Texas Looking to Increase Renewable Energy Sources 242% by 2017

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Texas currently has 8,282 megawatts (MW) of operational renewable energy generating capacity, reflecting 7.9% of the state's total operational generating capacity of 104,592 MW. Currently, the renewable energy sources reflect wind, hydroelectric, black liquor, wood, landfill gas, biomass and digester gas fuels. Wind and hydroelectric represent 97% of the present renewable energy generation total.

More than 20,000 MW of renewable energy capacity is proposed for the state, and wind will continue to be the primary source with more than 18,500 MW of new projects, or an increase of 250%. Hydroelectricity will remain second with a possible 107% increase, or 696 MW, of new generation. Solar generation will start making an appearance with the possible addition of 550 MW. There are plans in the works for an additional 275 MW of biomass, 12 MW of wood and 11.5 MW of landfill-gas-fired projects.

The projects are due to come online between 2009 and the end of 2017. Currently, one of the major holdups is the lack of needed transmission infrastructure; there will be needs of massive transmission in order to get the power from the plants to the end users.

Major developers include:

• Babcock & Brown LP (San Francisco, California), a subsidiary of Babcock & Brown Limited (ASX:BNB) (Sydney, Australia)
• BP Alternative Energy North America Incorporated (Houston, Texas), a subsidiary of BP plc (NYSE:BP) (London)
• E.ON Climate & Renewables, a subsidiary of E.ON AG (NYSE:EON) (Dusseldorf, Germany)
• Horizon Wind LLC (Houston), a subsidiary of Energies de Portugal SA (OTC:EDPFY) (Lisbon, Portugal)
• Iberdrola Renewables (Portland, Oregon), a subsidiary of Grupo Iberdrola SA (MCE:IBE) (Bilbao, Spain)
• Invenergy LLC (Chicago, Illinois)
• Mesa Power LP, a subsidiary of BP Capital LP (Dallas, Texas)
• Shell WindEnergy Incorporated (Houston), a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell Plc (NYSE:RDS.A) (The Hague, The Netherlands)
• Symbiotics LLC, a joint venture of Ecosystems Research Institute (Logan, Utah) and Northwest Power Services Incorporated (Rigby, Idaho)

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