Texas Wind Energy
By Richard Chapo

If every there was a state associated with oil, it is Texas. Given this association, many people are surprised to learn wind energy is popular in the state. Here is a guide to Texas wind energy.

Texas Wind Energy

Wind energy is a growing industry in the United States. In the year 2004 alone, the quantity of energy that was generated by wind energy plants (wind farms) amounted to 6,720 megawatts (MW). Additionally, the US has spent about $7 billion dollars on the installation of these wind turbines and wind farms, meaning that wind energy has become a big industry. Fortune 500 companies as well as other big financial and energy companies have become major players in the wind energy arena. There are many different states throughout the country that are involved in wind energy and energy, but Texas wind energy is some of the most abundant.

Texas wind energy was long considered to be a perfect solution for the state's energy needs, as well as the US's total energy needs. Texas is currently the largest wind energy producer in the United States, providing enough energy to energy 600,000 average size homes a year. Texas is also home to the US's first off-shore wind farms, along the Gulf Coast, as well as the largest wind turbines in the country. There are currently about 1,600 wind farms that are located in West Texas alone, with additional wind farms located in the wind-rich areas of the High Plains and along the Gulf Coast.

The United States Department of Energy recently completed a study that found that the high wind energy states of Texas, North Dakota and Kansas could feasibly create enough energy through wind farms to satisfy the entire country's electricity needs. Wind energy as an energy source has increased more than four times in the years between 1999 and 2005, and it is now on a par with both coal- powered and natural gas-fired energy plants.

One huge beneficiary from the profits that wind farms can generate are the schools of the state of Texas. Each year, these schools earn millions of dollars from wind energy that's generated on state land – the amount of money depending on how many megawatts of energy are produced as well as the current price of electricity. This money, as it is earned, is placed in the Texas Permanent School Fund, and this fund is expected to earn $300 million over the next 20 years.

Texas wind energy is not only a great source of ecologically friendly, renewable energy – it's also a great economic boost to the state. Besides being cheaper to use, the revenue created from selling the energy harnessed on state land goes directly to the school system in the state.

Rick Chapo is with SolarCompanies.com - providing wind farm information.

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