According to wind developer FPL, wind conditions over the 3rd financial quarter were the least productive in the last 3 decades in the Great Plains -- go figure. Over the quarter, wind power generation came in 38% below expected totals, down 47% in September alone.

A deflating economy has taken the wind out of a massive Panhandle alternative energy project. Tight lending stalled a $2 billion wind farm project headed by billionaire oilman and alternative power proponent T. Boone Pickens. Pickens' BP Capital delayed work on a state permit to build 170 miles of transmission lines carrying enough wind energy to power 300,000 homes.

A wind tower manufacturing company, facing construction costs that were significantly higher than expected, received a shot in the arm Tuesday. Members of the Development Corporation of Abilene voted to approve Tower Tech Systems Inc.'s request for additional money -- up to $700,000 more -- to help cover nearly $7 million in unanticipated building costs.

Texas consumers and taxpayers could pay more than $2.2 billion a year in subsidies and higher transmission costs to take advantage of the state's abundant wind-generation resources, a free-market research group said on Tuesday. The state's current push to accelerate use of wind-generated electricity is "costing, not saving, Texans billions of dollars," said Bill Peacock, director of the Texas Public Policy Foundation's Center for Economic Freedom. ...By 2025, the study said the price tag could total $60 billion as Texas reaches 10,000 megawatts of wind capacity.

Higher than expected construction costs has a wind-tower manufacturing company asking for more money -- $700,000, to be exact -- from the city of Abilene's economic development arm. According to Development Corporation of Abilene records, Tower Tech Systems, Inc., now estimate construction and equipment costs will reach $27 million, or about $7 million more as was estimated in DCOA's original assistance package.

Wind power developer Higher Perpetual Energy and turbine manufacturer DeWind are on their way to spending about $1.2 billion to boost wind energy in the Panhandle. The plan is for a total of 310 turbines across the region in three years. The pair are finishing two small wind farms, with two larger ones on the drawing board. "The small ones will be very profitable," said David Tatton, president of Higher Perpetual Energy. "But they are also test projects for the teams working together."

Young County commissioners will continue to discuss a potential wind farm in northern Young County during a regular meeting of commissioners court at 9:30 a.m. Monday at the county courthouse.

More than 100 people gathered at the Morgan Mill Community Center Oct. 13 to hear more information about the wind turbine industry. Robert Weatherford and Bill Renfro from Fredericksburg gave a presentation about how Gillespie County residents have handled wind turbine companies in their area. According to a meeting report from Gary Key, a non-profit organization supported by more than 300 residents encouraged companies to consider areas in West Texas that produce more wind.

[A] BP representative explained that the project could be phased in with 60 windmills possibly becoming available next year, and the remaining 40 coming some time later. Of the 60 windmills, David Gonzalez said, the majority are planned in Archer County.The change in the proposal was not met with enthusiasm by commissioners. ..."The prospect of an abatement has been based on a 250 megawatt buildout," Precinct 2 Commissioner John C. Bullock said. "The prospect of a phase in was not mentioned. If we had know that, it likely would have been different."

Three years after the courts ruled against their claim to their ancestors' land, members of the Balli family said they'll keep fighting. Since July, about 40 family members have staged protests against the developer of a wind farm, claiming it is intruding on their land claim awarded about 200 years ago by the King of Spain. "They're trespassing on our property," said Nicholas Balli, a mechanic in Harlingen.

Texas utility regulators urged transmission companies to agree on who will build $5 billion in new power lines needed to unleash the state's abundant wind generation, rather than force a state utility panel to hold a lengthy proceeding. ...Meanwhile, the pace of wind-turbine installation has begun to slow from the break-neck speed seen in the past two years to allow the grid to catch up, according to developers and the Texas grid operator.

Advocating local control to approve or disapprove of the installation of industrial wind farms in any Texas county, Gillespie County Judge Mark Stroeher testified before a State Senate committee Monday. “Local county officials are in the best position to judge whether or not a wind project makes sense in their particular area based on all the relevant factors, including the desires of the citizens,” Stroeher said.

Wind turbines will whirl through the State Capitol and stir up a storm on the Senate's agenda today as the Senate Committee on Business and Commerce plans to discuss current industry regulations and practices associated with the turbines. The committee will hear testimony from the Public Utility Commission of Texas on the siting process for wind turbines, wind generation industry representatives on the impact of industry regulation and local land owners on the private property rights. Members of the public also can participate in the discussions.

More than 50 people met with representatives of Mesa Power Pampa LP Tuesday in the Elliott Community Center. Landowners from Oklaunion, Harold, Punkin Center and Elliott heard the company is interested in possibly leasing land in the area for a wind farm. ...Mesa Power plans to install two or three 200-foot wind towers in the near future to collect meteorological information for the project. The company is shooting for a 400-500 megawatt project that would require some 30,000 to 40,000 acres of land. This would provide room for 200 to 267 wind turbines.

Not everyone favors the wholesale conversion of wind energy into electricity. Controversies and obstacles surround the development of wind energy in Texas. This article examines a few of these issues.

Coastal Habitat Alliance, made up of several environmental groups, the King Ranch and others, had previously filed suit unsuccessfully against the Public Utility Commission and the Texas General Land Office in an effort to halt the projects. The federal complaint, filed last month against the state, is another attempt by the group to halt the projects. The group's complaint alleges that the state failed to comply with the terms of the Federal Coastal Zone Management Act by deregulating coastal electric generating facilities.

Florida Power & Light Company, a subsidiary of FPL Group, pulled the plug on a 35,000-acre Wilbarger County wind power project this week. The company packed up the $400 million project in light of recent commotion in financial markets and transmission restraints in the area. Nationwide financial turmoil has caused FPL markets to flip and flop, too. "It is certainly our intention to build this project at some point in the future, but that will hinge on several things. Our markets have really changed in the last six months or so," said Steve Stengel, FPL spokesman. "I can't give you a time frame on when that would occur."

State Sen. Troy Fraser, R-Horseshoe Bay, holds a hearing next month in Austin on the pros and cons of regulating where wind turbines can be erected. ...The hearing begins at 9 a.m. Monday, Oct. 6 in the Betty King Room of the Texas Capitol.

A tax credit driving the wind industry seemed to be on its way when the Senate approved it overwhelmingly this week, but a measure to extend it hit a speed bump Thursday in the House. The fate of the wind energy production tax credit expiring Dec. 31 is uncertain as lawmakers wrangle over two versions of the latest bill including an extension. An industry advocate found lawmakers' arguments over paying for the legislation absurd in light of billions spent to shore up crumbling Wall Street titans and a $700 billion proposal to stave off economic collapse.