Due to the remarkable success of the wind energy development project in Texas, local politicians are now looking for ways to go about ending the state’s support for the renewable power industry.
There are, quite literally, thousands of wind turbines across West Texas and up and down the Gulf Coast, all of which contribute to the State accounting for nearly 20% of the country’s total capacity.
The efficiency with which this system runs has led numerous companies like Google and Dow Chemical to come in and invest hundreds of millions of dollars in Texas in an effort to lower their carbon emissions.
Republican Senator Tony Fraser, who is chairman of the Senate Natural Resources Committee, championed the State’s wind energy project nearly 10 years ago. Now, due to its success, he’s filed legislation to end it.
Some numbers to consider his reasoning behind this decision. The original goal of 2,000 megawatts of renewable energy in 1999 was eventually increased to 10,000 to be met by 2025. The project proved much more efficient than that, passing this goal five years ago; today, it accounts for 12,800 megawatts of wind power. During peak operating hours, it supplies more than a quarter of the electricity on the grid.
“Mission accomplished. We set out to incentivize and get wind started in Texas, and we far surpassed that goal,” Fraser said. “There's no state that's come close to what we've done.”
The paperwork Fraser has filed seeks to freeze the state’s Renewable Energy Credit program — basically a requirement that power retailers had to buy credits from wind and solar farms to meet state renewable standards.
Fraser also wants to end the more than $7 billion dollar Competitive Renewable Energy Zone project, which has been responsible for constructing 3,600 miles of transmission lines to bring wind power to Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, and Austin.
Renewable energy companies and environmental advocates are lobbying to let the program run through 2025. Their argument is that ending it with such little warning could endanger an industry that’s created over 100,000 jobs statewide.
“We think it sends a message Texas is not really wanting to send, that Texas is not committed to renewables. It will be national news,” said Jeff Clark, executive director of the Wind Coalition. “The financing of these projects was predicated on being able to sell those” renewable energy credits. “Ending the project overnight will materially affect the financing of those projects.”
Former State Comptroller Susan Combs counters the groups’ argument by questioning the rationale for ‘subsidizing’ renewable energy.
“It's time for wind to stand on its own two feet,” Combs said. “Billions of dollars of tax credits and property tax limitations on new generation helped grow the industry, but today they give it an unfair market advantage over other power sources.”
Data related to what financial impact there will be come the end of Texas’ renewable program has not been published.
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