Advocates envision Texas as solar power leader

[jtk1519]

Advocates envision Texas as solar power leader
09:09 AM CST on Monday, February 22, 2010
By RANDY LEE LOFTIS / The Dallas Morning News
rloftis@dallasnews.com

The sun could rival the wind as a clean power source in Texas' near future, if the state gets serious about tapping the potential of pollution-free solar energy.

That's the belief, at least, of some builders, equipment manufacturers and energy experts.

Texas already leads the nation in producing wind power, and given its sunny climate, scientists say it has the capacity to dominate solar, too.

To help make that happen, solar advocates are urging the Texas Public Utility Commission to set solar usage requirements for electric retailers.

"We actually are a perfect environment, economically and thermodynamically, as a raw resource for solar, but it hasn't taken off," said Michael E. Webber, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Texas.

"However, I think it's about to," said Webber, who is also associate director of UT's Center for International Energy and Environmental Policy.

The PUC, an agency run by three gubernatorial appointees, is considering a plan to give solar power the same kind of boost that the state gave to wind power in 1999.
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Texas' renewable energy standards, among the most aggressive in the country, have been so successful that electric companies met the 2009 goal by 2005. The Legislature responded in 2005 by setting more ambitious targets for 2015 and 2025.

Nearly all of Texas' growth in renewable energy has been in wind power, which increased fourfold over 10 years. Other renewable power sources remained afterthoughts.

Solar power was especially held back by its cost, technological challenges and lack of transmission lines from sun-rich West Texas to energy-hungry cities.

Legislators recognized the lag with a 2005 mandate that Texas energy include at least 500 megawatts of new power from sources other than wind by 2015. The state also took steps to provide more electric transmission lines.
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http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcont...s.3dde67c.html

[prospekt]

Cool, I did not know TX was the lead in wind power, always assumed CA. Where are the biggest arrays in TX?

[JoninATX]

This is good news, hopefully we'll start seeing more renewable energy acoss America creating a better Economic boom for people and the planet..

[jtk1519]

Originally Posted by prospekt

Cool, I did not know TX was the lead in wind power, always assumed CA. Where are the biggest arrays in TX?

Around the city of Abilene about 150 miles west of Dallas/Fort Worth and stretching along 40+ miles of I-20 from Abilene to Sweetwater. There are about 10 wind farms in that area which combined have a capacity of more than 3500 MW (by contrast the entire state of California has a capacity of just over 2600 MW) including the Roscoe Wind Farm about 45 minutes West of Abilene which as of late last year was the single largest wind farm in the world.

[Trae]

They need to put some on the coast now.

[jtk1519]

Originally Posted by Trae

They need to put some on the coast now.

There was a plan a couple of years ago to build an offshore wind farm on 11,000 acres 7 miles off the coast of Galveston Island...


http://www.windenergypartners.biz/gow.html#

I don't know what became of that plan, but it was announced before Katrina and Ike so it's possible it was delayed a bit.

[urbanlife]

All sunshine states should be leading in solar power for a reason. Also, we already know the wind patterns for the country, it should be very easy to target the best areas for wind power. It disturbs me that this country is so far behind on all of this technology that we have known about for a long time now.