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Texas Transmission Plan - Senate Bill 20 |
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Written by jonathan pitzer
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Saturday, 13 September 2008 |
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The most significant barrier to wind energy development in the Panhandle and parts of West Texas has been the lack of adequate transmission. Although Senate Bill 7 established the State’s goal for renewable energy in 1999, it made no special provisions for transmission to interconnect renewable resources. With the rapid growth of the state's wind industry, Texas adopted proactive transmission planning as part of legislative strategy. Significant progress has been made with Senate Bill 20 (SB 20), which laid the groundwork for large transmission lines in order to accommodate present wind industry needs and to further accelerate the use of wind power in the state.
Our future wind power transmission and distribution systems must be safe, secure, reliable, and cost effective. This factor presents a significant challenge to the ultimate effectiveness of the Texas Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS). In order to effectively increase and implement the RPS goals, SB 20 includes a transmission plan for remote regions such as McCamey in West Texas that are handicapped by lack of sufficient transmission infrastructure, the goal being to increase transmission capacity to get clean energy (especially wind) from remote areas of the state to the cities. |
