According to a study by the Texas Clean Energy Coalition, the downstate grid run by the  Electric Reliability Council of Texas could handle all levels of renewable energy and possibly develop through the year 2026 with no reliability issues, reported by Amarillo Globe News.

The shared power downstate from solar and wind energy will likely climb from the the current 10 percent to anywhere near 43 percent. The plan for the development will be located in the Big Spring and Texas Panhandle areas.

"The objective of this report was to examine broad patterns of interaction between renewable resources and natural gas over the next two decades," said TCEC Chairman Kip Averitt. "The report illustrates the key drivers of gas and renewable development in ERCOT to better inform Texas policymakers and decision-makers about the range of possible outcomes."

There's a high demand for power in Texas and having a new superhighway of transmission lines is feeding the desire for wind farm construction in the Texas Panhandle. The current projects in place total 1,100 megawatts of capacity when they're fully constructed over time.

There was a lot of resistance initially to the project because local communities couldn't use the available supply and the state's electric grid was not able to deliver the energy to the high-demand eastern cities, according to Earth Techling. Nearly $500 million a year is lost in unsold power or power sold under price. 

According to the West Texas A&M University Alternative Energy Institute, wind farm construction is priced around $2 million per megawatt of capacity, which means nearly $2.2 billion is predicted for the wind farm construction combined.

Wind energy is a boost for the local economy

The Competitive Renewable Energy Zone project will bring 3,600 miles of new transmission lines across Texas and the companies that built the lines in the Texas Panhandle are nearly ready to energize them, according to Amarillo Globe News. There will plenty of local spending on road construction, concrete production and even lodging for the workers on the project.

"The wind industry is helping to ensure that electricity production will stay ahead of demand and the Herculean task of getting the lines up so we can export energy created here by the wind to other parts of the state should stand as its own testament," said Executive Director of Class 4 Winds and Renewables Steve Myers, reported by Amarillo Globe News.

With the increase of power lines spreading across Texas for wind energy, wind farm owners and operators can turn to Broadwind Energy as their projects take shape. Broadwind specializes in the fabrication of wind turbine towers and provides in-field, in-shop and uptower gearbox and blade maintenance, repair and upgrade services for wind turbines.

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