Connecting the Dots

Texas, which currently has more wind power capacity than any other state, seems to have gotten ahead of itself.

The state has enough turbines to generate about 5,000 megawatts, almost 3 percent of its needs, and has plans to expand to 9,000 megawatts by yearend and 15,000 megawatts within a few years. Experts say that the wide open spaces in West Texas get enough wind to one day produce about 30 percent of the state’s power.

So where’s the problem? Turns out that there aren’t enough power lines in place to move the power from West Texas, where there’s plenty of wind and not so many people, to the rest of the state, where people need it. The Public Utility Commission is considering a few plans to build more lines, which will cost between $3 and $6 billion.

This hiccup in wind power seems to have opened the door to critics, who are, not surprisingly, closely tied to companies that operate traditional, coal and natural gas plants. Why spend so much money now, they argue, for an unreliable energy source that tends to die down in the afternoon, right when it’s most needed?

To that I say, why continue to support outdated power technologies that depend on resources that will eventually be exhausted? And if we continue to pursue short-sighted policies like refusing to build the lines to connecting turbines to the places where the power is needed, it’s pretty much certain that we’ll use up our finite resources faster and will have no backup plan in place for when they are gone.