The transmission problem is so acute in Texas that turbines are sometimes shut off even when the wind is blowing. "When the amount of generation exceeds the export capacity, you have to start turning off wind generators" to keep things in balance, said Hunter Armistead, head of the renewable energy division in North America at Babcock & Brown, a large wind developer and transmission provider. "We've reached that point in West Texas." ...The exact route of the transmission lines has yet to be determined because the state has not yet acquired right-of-way, according to Mr. Withrow of the utility commission. The project will almost certainly face concerns from landowners reluctant to have wires cutting across their property.

Texas officials gave preliminary approval Thursday to the nation's largest wind-power project, a plan to build billions of dollars worth of new transmission lines to bring wind energy from gusty West Texas to urban areas. ..."We will add more wind than the 14 states following Texas combined," said PUC Commissioner Paul Hudson. "I think that's a very extraordinary achievement. Some think we haven't gone far enough, some think we've pushed too far."

A divided Public Utility Commission gave preliminary approval today to construct $5 billion in transmission lines to bring wind power from West Texas to urban areas. The project is expected to cost average household consumers about $4 a month. It should boost the state's wind farm business, already the largest in the nation, to even greater levels. It would increase capacity for wind generation to 18,456 megawatts. The plan, which is expected to be finalized later this month, is a middle ground between five scenarios ranging from $3 billion to $6.4 billion.

Eight legislators from the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex sent a letter to the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) Monday urging the Commission to opt for aggressive expansion of electricity transmission capacity from West Texas to reign in soaring electric bills and prevent further pollution of local air. ...The letter calls on the PUC to adopt Scenario 3 when it meets Thursday to continue its discussions regarding which scenario will offer the greatest benefits to Texans for moving electricity from the Competitive Renewable Energy Zones (CREZ) in West Texas and the Panhandle.

Texas should meet its growing electricity demand by encouraging more power plants fueled by coal and nuclear power, maximizing use of the state's vast wind resources and reducing dependence on expensive natural gas, according to recommendations by a task force appointed by Gov. Rick Perry. The report was issued Thursday by the Competitiveness Council, consisting of more than two dozen business, consumer and government representatives. It made 36 energy-related recommendations aimed at achieving "long-term sustained economic success." A public hearing on its conclusions is scheduled for Monday in Austin.

State regulators welcomed wind farms into Texas' unfettered wholesale power market through a special process to designate the best wind-power production zones and to accelerate construction of power lines -- costing from $3 billion to $6 billion -- needed to link those remote areas to more populated areas of the state. However, problems that surfaced in the Texas wholesale market as wind's influence reached a critical level this spring should be a warning for the rest of the nation, said Lawrence Makovich, vice president and senior power adviser at Cambridge Energy Research Associates. "Wind is not a direct substitute for conventional power supply," said Makovich. ...Wind is attractive if added in moderation, Makovich said. "It has a desirable environmental profile, but you want to incorporate a smart amount of wind," he said. "If you add too much, you may impose too much additional cost."

Released Tuesday, the 443-page Energy Report 2008 shows state and local subsidies of $1.4 billion on energy produced in Texas, plus a similar amount of federal subsidies for Texas energy. ...[Texas Comptroller Susan] Combs said Tuesday that subsidies can have unintended consequences -- especially when policymakers favor "winners" by providing greater subsidies for one fuel source over another. "Such assistance must be applied carefully," the report says. "Public policies that attempt to pick winners in the race for new energy technologies are an inefficient way to achieve policy goals and run the risk not only of wasting taxpayer money but also of directing private investment away from more promising use."

It's not a question of whether the state should pursue clean-air strategies -- but rather which ones, and at what cost. Who stands to save money and who stands to pay more? Is nuclear power part of the solution? ...The solar-power industry already lags far behind wind in Texas, which recently leapfrogged over California to become the largest wind-power-generating state in the nation. And many more wind turbines are expected ...solar power enjoys several advantages over wind -- advantages that increases the value of sun power for those paying the bills. For instance, because the wind typically stops blowing during the middle of hot summer days, Texas won't get much use from those expensive new transmission lines when it needs the power the most. Obviously, that's not a problem with solar. Wind also presents tough -- and sometimes expensive -- technical challenges. Because wind turbines will stop spinning without a moment's notice, engineers at the power grid must sometimes have more expensive standby power ready and waiting.

Hooking up the state's largest cities to rapidly expanding wind power projects in West Texas could cost as much as $6.3 billion in the coming years, the state's grid operator says. In a report this week to the state Public Utility Commission, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which oversees most of the state's power grid, listed five options for getting wind-generated electricity to the populous areas that need it. Even the least ambitious would cost almost $3 billion. Texas is the largest wind power producer in the country, with more than 4,400 megawatts of capacity installed — about 2 percent of the state's total power capacity, according to the American Wind Energy Association.

The Texas House Regulated Industries Committee next month will hold a public hearing in Amarillo to discuss the future of the industry in West Texas. "What we will do in that meeting is have about 50 counties and 75 cities present resolutions to the PUC (Public Utility Commission) and to the committee supporting the wind farms out there and trying to help get the transmissions out there," said state Rep. David Swinford, R-Dumas, who has been working for over four years to bring wind power to West Texas.

