Runway extension could affect wind farm plans

Cielo Wind Power has been thinking about building a wind farm somewhere on Port of Brownsville property for a decade or so.

The Austin-based company is still thinking about it, and it's by no means certain all the pieces will fall into place and all the obstacles will be cleared away for such a project to become a reality.

So says Walter Hornaday, who founded Cielo in 1998. According to its website, the firm has completed more than a dozen wind farm projects, most of them in Texas and two in New Mexico. The company recently began another wind farm outside Amarillo that will feature 87 GE wind turbines.

Brownsville is a promising site for a wind farm, though the project could meet an obstacle in the form of Brownsville South Padre Island International Airport's plans to extend its runway, Hornaday said.

A longer runway would mean planes on approach would fly lower farther away from the airport, which could preclude construction of towering wind turbine.

It's premature to say, though, since it all comes down to where Cielo wants to build versus how airspace is affected. Airport officials hope to extend the main runway from its current 7,400 feet to 10,000 feet or longer. An environmental review is still under way, though, and no funding has been allocated for the project yet.

"Obviously if you extend the runway there's more airspace that's going to be covered," Director of Aviation Larry Brown said. That said, it's not yet clear to what extent changes in airspace would affect Cielo's plans, he said.

"Until we know more details, we can't answer the question," Brown said. "It's all going to be a function of math."

He said Corpus Christi's airport is dealing with airspace issues arising from wind farms located south and east of Sarita.

Hornaday said he hopes Cielo, if it does decide to move forward with a project at the port, can come to an arrangement with the airport amenable to all parties concerned.

"We're trying to see what they will allow to be done," he said. "It's highly speculative at this point. It's a great, windy area. The pieces are there. It's a good wind resource and there's a growing demand for electricity, but there are a lot of moving parts."

We suspect those opposed to energy generated by wind turbines will be rubbing their hands together with a good deal of glee this morning, following revelations that the wind farm industry is being propped up by domestic energy bills.

New figures indicate that wind turbine owners received 1.2 billion in consumer subsidies last year. That is, unquestionably, a staggeringly large amount to draw from the public purse at any time, let alone in this period of austerity.

So it seems clear that this assessment of the balance sheet for wind power will be another blow for an industry already reeling from the Government's recent announcement that new rules will give people greater powers to block turbine applications, when they are proposed near where they live.

We do not, however, subscribe to the view that all wind turbines must therefore be uprooted and dismantled. Far from it. wind energy is a new technology that should and does command significant investment. There is no doubt that wind energy is here to stay. It must surely be allowed to play a part in helping keep the lights on as traditional high-carbon energy sources diminish.