Senator Eliot Shapleigh - El Paso, Texas

The West Texas wind industry expects to be blowin' and growin' because of recent actions by the state of Texas and Congress.

Last week, Congress approved a comprehensive energy bill that included a two-year extension of a federal production tax credit, key to development of costly wind ranches. And on Monday, Gov. Rick Perry signed a bill to expand Texas' renewable energy requirements and upgrade the state's transmission grid to move more West Texas wind energy to metropolitan markets.

The legislation will increase investment in new projects, creating a windfall of economic opportunities, said Greg Wortham, executive director of the West Texas Wind Energy Consortium, a nonprofit alliance of landowners, governments and other industry stakeholders.

Today, there are five wind farms in Taylor, Nolan, Borden and Scurry counties. Once all current projects are completed, there will be about 1,000 wind turbines in the area.

Although tax abatements given by local counties have helped some companies, Taylor County Judge George Newman said that without the federal tax credits, companies could not go forward with projects or expansions.

''The biggest thing they look for to help them is those federal tax credits,'' he said. ''That will certainly stimulate the industry.''

Companies use production tax credits to offset the high capital cost - about $1 million per turbine - to develop a wind farm. The PTC extension will continue the current 1.9-cent per kilowatt-hour tax credit through Dec. 31, 2007. The PTC had been scheduled to expire Dec. 31 of this year.

When credits expire, it stalls not only wind projects, but related industries.

''What had happened in the past is those kind of industrial jobs out there would zoom up into the hundreds, then stop,'' Wortham said. ''The extension creates a much more logical and sustainable industry out here. Wind Clean in Coleman, Barr Fabrication in Brownwood can't operate effectively if they might have to lay people off six months into the extensions. They can't really anchor those people into the commutes, into their homes and schools if they've got a seven-month job.''

Although wind farms do not provide a lot of jobs - one for about every 10 turbines - there are nearly 300 wind industry-related manufacturing jobs in the area, Wortham said.

''With the new legislation, it's clear Texas is going to have a huge build-out and the more infrastructure we've got and the critical mass we have here, why shouldn't they put the next layer of manufacturing here?'' Wortham said.

Barr Fabrication produces the wind turbines, Wind Clean provides painting and finishing for the 200-foot steel towers, and Zoltek in Abilene manufactures carbon fibers, which are used to make turbine blades. Numerous other construction suppliers and contractors benefit from wind industry growth.

Richard Burdine, chief executive officer of the Development Corporation of Abilene, said growth in the wind energy industry could help the manufacturing sector in the area.

''Nationally, anything that's done that encourages development is going to eventually help with manufacturing,'' Burdine said. ''Until we get wind production up in whatever level it is that makes sense, I don't know what it will take to see an increase.''

However, the wind industry is relatively new in the United States, which does not yet have a lot of manufacturing companies of wind turbines, parts and blades. Burdine said manufacturing companies looking to settle in the United States may find it easier now that the tax credits have passed.

''We were competing for a plant that manufactures blades .. they were waiting to pull the trigger on their U.S. plant until the energy bill was passed. They decided to locate elsewhere, but they are one of the few U.S. plants,'' Burdine said.

State standards passed this week will better position Texas in the international wind energy market, Wortham said, by showing a greater commitment to the industry.

Under the new law, Texas' Renewable Portfolio Standard, the state set a target of producing 5,880 megawatts of renewable energy by 2015. The current target is 2,000 megawatts.

But perhaps most important, the state's commitment to increasing transmission capability will bolster the industry for decades to come, Wortham said.

''It's just like oil,'' he said. ''You know the oil is there, but you have to have the pipeline to the Permian Basin to get it out. ... We've got a huge resource in all of West Texas and if we build a logical transmission system ... we can really open up the horizon.''