Good News Is Blowing On The Wind

While my home state has never been at the forefront of environmental consciousness, the news in the electrical generating front is finally turning toward the green. After an initial rush to install wind farms in west Texas that outstripped the ability of the utilities to utilize the capacity, the addition of new wind generating facilities in south Texas has helped to raise the bar.

The amount of electricity produced from wind on the afternoon of October 7 set a record at 7,400 megawatts, more than 78 percent of the 9,400 MW of installed wind capacity in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT). via Texas sets wind power record as coastal wind grows | Reuters.

That totals over 15% of the total electrical demand for the entire state. Another 2,ooo MW are expected to be online by the end of the year.

The report states that developers are studying adding another 34,000 MW of wind generating capacity in Texas. At this time wind represents over 55% of all new generating plans in the next few years.