Gov. Rick Perry visited campus Monday to announce private energy companies plan to invest more than $10 billion in wind energy.
Private energy companies have committed to investing more than $10 billion in capital investments for wind energy generation, Texas Gov. Rick Perry announced on campus Monday.
“I am proud of our state’s commitment to renewable energy production,” Perry said. “We are on the leading edge of developing renewable sources of energy and a more diversified energy economy, which is key to keeping costs down.”
The commitment is contingent upon the Texas Public Utility Commission providing the construction of additional transmission lines to collect and transport the zero-emission power.
Officials from eight wind energy companies were on hand to discuss their involvement with the plan.
“Texas has done an exceptional job in creating a welcoming business climate that is attracting investment from wind companies throughout the world. With the state’s policy to expedite needed transmission lines, wind power is ready to become a major business in Texas,” said Mike Sloan, managing consultant of The Wind Coalition, a non-profit association formed to encourage the development of the vast wind energy resources of the south central United States.
Perry said a diversified energy economy will help the Texas job market, as well as take advantage of one of the state’s untapped natural resources.
“Texas is absolutely blessed with an abundant supply of wind energy, that’s not even counting the hot air my opponents are spewing here in the last 35 days of the campaign,” Perry said. “West Texas and the Gulf Coast are absolutely fertile sources of wind energy and the best thing about energy is that the costs are very small.” Texas recently surpassed California as the nation’s leader in wind generation capacity.
Chairman of the Public Utility Commission Paul Hudson said the state population is expected to double by 2040, but the state’s energy needs would double by 2030.
He added the early estimate for the cost of the infrastructure the state will build is approximately $1 billion for 5,000 megawatts of energy, but that further expansion would not double the costs.
The announcement was held at the J. Lindsay Embrey Engineering Building, which recently opened as the first university building in Texas to meet the gold-level Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standards.
The building runs on wind energy and saves approximately $70,000 in energy costs every year. While the announcement addresses energy concerns for the long term, Perry said Texans can help reduce their energy costs by using the Public Utility Commission’s “Power to Choose” Web site, which shows consumers electricity rates for their residential and business areas.
