Wind remains on target to set generation records this year within the main Texas electric grid, after it gained an 17.3% share of that market through August, versus 15.1% for all of 2016, latest Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) data shows.
ERCOT serves about 90% of the electric load in Texas, by far the number one US state for wind power capacity – 21GW, three times the amount installed in runner-up Iowa.
Wind generated 41.8 million MWh of electricity in the first eight months, up from about 35.2 million MWh during the same year-ago period, despite a slightly lower result in August (3.35 million MWh versus 3.41 million MWh a year earlier).
That’s because wind set monthly generation records this year from January through June, including 6.58 million MWh in March, the most ever for any month in ERCOT.
During the hot summer months, winds tend to calm in the late morning and afternoon in West Texas, where most of the state’s turbines are located, before picking up again in the late evening and early morning hours.
The state’s best wind resource is located inland along the Gulf of Mexico coast south of Houston to the border with Mexico, and in the elevated northern Panhandle and adjacent South Plains region. Those strong winds nicely match the afternoon electric load demand profile in large urban centres.
Neither region is anywhere close to being fully developed for wind power, while the Panhandle faces transmission capacity constraints that are complicating efforts to finance new projects and can hurt the economics of existing ones.
Until now, wind energy is gaining market share because it is cheap and plentiful, which enables a growing number of consumers to nail down supply deals that act as a longer-term price hedge against fossil fuels. Environmental and sustainability policies are also a key driver.
In the January-August period, natural gas was the leading source of electricity with 39.8% in ERCOT followed by coal (30.8%), nuclear (12%) with the balance mainly coming from hydro, biomass and solar (0.7%).
I June, ERCOT said it had 19GW of wind located on its grid. It set system records for wind generation during a point of time on 31 March (16.13GW) and production during 23 March (50% market penetration).
ERCOT data shows it could have as much as 23.4GW of wind capacity in place at the end of this year, as developers finish construction on projects eligible for the full federal production tax credit (PTC).
