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Texas Wind Industry's Rapid Growth Creates New Challenges

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Texas Wind Industry's Rapid Growth Creates New Challenges BU S I NES SEX R E V I E W A TBureau of Business Research • IC2 institute •The University of Texas at AustinSFebruary 2010 In the past decade, Texas began to harness in carbon emissions and other harmful by- Texas Wind some of its abundant wind potential and, in products associated with some conventional the process, became an international wind forms of power, decreased dependence on Industry's energy leader. The state currently accounts for foreign oil, and economic revitalization of more than 25 percent of installed wind energy rural areas, to name but a few. As compelling Rapid capacity in the United States (see Table 1). as the arguments for wind energy may be, the But while 2009 brought a new pro-renewable growth of wind energy in Texas hinges upon Growth energy administration in Washington, the industry’s ability to address issues that may increased public awareness and interest in limit future development. green technology, and an ever-expanding Creates New demand for energy, the growth of the state’s For example, although wind energy has been new installed capacity fell below 40 percent touted as a green alternative to traditional Challenges for the first time since 2006 (see Table 2, p. generation, there is growing concern about 2). While the recession-induced credit crunch the environmental impact of development by and falling natural gas prices were two obvious on certain key species. And on the political culprits, Texas faces a host of other challenges as front, while the wind industry successfully Will Furgeson avoided any major setbacks during the 81st Development Manager, it seeks to retain its position atop the domestic Invenergy wind energy market and attract the capital and Legislative Session in 2009, the industry must new jobs that the booming renewable energy navigate through another session in 2011. In industry can bring. the interim, two state agencies with significant industry influence, the Electric Reliability Advocates for wind energy cite many reasons Council of Texas (ERCOT) and the Public for a shift away from traditional generation and Utility Commission of Texas (PUC), are up for toward renewable energy – huge reductions review by the Sunset Advisory Commission. Table 1 United States Total Power Capacities (MW) as of 12/31/2009 MW Under Rank State Existing MW Construction (Existing) Texas 9,410 302 1 Iowa 3,670 200 2 California 2,794 121 3 Washington 1,980 170 4 Minnesota 1,809 60 5 Oregon 1,758 337 6 Illinois 1,547 539 7 New York 1,274 21 8 Colorado 1,246 51 9 North Dakota 1,203 76 10 National Total (all 50 states) 35,159 3,188 Source: American Wind Energy Association, www.awea.org/projects, accessed 1/26/10. responsible for 75 percent of the land area Table 2 in the state and 85 percent of its load, exists Texas Wind Energy Growth and operates entirely within Texas; the lack Year MW Installed Year-over-year of oversight from multiple state governments % Growth allows for a greater degree of adaptability for 2005 762 58.93 % the industry. 2006 774 37.66 % ERCOT also has a unique market design that 2007 1,618 57.19 % encourages the development of generation If the CREZ 2008 2,671 60.06 % projects. Unlike in other regions of the United implementation is a 2009 2,292 32.20 % States, generators in ERCOT are not charged a fee for the use of transmission facilities, nor are successful antidote Source: American Wind Energy Association for transmission they guaranteed the right to deliver their ener- And perhaps most importantly, in order to gy to consumers. ERCOT dispatches the least- constraints, the plan cost generation first, which forces generators could provide a meet the needs of a large (but geographically distant) consumer base, the industry needs the to bid high enough to cover their variable costs model that might be build-out of the transmission improvements but low enough to be dispatched. This open ac- duplicated across the associated with the PUC’s Competitive cess policy tends to encourage low-cost genera- Renewable Energy Zones (CREZ) plan. tion to enter the market. Since wind energy has nation. no variable costs, wind generators can bid low All eyes are on Texas as the still relatively young and drive costs down across the market. wind industry matures and seeks to assert itself in a rapidly evolving energy marketplace. If the The relative ease with which wind energy CREZ implementation is a successful antidote companies can compete within ERCOT to transmission constraints, the plan could was one of the driving forces behind the provide a model that might be duplicated development of wind energy in Texas across the nation. If not, Texas could get left throughout much of the past decade. Texas was behind as wind