Wind Power Transmission in Texas Could Cost $3 to $6 Billion. By Tom Fowler, Houston Chronicle, April 3, 2008. "Hooking up the state's largest cities to rapidly expanding wind power projects in West Texas could cost as much as $6.3 billion in the coming years, the state's grid operator says. In a report this week to the state Public Utility Commission, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), which oversees most of the state's power grid, listed five options for getting wind-generated electricity to the populous areas that need it. Even the least ambitious would cost almost $3 billion. Texas is the largest wind power producer in the country, with more than 4,400 megawatts of capacity installed -- about 2 percent of the state's total power capacity, according to the American Wind Energy Association. With large swaths of West Texas considered ideal for wind development and state and federal incentives encouraging such projects, that capacity could grow to as much as 24,000 megawatts in the coming decade. One megawatt can power about 800 homes. Multibillion dollar transmission projects are not unprecedented in Texas. A five-year transmission planning report published in December by ERCOT projected $3 billion in new projects through 2012 -- not including the wind-related projects. Long-distance transmission costs account for about 6 percent of a residential customer's monthly bill, according to ERCOT."
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