Cost of wind power lines blows past earlier estimate

Article by TOM FOWLER, HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 8-21-11. Excerpts:

"The cost of building thousands of miles of high-voltage transmission lines to bring West Texas wind power to major markets has risen nearly 40 percent from original estimates, according to a state report.

When approved by the Public Utility Commission in 2008, the plan to build lines to support up to 18,500 megawatts of West Texas wind power was tagged at $4.9 billion dollars.

A quarterly update now puts the cost at $6.8 billion, a 38 percent increase."

"Officials made the original estimates before completing detailed engineering and design work, and before securing all the rights-of-way. In some cases the rights-of-way requirements grew because of decisions for the lines to follow existing paths instead of the most direct routes."

"The original estimates also failed to include financing costs and the effects of inflation, and apparently didn't include contingency markups that typically are in big infrastructure projects to allow for undefined variables and risks, according to the report."