Statewide Air Emissions Calculations from Wind and Other Renewables, Summary Report: A Report to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality for the Period September 2007 - August 2008

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 methodology for computing emissions reductions from renewable energy initiatives and the associated credits. In this Legislation the Energy Systems Laboratory (ESL or Laboratory) is to assist the TCEQ in quantifying emissions reductions credits from energy efficiency and renewable energy programs, through a contract with the Texas Environmental Research Consortium (TERC) to develop and annually calculate creditable emissions reductions from wind and other renewable energy resources for the State Implementation Plan (SIP). The Energy Systems Laboratory, in fulfillment of its responsibilities under this Legislation, submits its third annual report, “Statewide Air Emissions Calculations from Wind and Other Renewables,” to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. The report is organized in several deliverables: • A Summary Report, which details the key areas of work; • Supporting Documentation; and • Supporting data files, including weather data, and wind production data, which have been assembled as part of the third year’s effort. This executive summary provides summaries of the key areas of accomplishment this year, including: • Continuation of stakeholder’s meetings; • Analysis of power generation from wind farms using improved method and 2006 data; • Analysis of emissions reduction from wind farms; • Updates on degradation analysis; • Analysis of other renewables, including: PV, solar thermal, hydroelectric, geothermal and landfill gas; • Review of electricity generation by renewable sources and transmission planning study reported by ERCOT; • Review of combined heat and power projects in Texas; and • Preliminary reporting of NOx emissions savings in the 2007 Integrated Savings report to the TCEQ.