Texas regulators are giving the go ahead for a USD4.93bn wind-power transmission project to carry electricity from remote areas in the west of the state to population centres like Dallas and Houston. Transmission companies will pay for the lines, which will be capable of transmitting 18.5GW of power. Damon Withrow, director of government relations at the Public Utility Commission, says details of the plan will be complete by August 15 and the lines will take five years to build.

Texas already produces more wind power than any other US state with a total installed capacity of 5.3GW. However, its shortage of wind transmission facilities means that turbines must sometimes be shut off even when the wind is blowing. In addition, the lack of transmission lines presents a bottleneck to further wind developments.

T Boone Pickens, the Texan oilman turned wind entrepreneur, says he will continue with plans to build his own transmission lines to connect, what he says will be, the world’s largest wind farm to the Texas grid. His project is due to be operational by 2011, two years before the new transmission project is scheduled to finish.