Texas Tech to Partner with State, Seminole on Renewable Energy Project

A $500,000 state grant to the City of Seminole could clear the way for a Texas Tech University pilot project using wind power to desalinate brackish groundwater to go forward.

 
The grant, from the Office of Rural Community Affairs (ORCA) Renewable Energy Demonstration Pilot Program, will help fund the $1.07 million project.

The partnership between ORCA, Texas Tech and Seminole is the first project in the United States to use wind power to desalinate drinking water for an inland municipality.

Texas Tech will provide technical support for the two-year project through its Wind Science and Engineering Research Center and the Water Resources Center.

Seminole currently draws its drinking water from the Ogallala Aquifer, which is rapidly being depleted. The small town has no access to surface water supplies. Pumping water from the brackish Santa Rosa Aquifer, which lies deep beneath the Ogallala, has not been an option because desalinating the water has been cost prohibitive.

“As Ogallala Aquifer supplies decline and drinking water standards become more stringent, some cities are faced with increased costs for treatment as well as increased pumping costs from a deeper aquifer,” said Ken Rainwater, director of the Water Resources Center. “Wind power can provide locally generated, renewable energy for treatment and pumping.”

The ORCA grant will allow the installation of a 50-kilowatt wind turbine to power a reverse osmosis plant that would make the water from the Santa Rosa Aquifer drinkable.

“This project holds great promise for rural communities in West Texas and the Panhandle needing to develop new sources of drinking water,” said Charles S. (Charlie) Stone, ORCA executive director.

Seminole, a city of more than 6,000 people in Gaines County, about 80 miles southwest of Lubbock, currently uses about two million gallons a day on average from the Ogallala Aquifer. The wind turbine in the pilot project would provide the electricity for a reverse osmosis plant that, depending on the aquifer characteristics, will produce up to 30,000 gallons per day of drinking water for the city.

Texas Tech has been working with Seminole for three years on the design and economics of wind-driven groundwater desalination systems.

Seminole also has submitted a request for additional funds for the project to the Texas Water Development Board.

“We are grateful to ORCA for its leadership on addressing the critical water needs of Seminole and the region,” Mike Carter, mayor of Seminole, said. “We are hopeful that the Texas Water Development Board will join in this project and bring its strengths and expertise.”

In addition to the ORCA grant, the project calls for Seminole to contribute $400,000 in cash, land and in-kind services.  Texas Tech will contribute $25,000 in data collection and analysis and Entegrity Wind Systems will donate for two years a wind turbine valued at $150,000. After two years, Entegrity likely would lease the turbine to Seminole.

Story produced by the Office of Communications and Marketing, (806) 742-2136. Photos by Artie Limmer.