Renewable Texas Energy

Proposed bill pushes use, study of renewable energy

By TY MEIGHAN
Scripps Howard Austin Bureau
San Angelo Standard-Times
February 20, 2005

AUSTIN - Texas would rely more on renewable energy sources under legislation, filed last week, that also calls for state officials to study areas for future wind-power development.

"We believe we need a very diverse energy portfolio in Texas," said state Sen. Troy Fraser, R-Horseshoe Bay and author of the bill. "And we're intending to create this as a hedge against the need for fossil fuels and safeguard our dependence on foreign fuel."

Some environmental groups say the legislation isn't aggressive enough and won't make Texas a leader in renewable energy use in the future.

State law requires 2,880 megawatts of installed renewable capacity by 2009. Renewable energy includes sources such as wind, solar, geothermal, hydroelectric, wave or tidal energy and biomass products.

More than 2,000 megawatts are generated by renewable sources in Texas, including 1,200 from wind energy, officials said.

Senate Bill 533 would require installation of an additional 5,000 megawatts of renewable energy in Texas by 2015, including at least 500 megawatts of non-wind renewables, such as solar and biomass from forestry and agricultural wastes.

Also, the legislation sets a goal of installing a total of 10,000 megawatts of generating capacity from renewable energy technologies by 2025. Fraser's bill also directs the state's Public Utility Commission to identify and designate areas that are favorable to renewable energy development.

"There are key areas of the state that are more windy, that are more prone to development of wind power, and it would benefit industry and the state to designate those areas and encourage wind development along those corridors," said Victor Carrillo, chairman of the Texas Energy Planning Council and of the Texas Railroad Commission, which regulates the state's energy industry.

Energy demand in Texas will grow more than 30 percent by 2025, according to the council. Oil, natural gas and coal will continue to supply most of the state's energy needs, Carrillo said.

"But it's equally clear that we will increasingly need to diversify our energy sources and supplies to fuel that continued growth and demand," he said.

Even so, Carrillo pointed out that renewable energy faces several challenges, including the need for more transmission infrastructure to get the energy to market.

Fraser's legislation isn't aggressive enough, according to groups that want a bill requiring 20 percent of the state's electricity to come from renewable sources by 2020.

Doing so would put Texas among the leaders in the nation in terms of renewable energy use, said Travis Brown, energy projects director in the Texas office of Public Citizen, a consumer and environmental group.

Brown and others contend that boosting the renewable sources standard would slash pollution and generate thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in capital investment in facilities.

Other lawmakers, including Sen. Robert Duncan, R-Lubbock, are expected to file legislation boosting the state's renewable standard. Duncan's bill will call for increasing the standard to 10,000 megawatts by 2015 instead of the 5,000 in Fraser's legislation.

"I would love to see us be much more aggressive, but we've got to be sure that the reliability issue and the transmission issue are addressed as we go along," Fraser said.

Carrillo said Fraser's bill sets realistic expectations.

"Many states are going out and setting goals of 20 or 25 percent or 30 percent that are in my opinion not practically achievable," he said. "This is, I believe, practically achievable."

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