Pool,
and the Texas Panhandle is in the Southwest Power Pool, which is
part of the Southeastern United States interconnect.
The Southwest
Power Pool is planning an expansion over the next decade beyond the
Texas Panhandle.
There will be
lines from Guymon, Okla., to Woodward, Okla., and lines coming down
to Lubbock.
"This is
different from the CREZ grid," Swope says. "Not all that expansion
is meant for wind development, but I think it will be able to absorb
some."
The South
Power Pool lines and CREZ lines won't initially be linked, but that
leads to the Tres Amigas Superstation, planned for Eastern New
Mexico.
"The United
States is split up into three groups," Swope says.
The country
is divided with the Western Interconnect west of the Rockies, the
Texas Interconnect (ERCOT) and the Eastern Interconnect, which
covers the rest of the country, including the Texas Panhandle.
"Each of
these grids operates independently from one another."
Texas is an
intrastate grid, he notes.
"It has no
lines crossing it for any other grids or any other states," Swope
says.
That means
that Texas does not have to deal with the federal government
concerning its grid.
"Texas seems
to be very happy with being an intrastate grid," Swope says.
But the Tres
Amigas Superstation would connect all three grids throughout the
United States so energy from any of the grids could be possible, and
that energy could be transferred to another grid.
"Should this
project go through," Swope says, "you could have a wind farm in the
Eastern Interconnect and someone in the Western Interconnect, maybe
a utility in California, could buy the power, or someone with a wind
farm in Arizona could sell their power to someone in Texas."
That would
give the power-generating industry more flexibility.
If the
federal government ever puts a renewable energy standard in place,
Tres Amigas could be the solution for parts of the country with
little renewable energy, such as sun or wind.
With Texas
operating independently and not being monitored by the federal
government, there's some question whether Texas will participate.
"It looks
doubtful," Swope says, "because they worry that if they were to be
connected to the Eastern or Western grids or both, they would be
subject to FERC (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) regulation."
The question
right now is whether something can be worked out or if the
interconnection project become Dos Amigas?
Swope says
Tres Amigas is planning on breaking ground this year.
"I don't know
what will happen there," he says, "but they've got plans to start
construction this year."
Swope says
it's a very interesting idea.
"If it comes
to fruition," he says, "it's going to lead to the potential of a lot
more renewable energy in a lot more places."
The newest
proposal is the Plains and Eastern Line by a company called Clean
Line.
"Clean Line
is a private company," Swope says.
The idea is
to build a transmission line from the Oklahoma Panhandle near Guymon
all the way to Tennessee.
The
500-kilovolt line would extend about 800 miles to take wind power
from the Northern Texas Panhandle, Oklahoma Panhandle and Southwest
Kansas to the states that don't have as much renewable resources in
the east and south.
Swope says
that potentially the project could broaden the area used for
wind-generated electrical production.
"The Oklahoma
Panhandle, Texas Panhandle and Southwest Kansas, the wind resources
are just incredible," Swope says.
It's a three
and a half billion-dollar investment unrelated to the CREZ projects
now underway.
"They're
looking at creating 10,000 jobs total," Swope says. "It's an
interesting concept."
The Plains
and Eastern Project is the first project that Clean Line is focusing
on, Swope says, but they also have others, including one that would
ship electricity from wind farms near Santa Fe, N.M., to Western
Arizona and Southern California, and the Grain Belt Express from
Southwestern Kansas to the Midwest. |
