Texas: From Oil to Wind

In a book that, for sports fans anyway, represents a true telling of the golden age of high school football in Texas, perhaps the most telling part is the description of the town Permian High School was located in, Odessa, Texas.

Odessa, the very definition of an oil boom town, experienced years of lavish living during boom times and a depression like economy during busts. The views of present-day, post-auto boom Detroit are eerily familiar to those knowing a century of bust in Odessa.

Crime is rampant. Poverty and illness define the population. One failed civic project after another holds the city in its place near the bottom of desired places to live in the country.

Now, as many other towns in the state realize the viability and consistency of wind power, Odessa is poised to follow suit. And reports that the state of Texas is setting records in wind power use are as encouraging as any we’ve seen.

Texas, the nation’s wind-power leader, set a new record for wind generation this morning, when — at 6:37 a.m. — about 19 percent of the electricity on the state’s main grid was supplied by turbines.

That was actually on March 5, when nearly one-fifth of the state main grid was powered by wind.

The state at times receives so much power from heavy winds that turbines have to be shut down because the grid is not yet able to handle it all. Texas is spending nearly $5 billion to help solve that problem.

At the same time, wind farms are popping up all over the place. Nearly 40 projects provide almost 10,000 MW of power, a number rapidly increasing as more are built.

This has been a state more reliant on oil production than nearly any other, but with so much capacity for wind, it could have the ability to drastically expand its energy porfolio using a renewable and constant source. There is no boom or bust with wind power, meaning decades-long busts can be avoided.

Cities like Odessa, which is bidding for a project of its own while still relying heavily on oil and gas production, will have a constant source of jobs and income, giving the city a chance to build itself.

Paired with some of that big Texas sunshine, renewable energy sources are the clear future of energy production in the state. The only thing really slowing the process is an insufficient grid, which the state is working on, but which can be heavily aided by the federal government.

One day there could and should be enough wind energy in Texas to export it to other states through a revamped, updated smart grid. Right now, Texas is showing just how soon that day could be.