Austin on track to be 30% renewably powered by 2012

Austin Energy expects to get 30 percent of the Texas city’s energy supplies from renewable sources by the end of  2012 — nearly 1000 megawatts (MW) in all.

That puts the city well on track to meet its 35 percent renewable energy portfolio goal by 2020, officials say.

The latest boost in the city’s green power supplies came with the Austin City Council’s recent approval of two new wind contracts totaling 291 megawatts. Council members also gave Austin Energy the authority to negotiate a third contract for an additional 200 megawatts, an agreement set for discussion on Sept. 22.

The three 25-year power purchase agreements are with Duke Energy Generation Services, MAP Royalty and Iberdrola Renewables. Under the contracts, those utilities will deliver power to Austin Energy from wind projects near the Texas coast that produce their highest output during peak demand times in the afternoon. All three projects are also in an area with sufficient transmission capacity, offering an advantage over wind energy from West Texas.

During the spring and winter, wind in West Texas blows primarily in the evening rather than during peak demand times in the afternoon. Wind farms in the western part of the state must also content with transmission congestion problems.

“These contracts assist our clean air and sustainability goals, better positions the utility for increasing federal emissions requirements and delivers more wind-generated power on hot summer afternoons — all of which will reduce overall costs to our customers,” said Larry Weis, general manager of Austin Energy.

The new wind projects come in at the price of between $35 and $45 per megawatt-hour, making the costs comparable to current and near-term natural gas prices.

Austin Energy also has two other power purchase agreements set to take effect soon: a 30-MW solar project scheduled to come online in late 2011 and a 100-MW biomass project due come online in 2012.