For struggling West Texans, giant turbines bring winds of change

[jpak]

http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/news/nation/15375243.htm

The thing about West Texas that you can't ignore, that you can never forget, is the wind. On that big, flat stretch of land dotted with scrubby mesquite trees, the wind sweeps through effortlessly, unimpeded. It rakes across acres of ranchland, over cattle and rocks and red dirt, over nearly dry stock tanks and abandoned oil pump jacks. Always, always it whips at your face or pushes at your back. It fills your ears with a high-pitched, wavering whistle. There's always another gust on the way.

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Wind energy, and the money it brings to counties and to landowners, just might be what sustains West Texas when everything else falls through. West Texas has always been dry, but this year's drought has made it even harder for ranchers to scrape together a living; without rain, the grass dies and stock tanks dry up, so ranchers have to sell off their cattle. Oil production is down, and many towns can't rely on oil anymore. Regionwide, the economy and population have been in decline for years.

Wind power offers many things West Texas needs: new industry, employment possibilities, a dependable source of income. To some, it's a dream come true. But it's also a tradeoff. Because the turbines have changed more than the way things look. They've changed the way people use their land, how they earn a living, how they feel about their wide, flat place in the world. Wind power may help West Texas survive, even thrive. But it won't be the same place it was.

The tiny town of Nolan is surprisingly at the heart of what's happening all over West Texas. In Nolan - just south of Sweetwater, population approximately 50 - the wind turbines have gone up lightning-fast, blanketing residents' ranches with long, spinning rows of steel. Just about everybody in town has turbines on their land, which means they've leased their property to developers and may soon be quite wealthy, once the checks start arriving every quarter. Some have sold their cattle and plan to live off the wind.

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[amitten]

1. A great trade-off, if you ask me.

Better and easier and more dependable for everyone involved.

I live in Texas and subscribe to the Green Choice energy program...which is fueled by wind power.

[havocmom]

2. .

back when I've got the time to do article justice.

Thanks for posting this.

[greenman3610]

3. this is what it's all about

giving landowners a way to stay on the land.

Dispersed, small scale, renewable, clean.

Did he say, 10,000 bucks per turbine, per year?

[phantom power]

4. Nowhere is ever going to be "the same place it was."

That's about the only thing I feel sure of anymore.

[skids]

5. Here would be an interesting thought experiment.

If you took one of the big 1-3 MW turbines and plopped it in a desert area, along
with a power storage unit capable of levelling it's supply (probably much of it in heat/ice storage), a farmhouse, a desalinization or condensation unit to retrieve water, and some electrically powered farm equipment...

What would be acreage the power from that wind turbine would be able to support, holding back the desert and producing food?

[JohnWxy]

7. NOt an experiment: Google VRB Power Systems of Canada.

They build vanadium redox fuel cells to store power which are cost effective, modular and scalable.

http://www.vrbpower.com/

[skids]

8. I'm well aware of VRB -- and EEstor and BeaconPower.

But it's still a thought experiment until someone actually tries to make a stand against desertification with a wind-powered oasis.

To add a bit of romance to the thought experiment, picture the "mad-max" scenario where a group of climate refugees cluster around a windmill and build one of those forts made from sheet metal and old schoolbusses. How much farmland could they support, and what would be their maximum sustainable population?

[JohnWxy]

6. good post. Significant. In 20 years MSM will report this as "news"

wind power not practical?..LOL. And this is just the beginning. In coming years as Natural Gas prices keep shooting skyward, the move to wind power will become a stampede! (as it is in Taylor and Nolan counties Texas)

We take a great deal of pride," Johnny Ussery says. "This is pollution-free energy. We feel like we're being a part of something that's really helping the environment. The money's great - don't misunderstand me - but we feel like we're doing a small part, a very small part, in helping provide a clean source of energy."

The money, though, is going to change their lives. Landowners sign confidentiality agreements with the wind project developers, so the Usserys can't say how much they'll earn from their 28 turbines. Wortham estimates that many landowners are paid up to $10,000 a year per turbine, depending on the agreement signed and the size and output of the turbines.

Life isn't going to be the same. Already, Johnny's bought a motorcycle and a motor home. Rebecca hopes her husband can retire early. And Mary went into Sweetwater not long ago to look at a new Cadillac. She doesn't want one; she feels more comfortable in her Dodge Dakota double-cab. Instead, she plans to build a new house. It won't be a home on the ranch - with turbines and transmission lines, it's far too complicated to build anything on the Ussery land. So Mary will build her new house next to her old one, right in town.

The turbines have changed the ranch. But they also might have saved it.

Recommended. Thanks, Jpak.

[Kber]

9. Well, I guess the oil rigs that used to dot the landscape

"changed the way things look", too.

Hope it works for them.