Institutional - Wind Energy: Renewable Energy and the Environment - page 236

TABLE 11.2
Emissions (Metric Tons) from Electric Power Sector in United States, 2005

Carbon Dioxide Sulfur Dioxide Nitrogen Oxides

kg/kWh tons 10 6 kg/kWh tons 10 6 kg/kWh tons 10 6

Coal 0.97 1,938 0.006 9.1 0.0034 3.5

Natural gas 0.42 340 0.0008 0.2

Oil 0.63 101 0.05 0.4 0.001 0.1

Total 2,340 9.5 3.8

The largest emitters of carbon dioxide are the United States and China [49]. In Europe, CO 2
emission reductions are worth $40/ton in some countries.

11.8 TRANSMISSION
A major problem for wind farm development is that many load centers are far away from the wind
resource, and wind farm projects can be brought online much faster than new transmission lines can
be constructed. A number of large transmission projects have been proposed in the United States
[50, 51]. For major wind farm development in the Great Plains, new transmission lines will have to
be constructed [52-56]. A large transmission investment of $13*10 9 would increase a retail bill of
$100 by about $1.
For those states with electric restructuring, transmission is now a separate company and the
question is jurisdiction (who pays for new lines), and if curtailment is needed, who is curtailed and
the priority of curtailment. Curtailment happens when the wind farms are producing more power
than the transmission lines can carry; therefore, some or all of the wind turbines in a wind farm
have to be shut down. In the McCamey area of West Texas, curtailment of output from wind farms
is a problem. Even with new transmission lines, more wind farm development in that area will be
limited by transmission capacity. Since the jurisdiction of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas
(ERCOT) does not include the windy areas of the Panhandle, there are proposals to build transmis-
sion lines from the Panhandle to major load areas in ERCOT. Competitive Renewable Energy Zones
were selected across Texas and different scenarios are being proposed for major transmission lines
[57]. Some wind companies have already proposed to build the transmission lines, and developers
are tying up land in the Panhandle for wind leases. In 2008 T. Boone Pickens, noted oil man, pur-
chased 667 GE wind turbines for the first phase (1,000 MW) of a proposed 4,000 MW wind farm
in the Panhandle.
In the European Union, transmission is also a major issue [58]. The electricity markets are not
competitive for four reasons: lack of cross-border transmission links; existence of dominant, inte-
grated power companies; biased grid operators; and low liquidity in wholesale electricity markets
[59]. The conclusion is that a significant amount of wind power is determined more by economics
and regulations than by technical or practical constraints.

LINKS
Energy Information Administration. www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/solar.renewables/page/wind/wind.html .
D. Koplow and A. Martin, “Fueling Global Warming, Federal Subsidies to Oil in the United States,”
Greenpeace, 2005, www.greenpeace.org/usa/press-center/reports4/fueling-global-warming .
Wind Energy and U.S. Energy Subsidies, www.awea.org/pubs/factsheets/Subsidy.pdf. AWEA fact sheet, 2006.