By Mella Mcewen

12-09-04

The Permian Basin is home to the US' largest reserves of oil and natural gas, having supplied hydrocarbons for close to 80 years. The region is also home to large wind farms, huge clusters of wind turbines that dot the mountains around Big Spring and McCamey, harnessing the region's wind, turning it into electricity and slipping it into the state's electricity grid.

Groups like Public Citizen's Texas office and the Union of Concerned Scientists believe renewable energy like wind and solar power can give a major boost to the state's economy. It is a goal that fits with the efforts of groups like the West Texas Energy Technology Initiative, which aims to make Midland an epicentre of energy technology research and development.

But can the region's bedrock oil and gas industry coexist with the drive for renewable energy? Absolutely, said Morris Burns, executive vice president of the Permian Basin Petroleum Association.

"We've got lots of oil and gas and we've got lots of wind. It's a natural that they coexist."

Bruce Brady, president of Great Western Drilling and president-elect of the Permian Basin Petroleum Association, commented that "We feel oil and gas is the primary concern in the Permian Basin and we focus on recovering every drop of oil through technology. We'd like to see that be the focus."

On the other hand, "We won't be able to meet all the energy demand of the country and we'll see a growing role for alternative energy. It's a question of how much energy Midland wants to spend on renewable energy."

Right now, said Burns, electricity generated by oil and gas is cheaper than electricity generated by wind turbines, and Brady noted that local producers are able to sell every barrel of oil and every mm cf of gas they produce, and at good prices.

But, said Burns, "the technology (for renewable energy) is coming." He noted that the world will run out of oil and gas -- "not in our lifetime or our childrens' lifetime but maybe our grandchildrens' lifetime. We will need to replace oil and gas within the next 100 years and all the research and development that needs to be done should be done," and he sees no reason it shouldn't be done in the Permian Basin.

Renewable energy, said Bill Wallace of Midland's Three Span Oil and Gas and a member of Gov. Rick Perry's Texas Energy Planning Council, "are going to be an important part of what we do going forward, and we want to be the leader and to be the place people come to get renewable energy."
Renewables, Wallace said, will be an important and valuable piece of the energy puzzle "and not to be frowned on."

The wind farms cropping up throughout West Texas "haven't hurt the industry," Brady allowed, adding as a resident of Midland he'd like to see the city utilize the brainpower and experience of its residents to become an energy technology epicentre.

He said the nation's energy picture "will be evolving and we'd like to do that here. I'll look forward to working with them (renewable energy companies) for the betterment of the community."

Wallace serves as a founding member of the West Texas Energy Technology Initiative and said its interest in alternative energy should be "broader-based than just renewables. I'd like to bring funds here -- any state funds available. Renewables are something I'd like to see here. We have the energy and technology here to move forward; it's a natural fit. There's a lot of brainpower and motivation," he said.

"One thing I want to do is, if there are funds available through state mandates, to get them here for renewable energy development. I don't see any reason we can't be the renewable energy capital the same as we're the oil and gas capital."

Not only can renewables be a source of energy but of economic development, especially in rural Texas, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists and Public Citizen. The two groups released a study recently that said if the nation were to adopt a 20 % renewable electricity standard (RES), it would create more than 36,000 high-skilled jobs in manufacturing, construction, operations, maintenance and other industries in Texas, create $ 10 bn in capital investment in the state, generate $ 665 mm in property tax revenues, $ 225 mm in lease payments to farmers, ranchers and rural landowners from wind power and $ 1.1 bn in payments to farmers and rural landowners from producing biomass energy.
Sherry Phillips, mayor of McCamey, said that Cielo Wind Power's King Mountain Wind Ranch had been an economic boom for the town.

"It's brought some jobs, especially for our younger people so they can stay here and raise families," she said.

In addition, employees -- and visitors -- buy goods like gasoline and visit the town's restaurants, and an estimated 23 landowners receive lease money from Cielo.

"It's not an oil industry boom that brought in high-paying jobs," she said, "but it's more jobs and pretty good pay. It's the second industry we've had here in 75 years and we're pretty proud of it." When Texas lawmakers voted to deregulate the state's electric utilities, they set a RES of 3 % of the state's electricity production by 2009. The wind power and environmental groups are calling for a national RES of 20 % by 2020 and an increase in the state requirement.

"A national goal of providing 20 % of our energy from renewable sources will help Texas more than any other state," said Tom "Smitty" Smith, director of Public Citizen's Texas office. "It will bring more jobs for Texans, especially in rural communities, cleaner air for our cities and will bring lower energy bills for everyone."

According to the Energy Information Administration of the Department of Energy, renewable energy -- solar, biomass, geothermal, hydroelectric and wind -- provided 6 % of the nation's energy supply in 2003. Renewable energy consumption in 2003 was essentially the same as in 1989, the year the EIA first began tracking "non-utility" electricity facilities.

In the future, Wallace said, the nation is going to need energy from every source -- hydrocarbons, renewables, fuel cells, nuclear.

Source: MyWestTexas