Big Money in Texas Wind Power Boom
by Michael Graham Richard, Ottawa, Canada 
on 02.27.08
Wind power in Texas keeps impressing us. A little less than two years ago, the Lone Star state passed California to become the biggest wind power producer in the USA. Since then, it hasn't been resting on its laurels: Installed wind generation capacity has grown faster than any other state. And that's impressive considering that the average growth for the whole country has been 45% in 2007.
Are texans more attracted to the aesthetics of wind turbines than others? Maybe, or maybe turbines just look nicer than oil rigs. The fact that wind is now good business certainly also has something to do with it. For example, Louis Brooks has allowed 78 turbines to be built on his ranch, with 76 more coming. He gets $500/month per turbine. Even uber-oilman Boone Pickens is getting into wind power in a big way.
“I have the same feelings about wind,” Mr. Pickens said in an interview, “as I had about the best oil field I ever found.” He is planning to build the biggest wind farm in the world [4,000 megawatt], a $10 billion behemoth that could power a small city by itself. [...]“I like wind because it’s renewable and it’s clean and you know you are not going to be dealing with a production decline curve,” Mr. Pickens said. “Decline curves finally wore me out in the oil business.”
Currently, wind power supplies only 1% of electricity in the US. That's the equivalent of 4.5 million homes. Denmark is around 20%, but some energy consultants predict that 5 to 7% is a more realistic goal for the US. Are they right? The future will tell, but one certainty is that at current growth rates, wind power's share won't take too long to climb. Meanwhile, solar, wave and geothermal are becoming more affordable...
The United States recently overtook Spain as the world’s second-largest wind power market, after Germany, with $9 billion invested last year. A recent study by Emerging Energy Research, a consulting firm in Cambridge, Mass., projected $65 billion in investment from 2007 to 2015.
::Move Over, Oil, There’s Money in Texas Wind
See also: ::Enercon E-126: The World’s Largest Wind Turbine (for now), ::Texas Passes California as US's Largest Wind Power Producer, ::T. Boone Pickens Gets Into The Texas Wind: 4,000 Mega-Watts Worth, ::Texas Hosting Bids For Offshore Wind Farm Leases
Photos: Brian Harkin for The New York Times
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Texas likes wind power because of its size. It's not that Texans are open to seeing a turbine in their respective backyards -- it's more of a matter of space elsewhere. There's so much of Texas that just isn't anywhere near a large city. It's these kinds of places in TX that are getting the turbines. Here in Dallas, I have never seen a turbine.
Maybe it's because Dallas only has a wind power class of 2.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:US_wind_power_map.png
Also, unlike many other places, there aren't a lot of conservationists to stop the construction. O, irony.
"Also, unlike many other places, there aren't a lot of conservationists to stop the construction. O, irony."
Misguided conservationists, you mean? People who don't understand that if you block wind, that hole is going to be filled by something worse...
That is so cool. It is good to see places stepping up and pursuing alt. energy. I read about a handheld wind turbine the other day made by a company called Hymini -
- Thats pretty cool.
No, they're not misgudided, they just believe that birds are more important than alternative energy. Either that or they think they're too unsightly. Either way I think their priorities aren't in the right place.
More birds would be killed using coal power to generate the same electricity.
$500 per month per turbine is ridiculous. More farm subsidies for the wealthy.
--
editor: Actually, I think they're getting it from the private developer who's leasing the land. It means less subsidies...
It is private wind developers, and it is also a great way to keep ranchers and farmers from selling off their land. There have been tons of problems with farmers and ranchers being unable to keep up economically because of those big farm subsidies. The wind turbines present a new commodity for them to farm and earn a living.
Interesting, I read the other day that an area in TX had a minor power supply problem due to low ind velocity at as time of peak power demand.
http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN2749522920080228?feedType=RSS&feedName=domesticNews&rpc=22&sp=true
The upside of this I think, is that it shows that wind power is producing a nice big amount of juice down there. It will be nice to see when there is more of it coupled with better power storage capabilities.
vsk
These windmills can't happen fast enough as far as I'm concerned. In Alberta we have a little less than a 1000 turbines. It's .3% of are total power needs. They say we could go to 8,000 megwatts and just about produce all of are needs. With a new proposed MT Alberta power line it has the potential of evening some of the spikes out.
We conservationists are not misguided in being cautious about the same wind power that we are so in favor of. The statistics of avian deaths caused by wind turbines are not relevant to the issues that conservationists are concerned about - migrating songbirds at risk because the same flyways used by songbirds are the very corridors attractive to wind farmers. The statistics are based on non-passerine mortality such as hawks.There is a good chance that a Gulf wind farm could cause catastrophic avian losses and deplete songbird populations below a critical mass from
which they cannot recover.
I like this new breed of "wind cowboys". No better state than oil-rich Texas to lead the "winds of change". What a PR coup if this truly works out!
This might be a silly question:
Is it not possible to install a small ultra-sound, high frecuency emisor on every turbine to encourage birds to take another direction? You know, just like a sound lighthouse ...
Feel free to comment on the idea ...
Two or three years ago I was driving on 635 west of I-35 in Dallas and I saw three large wind turbines operating on the north side of I-635. Last week I drove by there again and didn't see any. Does anybody know what happened to these turbines? Now I'm not certain that I remember exactly where they were. Were they located somewhere other than 635? I would appreciate information on these or any other turbines in the Dallas area.
To all conservationists. Shutdown computers and go on field, to see how wild life is. Those giant turbines are not spinning very fast. In fact, are very slow. A miniturbine for 300w have around 1000rpm.
Birds can see and hear better than humans. If birds can avoid a lighting hawk attack then don`t have problems avoiding a very slow blade of turbine propeller. Remember, birds don`t get drunk! If you say you are conservationist and don`t know basic things about birds and wild life, then you are only a story teller.
I was a pigeon breeder.
Regards from Romania.
In response to VVA:
Don`t worry, birds are not on rails like trains. Can go up and down, left and right, etc. Also, have good memory. They can learn new terrain topology. This problem is a false one....
One quick question I have some land in Lamb countey in Texas the land is 5 miles west of Olton, Texas. The land is on then north side of hyway. Who would I need to talk too, about leasing this land to, about getting the wind turbins installed
David
VVA
The answer to your questions about the wind turbines can be found here at this link
http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/showthread.php?p=299891#post299891&conly=