Key Findings
Three broad forces are driving the expansion of wind power nationally and in Texas, which presents a business model that can be replicated elsewhere: rising corporate demand; growing investor interest; strong bipartisan political support.
Texas is the wind-savviest state in the nation, and its growing number of wind farms are widely and correctly perceived as good investments, job creators, tax-base solidifiers, and engines of economic growth.
Executive Summary
Beyond its industry overview and its Texas-specific outlook, this report details how the wind industry has lifted one community, Nolan County, which sits at the edge of the Permian Basin, and serves as a prime example of how a renewables-based energy economy brings predictable benefits that the boom-and-bust oil-and-gas business cannot.
Tax revenues in Nolan County have increased, driven significantly by the wind industry, which makes up 6 of the top 10, and 11 of the top 20 property taxpayers today.
- More jobs and higher wages have come to the county, where the unemployment rate was 3.1% in January 2020 and where wind-energy workers are paid on par with oilfield employees.
- Economic diversification has been a direct byproduct, as can be seen in the county seat of Sweetwater, which has drawn a range of wind-energy offshoot service businesses and where Texas State Technical College now graduates 50 to 75 wind technicians per year.
- A knock-on utility-scale solar industry is emerging as a companion business to windfarms.
