In 2001, the Texas Legislature created the Office of Rural Community Affairs. The state agency works to strengthen rural communities and assist them with community and economic development. Since 2002, the agency has awarded thousands of grants to help rural communities and counties with their community and economic development needs.

With that in mind, Renewable Energy Community Service Specialist Travis Brown says it's easy to understand why the office is interested in wind energy development.

"Texas is now the biggest wind producing state in the country by far. And you can see the evidence on the ground in west Texas and the panhandle on how big wind farms have really helped rural communities improve quality of life."

Brown says wind brings a variety of benefits to rural Texas communities.

"Number one is new, good quality jobs that enables young people to stay in their communities. Wind power, having the wind farms, they need those turbines maintained and there's a lot of other related jobs tied into that."

In addition to jobs, Brown says wind energy generates new tax revenues for schools. In fact, he says a typical 1.5 megawatt wind turbine generates about 10-thousand dollars in new tax revenues each year.

"There's a little town called Trent, just west of Abilene, Texas, and if you're driving along the Interstate, one of those places if you blink you'll miss it. But one thing you will see there is a brand new school building. And it's really interesting because behind the school building there's a mesa, and along that mesa is a line of wind turbines and the tax revenues from those wind turbines is what built that new school."

But will wind become as big an economic driver in rural Texas as oil and gas? According to Brown, it's already happening to some extent.

"Out in the town of McCamey, out in far west Texas, used to be oil and gas basically and has suffered as that industry has declined out there. They've been known for a long time as the wind capital of the U.S. and that's their claim to fame as opposed to oil and gas. It's going to be a long time though, I mean, you know, oil and gas still is the big driver of the Texas economy and will be for a long time."

There's now more than four-thousand megawatts of wind energy installed in Texas and another 12-hundred megawatts is currently under construction.

At the beginning of 2007, there were more than 11,500 megawatts (MW) of wind power installed across the United States, with an additional 4,000 MW projected in both 2007 and 2008. The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) estimates that the U.S. installed capacity will exceed 16,000 MW by the end of 2007. When our partnership was launched in 2000, there were 2,500 MW of installed wind capacity in the United States. At that time, only four states had more than 100 MW of installed wind capacity. Seventeen states now have more than 100 MW installed. We anticipate five to six additional states will join the 100-MW club early in 2008, and by the end of the decade, more than 30 states will have passed the 100-MW milestone. WPA celebrates the 100-MW milestones because the first 100 megawatts are always the most difficult and lead to significant experience, recognition of the wind energy's benefits, and expansion of the vision of a more economically and environmentally secure and sustainable future.

WPA continues to work with its national, regional, and state partners to communicate the opportunities and benefits of wind energy to a diverse set of stakeholders. WPA now has 30 state Wind Working Groups (welcoming Georgia and Wisconsin in 2007) that form strategic alliances to communicate wind's benefits and challenges to state stakeholders. We anticipate adding three to four more state Wind Working Groups in 2008 (Kansas, Arkansas, and Maine). More than 140 members of national and state public- and private-sector organizations from 39 U.S. states and Canada attended the 6th Annual WPA All-States Summit in Los Angeles in June. The WPA Web site continues to break past records, with 25,000 to 35,000 visitors per month.

WPA's emphasis remains on the rural agricultural sector, which stands to reap the significant economic development benefits of wind energy development. Additionally, WPA continues its program of outreach, education, and technical assistance to Native American communities, public power entities, and state regulatory and legislative bodies.

We continue to work on wind-siting issues, including radar, with other agencies that have responsibilities for development on public lands and protection of wildlife. WPA expanded its Wind for Schools pilot effort in Colorado to Nebraska, Kansas, South Dakota, Montana, and Idaho and plans to expand it to four to five additional states in 2008. WPA also formed three Regional Wind Energy Institutes to educate and train stakeholders to present the wind energy story. Through these joint efforts and many others, we continue to expand wind energy as a viable option for power generation. The 20% Wind Energy by 2030 scenario developed by AWEA, the U.S. Department of Energy, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and other stakeholders will require significantly enhanced outreach efforts to communicate the benefits, the required infrastructure upgrades, and the regulatory actions needed to accomplish this promising future for many stakeholder groups in all regions of the country.

We appreciate the commitment of our partners to continue to work together for the benefit of all stakeholders. We share a common vision and hope for the future, and the success is yours to celebrate.

Maine has a significant wind resource that can be tapped to provide clean, indigenous renewable power that will not produce greenhouse gas emissions or other air pollution, and that will increase the reliability of the region's electricity supply. After a detailed review of Maine's wind resource, regional and projected markets for clean power, technology trends, and Maine's greenhouse gas emission goals and policy commitments, the Task Force concludes that Maine should seek to host at least 2,000 megawatts (MW) of installed wind power capacity by 2015, and at least 3,000 MW by 2020. The Task Force believes that at least 300 MW of the 2020 goal could be achieved with projects built offshore.

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