Statewide 2020 Air Emission Calculations from Wind and Other Renewables VOL I

Abstract

The 79th Legislature, through Senate Bill 20, House Bill 2481 and House Bill 2129, amended Senate Bill 5 to enhance its effectiveness by adding 5,880 MW of generating capacity from renewable energy technologies by 2015 and 500 MW from non-wind renewables. This legislation also requires the Public Utilities Commission of Texas (PUCT) to establish a target of 10,000 megawatts of installed renewable capacity by 2025 and requires the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to develop a methodology for computing emissions reductions from renewable energy initiatives and the associated credits. Table 1-1 lists the statutory mandates and total wind power generation capacity (including installed and announced) in Texas from 2001 to 2025. It shows that Texas has achieved its milestone of 10,000 MW by the end of 2010 and could reach total 42,284 MW by 2023 according to the information from PUCT1. By the end of 2020, the total installed capacity in Texas is 32,413 MW.

In this Legislation, the function of the Energy Systems Laboratory (ESL) is to assist the TCEQ in quantifying emissions reductions credits from energy efficiency and renewable energy programs, through a contract with the TCEQ to develop and annually calculate creditable emissions reductions from wind and other renewable energy resources for the State Implementation Plan (SIP). The ESL, in fulfillment of its responsibilities under this Legislation, submits its annual report, “Statewide Air Emissions Calculations from Wind and Other Renewables,” to the TCEQ.

The report is organized in several deliverables: 1. A summary report, which details the key areas of work, 2. Volume I report, which includes main document of renewable energy projects and 3. Volume II technical Appendix that includes all information and details about renewables (i.e., wind power, non-utility scale and utility-scale solar PV, solar thermal, biomass, hydroelectric, geothermal, and landfill gas-fired) 4. Supporting data files, including weather data, and wind energy production data.

This executive summary provides key areas of accomplishment this year, including: • Analysis of power generation from wind farms using improved method and 2018 data, • Analysis of emissions reductions from wind farms, • Analysis of other renewables, including solar PV, solar thermal, biomass, hydroelectric, geothermal, and landfill gas, and • Review of electricity generation by renewable sources and transmission planning study reported by ERCOT