energy companies focus their also an early adopter of a renewable portfolio near-term development elsewhere in states like standard (RPS), a tool that encourages renew- Oklahoma, Kansas, Iowa, and the Dakotas. able energy development by mandating targets for renewable generation. Senate Bill 7, passed in 1999, called for 2,880 MW of renewable The ERCOT Advantage energy to be installed and integrated into the The rapid growth of the wind energy supply state’s energy portfolio by 2009. As can be in Texas during the 2000s can be traced to a seen from a review of installed wind capacity fortunate convergence between a plentiful in Figure 1 on p. 3, this goal was met well in natural resource and the state’s unique attributes advance of the deadline, and in 2005, Senate that allow for effective use of that resource. Bill 20 increased the RPS to 5,880 MW by Portions of the vast plains of West Texas and 2015 and 10,000 MW by 2025. the Panhandle are among the best places in the world for wind energy development, and Working Wind into the Mix the farmers and ranchers who own much of that land have proven more amenable to When rural electrification brought power wind development than landowners in other to rural West Texas more than half a century parts of the country. Texas’ comparatively ago, no one envisioned that those same rural permissive regulatory policies and business- areas would someday be producing far more friendly environment have also allowed for electricity than that needed to serve the local development timelines much shorter than load. As a result, the transmission infrastructure those in many other states. in much of the western part of the state is sparse. As developers realized the opportunities that Perhaps most importantly, unlike other existed in Texas, they flooded the state with interconnections in the United States projects. Unfortunately, with the bulk of the that encompass multiple states and utility population living hundreds of miles southeast, companies, ERCOT, the “grid” administrator and relatively few transmission lines to connect Texas Business Review 2 February 2010 the major load centers to the windy parts of build portions of the transmission upgrades the state, transmission became constrained. associated with the CREZ system, and in Consequently, further development in West May 2009, the PUC granted contracts to Texas, particularly within the ERCOT service seven of the TSPs, including Oncor Electric territory, slowed significantly in 2009. Transmission Texas and the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA). The Commission The Texas Legislature anticipated this predica- assigned each of the seven TSPs a portion of ment and initiated plans for a solution in the the line and allowed some flexibility in the Underlying the entire aforementioned Senate Bill 20. This 2005 bill routing of the line. In the second half of 2009, CREZ process is called for the PUC to examine ways to inte- the TSPs began acquiring easements and grate the significant wind resources into the holding landowner meetings in counties along a fundamental state's energy mix. The PUC began by studying the proposed transmission routes. "chicken-and-egg" the areas of the state with the most promising problem – wind resources (each one a competitive renew- There is some uncertainty regarding the status of CREZ developments going forward. wind developers are able energy zone, or CREZ) and introduced CREZ proceedings in December 2006. Wind Underlying the entire CREZ process is a hesitant to invest developers were asked to commit to develop- fundamental “chicken-and-egg” problem – in development in ments within the CREZs of their choosing in wind developers are hesitant to invest in areas areas where new March 2007, and in October 2007, the PUC where new transmission is uncertain, but the need for new transmission only exists if wind transmission is ordered the scenario study, which identified the five workable CREZs and estimated the developers commit to projects. As of now, wind uncertain, costs of improving transmission in each one. energy companies have been asked to provide but the need for new The PUC eventually settled on Scenario 2 (see financial commitment for the areas that they transmission Figure 2, p. 4), which calls for lines supporting elected early in the process, and the viability of some of the CREZs are in doubt, pending only exists if 18,456 MW of new capacity at an estimated cost of $4.93 billion. According to a 2008 re- the resolution of that issue. In addition, wind developers port by GE Energy, the new transmission lines TSPs beginning to secure easements for the commit to projects. are expected to save ERCOT consumers more new transmission lines have been met with than $3.4 billion per year on electricity and some resistance and threats of lawsuits from more than $1.5 billion per year on fuel costs.
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