While this blog is dedicated primarily to wind energy developments in New York state, important events do happen elsewhere that impact the wind industry in New York and nationwide. Case in point — the great state of Texas. Two items of recent note.
Pickens Plan
The first is the plan recently proposed by oil (and now wind?) magnate T. Boone Pickens (the Pickens Plan) to a) take the natural gas used to produce electricity in the United States and redirect it as an alternative energy source for transportation and b) use wind power to make up the difference for electricity production. He’s not just “all hat and no cattle” as they might say in Texas. Pickens is developing in the Texas panhandle what is being reported as the world’s largest wind farm.
Texas transmission
The second is the recent decision by the Texas Public Utility Commission (PUC) to approve a nearly $5 billion plan to build out the transmission capacity (more than 18 gigawatts) necessary to deliver Texas wind power from the remote source areas to the cities consuming the power. Everyone is in agreement, in New York and Texas and in between, that updated transmission facilities are essential to allow wind power to make a sustained, significant contribution to energy production. Texas is now doing something about it.