The PUC estimates the state will need an additional 75,000 megawatts in the next 18 years as older, less-efficient plants are retired. Statewide, some 20-25 gas-powered plants are being planned, along with three coal plants, and two or three nuclear plants. Wind farms are being added, but they still only provide about 5 percent of the state's electrical needs. Even if it were all the proposed plants were to come onto the grid, Texas might still be paying more for electricity than other states, according to Terry Hadley, spokesman for the Public Utility Commission. "What sticks out is the fuel cost," he said. "Most plants in Texas use natural gas, and the price of natural gas is just soaring."

An opinion recently issued by the Texas Attorney General appears to call into question the ability of county governments to grant property tax abatements for wind energy generation equipment. ...citing case law, the opinion observes that "[f]ixtures and improvements owned by the owner of real property are also real property, but ordinarily improvements owned by a lessee of real property are personalty." Therefore, the opinion concludes that since the fixtures and improvements in the situation at hand were owned by the developer and not the land owner, the improvements are personalty and are not eligible for an abatement under Section 312.402(a).

Pump jacks and wind turbines were at odds in an energy bill the House approved this week, creating a quandary for North Texas where both could share the horizon. ...But he thinks it's unfair to penalize one sector of the energy industry to benefit another, Michael Frohlich, spokesman for the Lubbock Republican, said. Increasing taxes on five of the biggest oil companies will drive up energy prices for consumers, Frohlich said. "The Democrats are shooting at big oil companies, but they're hitting Americans in their wallets," Frohlich said.

As plans for Godzilla-sized wind farms wait for regulators to approve transmission lines to serve them, much smaller farms are starting to spin in the Panhandle. The 10 megawatt farms have been overshadowed by projects like last year's start up, the 161 megawatt Wildorado Wind Ranch, but they still make their presence known. "Each one of those things are a straw in the basket on the camel's back," said Stephen Beuning, Xcel's director of market operations. "We're accommodating them, but they could cause reliability problems if the wind is blowing hard and we have enough power already." High Plains Wind Power is building one of the latest wind farms to go up in the region. It's a 10 megawatt project in Carson County northeast of Pantex.

If Texas' wealth over the last century came from oil, wind farm developers are banking that a chunk of the state's future prosperity will come from an above-ground resource. ..."With wind law and the wind industry, what's happening legally is about the same place the oil industry was 100 years ago," said Ernest Smith, a University of Texas law professor who will teach a course in wind law this semester. "It's virtually unregulated. People realize there's great value to it, but there's no precedents in case law and very little statutory help." But as windmills go in the ground, will regulation catch up? Controversies over wind farms, especially those along the coast, have headed to the courthouse.

Austin Energy has relied almost entirely on wind to propel its march toward the city's renewable power goal. But to ensure reliability and affordability, Austin Energy will need to diversify its portfolio beyond wind to reach its goal of getting one-third of its electricity from renewables by 2020, said Michael McCluskey, the utility's deputy general manager. ...The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which operates the electric grid for most of the state, has determined that only 8.7 percent of the state's installed wind capacity can be relied on in periods of peak demand. So to ensure that the lights - and air conditioners - stay on during hot summer afternoons, utilities must have backup conventional power sources, such as natural gas, that can be turned on quickly, said Bill Bojorquez, ERCOT vice president of system planning.

A massive wind farm project in Gray County is on hold today because County Commissioners decided more information is needed. The wind farm is proposed by T. Boone Pickens, who would like Northern Gray County to be designated as a reinvestment zone so they can apply for a tax abatement. ..."So many people here that have built Gray County and they've paid their taxes, year, after year, after year. I just feel like Mr. Pickens and his wind farm machine, I think he ought to pay his fair share of taxes if he's going to come in here." said Kathleene Greene of Pampa.

A provision in the national energy bill that has been stalled by Texas' two senators would probably boost the market for one of the state's fastest-growing sources of power: wind. ...Although wind farms remain expensive to build, they benefit from a federal tax incentive and have become attractive to both traditional utilities and green-power start-ups. But a national standard is opposed by many large utilities and several members of the House from Texas, including Joe Barton of Ennis. ...Skeptics who are against the renewable standard said that wind power doesn't need any more incentives. The technology has taken off so quickly that there is a two-year waiting list to buy wind turbines, said Sen. Pete Domenici, the ranking Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

Howard County commissioners approved a trio of reinvestment zones necessary to grant tax abatements Monday morning, moving forward with negotiations with several wind energy developers that could lead to an estimated 400 to 500 new turbines being erected in the county. Commissioners met with Terry Wegman, executive director for Moore Development, who is serving as a liaison between the wind energy developers and local taxing entities for the purpose of establishing reinvestment zones, and ultimately, negotiating tax abatements for several proposed projects. The court approved reinvestment zones A, B and C, following a public hearing that drew comments from only a single property owner. ..."Even the smaller developments - the smallest one is 36 megawatts - will be putting up quite a few turbines. I think we're looking at between 400 and 500 turbines at this point, but that's nothing more than a rough estimate."

State regulators are making Panhandle wind developers get federal permission before pumping energy downstate, and some fear their projects could be limited. ..."It's up to (the Federal Electric Regulation Commission) to determine how much it wants to keep and how much it wants to relinquish," said Terry Hadley, PUC spokesman. "That's because that area is outside (the Electric Reliability Council of Texas) and inside the Southwest Power Pool which is under FERC jurisdiction because it is part of an interstate grid."