Jobs and tax revenue revive the community’s economy

 

In a state previously dominated by the oil industry, wind power is offering employment that should continue long after the rigs have stopped pumping oil from the ground.

 

In Nolan County, where many of the Horse Hollow turbines are located, the oil wells began to dry up as long ago as the 1990s. By 2004, 20% of the population was living in poverty, according to the US Census Bureau.

 

Wind power has offered a new lease of life to the area. A study by the community-based West Texas Wind Energy Consortium found that over 1,100 of Nolan County's roughly 15,000 residents now have jobs directly related to wind energy.

Jeffrey Briscoe, who grew up in the county’s capital town of Sweetwater, was originally a computer salesman. Three years ago he retrained and is now the lead technician for the 142 turbines in Horse Hollow I wind farm. “My job is to organise crews to deal with any technical issues which arise, such as generators overheating in the summer,” he says. Altogether, about 56 people are employed in Operations and Maintenance work on all three phases of Horse Hollow.

“Sweetwater is steadily growing again for the first time in decades,” says Briscoe. “It’s great to see an area that was really suffering coming back – and it’s all due to the wind industry.”
With more wind farms coming into operation, Nolan County’s property tax base has already expanded from $500 million in 1999 to $2.4 billion in 2008. The increased tax revenues are being spent on new roads and school renovations.

Companies based in Texas now manufacture a range of parts for wind turbines, including nacelles, blades and towers. Farmers in the area also benefit, receiving compensation of more than $2,000 per MW for accepting the installation of wind turbines on their land.

Nationally, about 85,000 people are employed in the US wind industry, including wind turbine component manufacture, construction and installation of turbines and operations and maintenance. Last year alone, according to the American Wind Energy Association, 55 new wind industry facilities opened for business.

 

By 2030, the Department of Energy projects that up to 500,000 jobs could be created by the wind industry.