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Transmission Holding Back Not Only Pickens' Plans But All US Wind

July 9, 2009 | 6 Comments

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Washington, D.C. & Texas, United States [RenewableEnergyWorld.com] This week, T. Boone Pickens announced that his plans to build the US $10 billion, 4,000-megawatt, Pampa Wind project are on hold. He cited lack of available transmission and funding concerns as the reason for the scale back. The oilman said that his development company, Mesa Power, will instead focus on smaller projects.

The results were mixed as the report card gave a C- to the nation's efforts on transmission, technology development recieved a grade of A-, manufacturing a B+, and siting a B.

Picken's announcement comes the same week the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) has released its 20% Wind Report Card, addressing the progress made in the U.S. to the 20% wind figure laid out by the federal government last year. Pickens said transmission was the largest reason for his pull back and AWEA found it to be the largest area lacking in the U.S. wind market.

The report gives the U.S. a B for its 2008 progress toward reaching 20% of electricity supply from wind energy by 2030. The report card examines progress in four key areas--Technology Development, Manufacturing, Siting, and Transmission & Integration.

The results were mixed as the report card gave a C- to the nation’s efforts on transmission, technology development recieved a grade of A-, manufacturing a B+, and siting a B.

In 2008, the nation made great strides toward 20% wind, with wind accounting for 40% of the nation’s new generating capacity, the Report Card notes. However in 2009, wind farm development is expected to slow sharply leaving further progress somewhat in doubt.

According to AWEA, key policy ingredients needed to put the U.S. back on track to reach 20% wind by 2030 include a strong Renewable Electricity Standard (RES) with aggressive near-term targets in energy legislation now pending in Congress.

“A strong RES is essential to give businesses the certainty they need to invest in factories in the U.S. and create new jobs,” said Rob Gramlich, AWEA's Policy Director “There is an opportunity to reach 500,000 U.S. jobs related to the wind industry alone under a 20% scenario, but a commitment from manufacturers and wind companies to add jobs requires a commitment from the U.S. policymakers to domestic renewable energy.”

For more information on the report card, click here.

Wind Power

6 Reader Comments

Comment
1 of 6

craigc

July 9, 2009

Transmission planning and build-out is transitioning from 50 years of neglect. Suddenly focusing the total build-out/smartgrid effort to support wind technology with a 35% capacity factor would be extremely short sighted and a huge waste of resources. Transmission lines are like pipelines. They need to be built large enough to accomodate all possible sustainable renewable technologies and in proximity to areas with highest return considering all technologies.

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2 of 6

Anonymous

July 9, 2009

Transmission in this country is at least 20 years behind the curve. Ask any transmission planning engineer, and you will get the same response. Just like the interstate highway system invigorated commerce in this country, a nationwide, coordinated transmission system will do the same. Electric service will be cheaper, more reliable, and renewables will be able to be moved easily to load centers from areas where the wind is blowing and the sun is shining. The amount of savings and efficiency brought about through a smart grid would also be a huge benefit and go a long way in reducing the country's energy usage. At some point, this planning needs to happen on a federal level, not on a state or regional level as is typical today.

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3 of 6

butopia

July 9, 2009

Uhhhh... Hold on. First of all, Pickens is a notorious self promoter. Whatever the "truth" is on the lack of transmission, it isn't clear that this is the reason he is backing away from his "plan".

Can he get his scheme financed? Does it make financial sense? Does it make ELECTRICAL sense?

Much of the wind power that has been built in Texas can't be brought to market because of transmission constraints BUT that has as much to do with the generation profile not matching the load profile and the extreme distances between where the power is being generated and where it is being consumed.

Many of the transmission projects being proposed in the 2000+ miles of new CREZ related transmission are financial boondoggles that don't work efficiently. Why the entire rate base of ERCOT should pay for this is a mystery. The generators should be required to make transmission system improvements as part of the construction of the generating capacity and they should have to prove up that the power actually gets somewhere it is needed.

Paying Fed and State dollars to wind farms that are marginal in terms of power getting to market is not in any of our interests. Maybe T. Boone has just figured out that is the case and it doesn't make money for him to do it either.

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mike-holly-17241

July 10, 2009

So why is the US wasting so much money on the insane "Pickens" plan to transmit wind power from the Midwest to the coasts? I suspect the wind interests have made a deal with the utility devil. The Obama politicians and wind industry gets a short term stimulus with tax dollars. Renewable energy as represented by utility-scale wind will fail and the bubble will pop (like Clinton's high tech and Bush's real estate). The nation becomes even more financially desperate and must allow the utility monopolists to go back to building fossil and nuclear fuel plants. Other renewables, including lower-cost, base-load and local hydroelectric, geothermal and biomass never get a chance to prove renewable energy can bring prosperity and save the environment.

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phil-manke-79191

July 10, 2009

AND we certainly avoid talking about the electricity not needed through the implementation of solar heating and cooling machinery. What part of the idea that half of the energy used, which is for for heating and cooling, would not even be required if solar water heating devices were funded countrywide seems so devastating? This just makes too much sense for the government to back and it won't pad the pockets of our reps in congress. For less than the cost of the "bankster boys bailout", or the "stimulust package" we could be well on the way to energy independence by mandating solar heating and cooling devices..

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herschel-specter-170254

July 14, 2009

Transmission lines dedicated to a wind farm would have capacity factors set by their sources of electricity. The best wind sites in continental US have capacity factors of about 42%. Therefore their transmission lines would, at most, have a capacity factor of 42%. Onshore wind farms in New England only have capacity factors of about 22%. These low capacity factors are cost factors for renewable energy that are often ignored.

It is well known that solar electric facilities do not collect energy at night. Less known is that there is a large seasonal variation too. Data gathered by a solar insolation measuring facility in Desert Rock, Nevada showed that winter insolation was about half that of peak values in June-July. A solar plant rated for 1000 MWe in the peak summer months would be the equivalent of about 500 MWe in the winter. Where is the missing energy going to come from?

The true costs of wind power has to account for its intermittent output, the fact that supply and demand often do not match daily and seasonally, and the strong possibility of creating grid instabilities. These technical problems may be overcome with energy storage, but that costs money too. However, until that is done the true cost of wind power is unknown.
Herschel Specter
mhspecter@ns.sympatico.ca

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