Business & Politics

Everybody knows that everything's bigger in Texas; we can add wind power to that list as well. Texas has passed California as the US's largest producer of wind energy, according to a midyear report released Tuesday by the American Wind Energy Association. Texas capacity stands at 2,370 megawatts, which is enough to power 600,000 average-sized homes a year, after adding 375 megawatts in the first half of this year. That puts Texas slightly ahead of California, the nation's leader since 1981; currently, California has 2,323 megawatts of capacity. With an interesting choice of words, Randall Swisher, the association's executive director, said "There are substantially more developments in the pipeline. We are just about where we thought we would be in terms of appearing to be on course for another industry record for the year." Texas has big plans to be home to more than just the place with the most wind energy generation capacity, according Jerry Patterson, the state's land commissioner. Patterson said he believes Texas can be an industry hub, just as it has been for oil and natural gas. It'll only help wind power continue to become as cheap (or cheaper) than conventional energy. via ::Wired News