In 2007, Texas installed new wind power capacity of 1,618 MW to become the first state in the U.S. to install more than one gigawatt of new wind installations in a single year. This brings Texas to a total installed capacity of 3,953 megawatts of wind energy which is nearly one quarter of the entire wind power capacity in the United States.

The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) believes that 67% of the expected growth in wind energy in the United States over the next several years will occur in Texas. They also report that three of the largest wind farms in the world are located in Texas including the worlds largest, the 504.8 megawatt Horse Hollow Wind Energy Center near Sweetwater. An even larger wind farm is under development by EON (formerly Airtricity) around Roscoe, Texas. The “Roscoe Wind Farm” is expected to exceed 800 megawatts and cover as much as 70,000 acres when all phases of that project are completed sometime around 2010.

The growth of the wind industry in Texas has caused the Texas Public Utility Commision to put in motion plans for a massive buildout of transmission capacity across the state. Five “CREZ” zones (Competitive Renewable Energy Zones) have been designated in the state for near term improvements that could add more than 20 gigawatts of new transmission capacity over the next 5 to 7 years.

In addition to an abundance of commercial quality wind across the state and the expected buildout of transmission infrastructure, Texas is considered a prime location for wind development projects for several other reasons as well.

Projects placed in rural areas of Texas, such as the aforementioned Horse Hollow and Roscoe Wind Farm projects, generally do not face stiff resistance from local residents. Land owners and townships see wind as simply another crop to be harvested and communities generally embrace wind projects by offering tax abatements and popular support. NIMBY (“not in my back yard”) issues that plague projects located near urban areas, such as the well known Cape Cod offshore project, are a far less troublesome issue in rural Texas for would be wind developers.

Another advantage to proejects in Texas is permitting. Unlike states with strict state, county and civic codes for large projects, such as California or Massachusetts, or rural states where much of the developable area is public land, like the Dakotas or Oklahoma, Texas has very minimal permitting requirements for wind developments on private, rural land.

Finally, Texas boasts three of the top nine most populous cities in the United States. This creates one of the largest markets for electricity in the world. Because these three markets are all within the ERCOT (Electrial Reliability Count of Texas) grid, only energy generated within that system can be sold into these markets.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Texas will be one of the 5 fastest growing states in the U.S. between 2007 and 2030, adding nearly 10 million people in this timespan. This growth will further increase the demand for electrical power in the states primary population centers, creating a strong and growing market for wind power.

All of these factors contribute to the expectation that Texas will be one of the best areas in the world for wind development business over the course of the next 10 to 20 years.