Great wind isn't really a great resource unless you have access to market. Sean Middleton, Illinois Rural Electric Co-operative.

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Texas currently leads the nation in wind development, and the Texas electric transmission grid has a critical need for expansion. Wind energy production in remote areas of the state has jumped dramatically over the past few years, putting heavy demands on the transmission systems that deliver electricity from the best resource locations in remote areas to where it will be used in urban areas.

The greatest challenge facing the wind industry is that wind farms can be built more quickly than transmission lines. It can take a year to build a wind farm, but five to build the transmission lines needed to send power to cities. Wind power developers are reluctant to build where transmission lines do not yet exist; and utilities are equally reluctant to install transmission in areas that do not yet have power generators. Senate Bill 20 attempts to solve this dilemma with long-term planning that will meet the state's transmission needs into the 21st century by providing for electricity transmission to wind-rich areas ahead of wind farm development.

In October 2006, Texas Governor Rick Perry announced commitments of $10 billion from private companies to increase wind generating capacity in the state by 7,000 megawatts, contingent on the Texas Public Utility Commission (PUC) approving construction of additional transmission capacity to windy areas of the state. In July 2007, the PUC announced its approval for additional transmission lines that could deliver 10,000 more megawatts of renewable power by 2012. New transmission infrastructure will allow all Texans to access the the state's vast wind resources.

Texas Transmission Plan - Senate Bill 20

Although Senate Bill 7 established the State's goal for renewable energy in 1999, it made no special provisions for transmission to interconnect renewable resources. With the rapid growth of the state's wind industry, Texas adopted proactive transmission planning as part of legislative strategy. Significant progress has been made with Senate Bill 20 (SB 20), which laid the groundwork for large transmission lines in order to accommodate present wind industry needs and to further accelerate the use of wind power in the state.

Our future wind power transmission and distribution systems must be safe, secure, reliable, and cost effective. This factor presents a significant challenge to the ultimate effectiveness of the Texas Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS). In order to effectively increase and implement the RPS goals, SB 20 includes a transmission plan for remote regions such as McCamey in West Texas that are handicapped by lack of sufficient transmission infrastructure, the goal being to increase transmission capacity to get clean energy (especially wind) from remote areas of the state to the cities.

Competitive Renewable Energy Zones (CREZ)

"While many states are talking about ways to bring more clean energy to customers and improve air quality, Texas is doing it." Mike Sloan, Managing Consultant of The Wind Coalition

CREZ is a SB 20 mechanism meant to get transmission out to prime wind energy areas before wind farms have even been developed. To ensure that sufficient transmission infrastructure exists to meet the state's goal for renewable energy SB 20 requires that CREZs be designated in the best areas in the state and that an electric transmission infrastructure be constructed to move renewable energy from those zones to markets where people use energy.

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) operates the state's electric grid. ERCOT was designated to collect wind data and nominate a number of CREZs based on transmission cost calculations for each CREZ. The important factors in determining the desirability of an area for wind development are the quality of the wind and the availability of transmission service in the area. In December 2006, ERCOT published a comprehensive report, Analysis of Transmission Alternatives for Competitive Renewable Energy Zones in Texas, which identified the geographic areas that the PUC could designate as CREZs under Texas law.

In July 2007, after evaluating the potential for wind-generation in about 25 areas in the state, the Texas Public Utility Commission (PUC) designated eight areas as CREZs, which were combined into five zones in the areas around McCamey in Uptown County, Abilene and Sweetwater, and the Panhandle. The the PUC's interim final order outlines four scenarios for building transmission from 10,000 MW to 22,806 MW, depending on cost and the number of wind farms that are built. The final order is expected in 2008.

CREZ Maps
To see CREZ maps, go to this PowerPoint presentation by Dan Woodfin, Manager of Regional Planning for ERCOT. He discusses the ERCOT CREZ study. Also see this Wind Coalition web site for additional information.

ERCOT is now in the process of analyzing issues such as support needs, stability analyses, optimization of the on-ramps to accommodate new generation within the CREZs, and analysis of the specific projects or operational procedures needed to mitigate curtailments of existing wind generation. Once the CREZs are finalized, the construction of the necessary transmission facilities between the CREZ and urban areas will begin. According to the Governor's office, construction of the lines will cost an estimated several hundred million dollars over a five to seven year period, which will be paid for by all consumers across the Texas grid.

2007 Federal Rule for Transmission Access
We must harness the power of technology to help us deliver electricity more efficiently. It's time for this country to build a modern electricity grid so we can protect American families and businesses from damaging power outages. President George W. Bush 2005

In February 2007, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission made a final ruling, Preventing Undue Discrimination and Preference in Transmission Service, to allow greater access to transmission lines for power generators of all types, including renewable energy projects. The new rule exempts intermittent power generators, such as wind power plants, from excessive "imbalance" charges when the amount of energy they deliver is different than the amount of energy they are scheduled to deliver. To help accommodate less predictable forms of renewable power generation, the rule creates a "conditional firm" service to deliver power from a generator to a customer, allowing the power supplier to provide firm service for most, but not all, hours in the requested time period.

A key aspect of the new rule is that it eliminates the broad discretion that transmission providers currently possess in calculating the unused, available capacity on their transmission lines. Instead, the new rule requires public utilities to work with the North American Reliability Corporation to develop consistent methods of calculating the available capacity and to publish those calculations to increase transparency. It also calls for open, coordinated, and transparent planning on both local and regional levels.

Additional Resources:

Everything's Bigger- and Greener-in Texas April 2007
Big industry has big plans for wind energy transmission in Texas.

Putting Wind on the Wires: A Texas Tale March 2007
This Utility Wind Integration Group explains how Texas is tackling the problem of integrating more wind energy in to the grid.

IREC's Connecting to the Grid Program
The Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC) Connecting to the Grid program provides services and resources to facilitate the development of interconnection standards and net metering for renewable-energy systems and other forms of distributed generation (DG). This page of the IREC web site serves as an information clearinghouse on interconnection and net-metering issues.

Scope of Competition in Electric Markets in Texas
January 2007. The Public Utility Commission of Texas report to the 80th Texas legislature. The report includes discussion of wind transmission, ERCOT and CRUZs.

Need for Transmission and Generation Capacity in Texas:
Renewable Energy Implementation and Costs
Public Utility Commission of Texas
December 2006

AWEA Transmission Policy
An American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) web site.

Wind Power & Transmission: Getting the Rules of the Road Right
An AWEA article.

Utility Wind Integration Group
The mission of the Utility Wind Integration Group (UWIG) is to accelerate the appropriate integration of wind power into the electric system through the coordinated efforts and actions of its members, in collaboration with wind industry stakeholders, including federal agencies, trade associations, and industry research organizations.

Fair Transmission Access for Wind
An AWEA publication.

Western Governors Association Transmission Report March 2006

Full text of Senate Bill 20 (SB 20)
Texas Legislative Session: 79(1)

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