"The next big Texas energy boom does not involve tight gas formations in the Barnett Shale, or deepwater oil and gas in the Gulf of Mexico. While fossil resources continue to draw high interest from energy developers and investors in the Lone Star State, Texas' hottest energy prospect is wind power in West Texas and the Panhandle."
"That's where a new surge of wind farm development, estimated at 7,500 megawatts of new generation over the next three years, should convert once-sleepy places like Amarillo, Plainview and Lubbock into renewable energy boomtowns.
The new wind power surge, while not a surprise to those familiar with the state's immense wind resource, is coming to fruition thanks to the convergence of several factors. They include the expiration of a key federal tax credit that pushed wind energy developers to launch projects by the end of 2013; an economic recovery and projected population growth that should drive electricity demand higher in Texas by midcentury; and, most immediately, the completion of one of the largest transmission expansions ever conceived for the sole purpose of bringing renewable energy to market."
Daniel Cusick reports for ClimareWire February 25, 2014.
