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ALTERNATIVE ENERGY
Texas tilts $10B toward wind power
Gov. Perry inks deal for private sector to invest in the technology.
[money.cnn.com]
(Reuters, October 2006) — Texas Gov. Rick Perry unveiled a partnership with the private sector Monday that will invest more than $10 billion in new wind power, deepening the oil-producing state's commitment to diversifying its energy.
Private companies have agreed to invest the required capital, while the state's Public Utility Commission "directs" the building of extra transmission lines, the Republican governor said in a statement.
Every 1,000 megawatts of wind power will help Texas, which also plans a host of coal-fired generators, cut carbon dioxide pollution by 6 million tons over the next 20 years, Perry said.
Environmentalists have attacked Texas's ambitious plans, saying that locating the huge turbines along the state's coast will wreck the landscape's beauty and kill too many migrating birds.
This summer, Texas topped California as the top U.S. wind-power producer, according to the Washington, D.C.-based American Wind Energy Association.
Texas's cumulative total of wind power was 2,370 megawatts — enough power for more than 600,000 homes.
Nearly two years ago, Texas set out to try to produce 10 percent of the power it needs from renewable sources by 2025, including wind.
"With this $10 billion announcement, the economic ripple will be more like a tidal wave as these companies pour millions of dollars into wages and salaries for Texas workers," said Perry, who is running for reelection in November.
A spokeswoman for Perry was not immediately available to provide any details.
Earlier this year, it was reported that Austin, Texas-based Whole Foods Market Inc. would purchase renewable energy credits — which subsidize the production of energy from renewable resources such as wind — to offset 100 percent of its projected electrical energy use for 2006.
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