







Working together, members all across West Texas have joined forces to assure that our region can maximize the economic benefits from this important emerging industry. Working together with our members, here are some examples of the impact of the West Texas Wind Energy Consortium since January 2005:
Enrolled members representing more than 1,000,000 West Texans from Dalhart to Del Rio and Fort Worth to El Paso – as well as from Dallas, Austin, Houston and out-of-state members (including Alaska and Hawaii absentee landowners and military deployed to Iraq);
Developed a membership that represents the comprehensive stakeholder spectrum across West Texas – counties, school districts, colleges, heavy industry, small businesses, ranchers, farmers, economic development corporations, chambers of commerce, wind developers, construction firms, electric co-ops, and more;
Presented informational programs to thousands of landowners, local officials, school representatives, business leaders, and other stakeholders at intensive “Wind Energy 101” seminars in such locations as Trent, Van Horn, Roscoe, Snyder, Sweetwater, Amarillo, McCamey, Winters, Vernon, Ackerly, Jacksboro, Childress, Dumas, Levelland, Tulia, Norton, Roby, Crews, Wingate, Jacksboro, Winters, Crosbyton, Rowena, Graham, Lowake, Abilene, San Angelo, Paducah, Jayton, Post, Aspermont, and many more;
Created & hosted 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Annual West Texas Wind Energy Trade Fair – Held in Trent in July 2005, 2006, and 2007, the event each year has drawn almost 300 regional and statewide participants who had more than 20 topical seminars to choose from; 4th Annual Trade Fair will be July 8-9-10, 2008.
Working with The University of Texas School of Law and Texas Tech University School of Law, created and hosted the Nation’s premier wind energy legal seminars in the heart of an intensive wind region – The Wind Law Institute. Held at Texas State Technical College in Sweetwater, the event (only one of its kind in USA) provides continuing legal education to West Texas lawyers and other attorneys from around the nation, with speakers arriving from across West Texas, as well as Houston to Washington DC. 3rd Annual Wind Law Institute will be in June 2008 at TSTC in Sweetwater in conjunction with Texas Tech Law School;
Working with wind energy project managers, we have been instrumental in developing the Nation’s premier Wind Energy Technician skills training course at Texas State Technical College, which enrolled the program’s first Associates Degree students in Fall 2006 and grew from 8 to 75 students in its first year;
Working with local sponsors, hosted a Wind Energy Appreciation Dinner in Sweetwater for almost 250 wind energy workers – as a model for other West Texas communities;
Held extended 2005 informational and organizational meetings in Sweetwater, Amarillo, McCamey, and Van Horn;
Provided speaker to civic club meetings in Midland, San Angelo, Abilene, Wichita Falls, Winters, Snyder, Uvalde, Sweetwater, and Hamlin;
Provides briefings to legislators and legislative staff (Texas Legislature and U.S. Congress) at the State Capitol, the West Texas Legislative Summit, and in the region’s wind fields and industrial sites – and is a constant clearinghouse for interaction between legislative staffs and the West Texas wind energy region;
Organized and hosted the first Texas Wind Industrial Network Summit (Texas WINS) (San Angelo in August 2006) to spur creation of industrial jobs across Texas for manufacture of wind energy components. The results of this initiative inspired Governor Perry to name a blue ribbon Renewable & Sustainable Energy Team to the Energy Cluster of the Governor’s Industry Cluster Initiative (Nov. 2006). This conference also directly resulted in the first turbine manufacturing facility in Texas – a strategic alliance in Round Rock between TECO-Westinghouse and EU Energy – with the prototype 2.0 MW turbine erected at Highland (near Sweetwater & Roscoe) in January 2008;
Earned a $23,500 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service via the Big Country Resource Conservation & Development Area and the Chihuahuan Desert RC&D Area – which was used for educational workshops, computer enhancements, communications activities, the 2006 & 2007 West Texas Wind Energy Trade Fair at Trent, and to purchase and install a small-scale wind turbine at the Trent school;
Works constantly with private developers, wind companies, and state officials to develop strategies for construction of hundreds of high-quality homes and apartments across West Texas to enable our region to attract top-paying jobs and workers to meet the needs of this rapidly evolving industry;
Participates in strategy sessions with local elected officials, development entities, and community leaders to instigate community economic development action plans throughout West Texas;
Works with film crews to promote West Texas as a center of energy innovation – such as HBO, the Texas Farm Bureau, New York’s High Definition News, Germany’s ZDF Network, Al Jazeera-English, CBS “Sunday Morning”, “NBC Nightly News”, and news crews from Dallas and across West Texas;
Worked with reporters and photographers from such publications as the Boston Globe and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram to promote West Texas as a site for wind energy development and to advocate West Texas wind policy positions;
Provided tours of West Texas wind projects to U.S. Congressman Randy Neugebauer, the staff of U.S. Senator John Cornyn, Texas gubernatorial candidates, and leadership and landowner delegations from across West Texas;
Facilitated countless productive opportunities between landowners and developers
Made special presentations to County Commissioners Courts in Scurry, Taylor, Runnels, Tom Green, Concho, Mitchell, Stephens, Howard, Cochran, Fisher, Crosby, Sterling, and Glasscock counties – in addition to regular interaction with elected officials in Nolan County – as well as through multi-county forums in Dumas, Levelland, Vernon, Tulia, Jacksboro, Childress, Trent, Jacksboro, Graham, Post, Aspermont, Roby, Jayton, and other sites;
Facilitated direct communication and interaction between (1) local communities, counties, and schools and (2) wind developers, construction contractors, and energy purchasing utilities – for the purpose of smoothing construction logistics, improving community-project interactions, enhancing project contributions to community priorities, and for other beneficial purposes;
Worked with county officials, Texas State Technical College, Western Texas College, school districts, and the West Central Texas Workforce Center to develop Wind Energy Job Fairs with developers and general contractors for new and continuing wind energy construction and operation projects;
Constantly work to promote West Texas as a site for major company operation expansions and relocations for long-term construction and permanent operations companies – such as DeWind to Round Rock, General Electric to Sweetwater, Concrete Mobility to Mitchell County, Third Planet Windpower to Loraine and Sweetwater, and many more;
Represent West Texas at major international wind energy conferences, including American Wind Energy Association expos at Los Angeles, San Diego, and Phoenix; the Canadian Wind Energy Association at Winnipeg; and the European Wind Energy Association at Brussels;
Initiated and operate the “Ride the Wind” bicycling event in 2007 through the wind region in Nolan County to benefit the Children’s Miracle Network. “Ride the Wind” will expand in 2008 and serve as a template for other communities to incorporate wind energy cycling events into their community festivals;
Developed a continuing high school and college student internship-scholarship program in 2006 that has so far included students from Highland, Roscoe, and Sweetwater high schools and Texas Tech, West Texas A&M, and Angelo State universities to work at the Sweetwater office of the West Texas Wind Energy Consortium, as well as at the West Texas Wind Energy Trade Fair, the Wind Law Institute, the AWEA Windpower ’07 conference in Los Angeles, “Ride the Wind” cycling event, on regional initiatives, and on other projects.
On behalf of the Board of Directors of the West Texas Wind Energy Consortium, we hope that you will agree that your membership dollars are a wise investment in your interest and in the interests of West Texas. With the active commitment of our members, the West Texas Wind Energy Consortium has become the “go-to” resource center, networking forum, and clearinghouse in a very short time.
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