Wind Day May Just Blow Over in Texas
There’s a lot of hot air in Texas. The Lone Star State produces more wind energy than any other state. Wind power accounted for 6.9% of the electricity generated in Texas during 2011.
In 2006, Texas surpassed California to lead the nation in wind-generating capacity. Now that’s a race we may not want to win – beating California in doing dumb things!
Here we are — the top oil and gas state in the country — and our state legislature has been pushing wind energy with legislation which passed in 1999 and in 2005 to increase renewable energy. Sounds like the Obama Administration.
Why so much wind in Texas? Government subsidies account and tax incentives (not things we at AFP like) account for much of the industry’s growth.
And we do have the eggheads working on the issue. Texas Tech is the only University which offers both a Ph.D. and an undergraduate degree in Wind Science and Engineering.
According to the Texas Tribune, the cost of building thousands of miles of transmission lines to carry wind power across Texas is now estimated at $6.79 billion, a 38 percent increase from the initial projection three years ago.
The new number, which amounts to roughly $270 for every Texan, comes from the latest update on the project prepared for the Public Utility Commission.
Some land owners claim property rights are violated and transmitting the energy from wind farms to areas who need the power is expensive and problematic.
Why post this breezy information? Friday is “Global Wind Day” and environmental extremists across the country are expected to be celebrating and calling for more and more of our tax dollars to be used to subsidize their wind dreams. But don’t expect too much celebration in Texas – we could not find a single event planned in the windy Lone Star State.
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