Thanks to everyone who called and emailed members of the Public Utility Commisssion (PUC) last week calling for strong action on new renewable energy development. They heard you!

On July 20, the PUC selected eight “competitive renewable energy zones” (CREZ) for the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) territory, directing ERCOT to develop transmission plans for wind capacity in the range of between 10,000 MW and 25,000 MW.

CREZ designation allows for areas with significant renewable energy resources to be connected to the transmission grid through transmission lines that will be planned by ERCOT and paid for by all consumers across the Texas grid.

The boldness of the PUC’s decision is hard to overstate: For reference, as of March 31, 11,699 MW of wind capacity were installed in the entire U.S.

“It is, frankly, an astonishing testament to the wind resources available in our state to have aggregate expressions of interest in constructing 24,511 MW of wind generation before the commission,” wrote Chairman Paul Hudson in a July 20 memo prior to deliberation on the issue.

While the ruling is the biggest milestone in the CREZ process, further regulatory details still need to be worked out. CREZs are viewed as a model for other regions to solve the “chicken-or-the-egg” transmission dilemma in which wind power developers are reluctant to build projects in areas that have strong wind resources but lack transmission, while transmission developers do not want to put in lines to such wind-rich areas without any generation facilities present. Colorado recently initiated a process that will also ultimately establish renewable energy zones for transmission planning purposes.