International investment and advisory firm Babcock & Brown has signed an agreement with Celanese Corp., a Dallas-based chemicals manufacturer, under which Babcock & Brown plans to develop power generation – as well as evaluate possible future renewable energy projects – at the site of Celanese's Pampa, Texas, facility.
The new baseload power generation at the Celanese site will complement Babcock & Brown's wind power production and increase the utilization of transmission lines delivering the power into the Electric Reliability Council of Texas grid, according to the company. This grid currently has only limited connection to the state's key wind energy areas in the Panhandle.
‘New transmission infrastructure is essential to allow all Texans to access the world-class wind resources of the Panhandle and to allow the existing Celanese infrastructure to help maintain adequate electric generation capacity reserves to meet growing demand,’ says David Parquet of Babcock & Brown.
Celanese will continue operations at the site until at least early 2009, the companies add, while Babcock & Brown develops the energy projects and needed transmission lines are built to the region. Baseload electric generation could be operational at the site as early as 2009.
