TEXAS CITY — An energy company is considering adding as many as 30 windmills to the Texas City skyline.
City commissioners on Wednesday approved a resolution supporting a study by Duke Energy of the feasibility of building a windmill farm at the site of the county water reservoir at state Highway 146 near Attwater Road in north Texas City.
The cost of the project is estimated at more than $200 million, with royalties from the energy sales going to the Gulf Coast Water Authority, which owns the reservoir.
The request for the resolution came from the water authority as it enters into an agreement to let Duke Energy conduct the study.
Some of the windmills would be in the water, the water authority said in background information given to city commissioners.
Even with the commission’s approval, any construction is far from a reality.
Duke Energy consultant Billy Combs said the study would take two years to determine whether it is worth building the farm to provide electricity.
Galveston County commissioners also endorsed the study, although Precinct 4 Commissioner Ken Clark objected to language in the county resolution that seemed to “read like a sales brochure for Duke Energy” and might have led some to think commissioners were endorsing the company instead of the concept of promoting more “green energy” production. Clark also successfully had a part of the county resolution removed that appeared to knock oil refining as a means of energy production.
Texas City refineries produce about 5 percent of the nation’s oil production.
Duke has three wind-power projects in West Texas and operates a fourth wind turbine farm in Wyoming.
Texas is an attractive state when it comes to building wind-energy projects.
According to information from the State Energy Conservation Office, a division of the state comptroller’s office, the U.S. wind industry grew by 45 percent in 2007, with half of that growth coming from Texas projects.
