When the Wall Street Journal praises wind power for lowering electricity prices, you know we’ve reached a benchmark in renewable energy.

A recent report from Bernstein Research, cited by a startled Journal blog post, concludes that in Texas, wind power may actually lower prices at certain times of day, by obviating the need to switch on costly natural-gas fired generators.

This is not a story about lowering emissions, per se. As the Bernstein report explains, wind turbines, combined with nuclear and coal generators, should create enough electricity for the state at “hours of relatively low demand,” e.g. at night and during the winter, when the winds blow stronger, and demand is weaker.

Natural gas provides nearly 50% of Texans’ electricity, but that power is mostly “on the margin,” meaning it is turned on when all other sources of power are at full capacity.

From an environmental standpoint, it would of course be more attractive if wind could take the place of coal not gas, as coal is vastly more polluting than gas, in terms of both CO2 and particulate matter and other pollutants.

Texas is the country’s largest generator of wind power – by far – with over 8000 mWs of capacity, providing about 3.6% of the state’s electricity in 2008. The latest Electric Power Monthly shows renewables share of generation in the Lone Star State jumped 30% from April of 2008 to April of 2009, with most of that from wind power.

Not everything is going well with Texas wind power, however: due to rising costs, Austin’s award-winning renewable electricity program has had trouble selling all of its capacity this year. Some environmentalists blame Austin Energy for deliberately hiking the cost of wind power to sell more coal and gas generated electricity, but the utility says costs have risen — in part due to increased demand for clean power.

Reprinted with permission from TriplePundit