Texas Joins Race For New Wind Turbine Research Facility — $80 Billion International Market For Turbines At Stake

AUSTIN – Jerry Patterson, Commissioner of the Texas General Land Office, announced that Texas is now in the nationwide race for a new U.S. Department of Energy-backed large-scale wind turbine research and development facility.

Patterson made the announcement on behalf of the Land Office and the Lone Star Wind Alliance, a Texas-led coalition of universities, government agencies and corporate partners created to prepare the proposal for submission to the federal government. The University of Houston co-headed the effort with Commissioner Patterson and filed the proposal yesterday. Patterson said he expects the bid winner, or a short list of candidates, to be announced in December.

“Where else but Texas can they build a test facility large enough to handle the nation’s needs for the next generation of wind turbines?” Patterson asked. “The General Land Office and our fellow Alliance members are confident that our proposal will bring this facility to Texas.”

Patterson has likened the potential impact of the Alliance’s proposed National Large Wind Turbine Research & Testing Facility to that of NASA on Houston during the space race in the 1960s.

“Anyone building wind turbines will want to be next to this facility,” Patterson said. “Our facility will be a magnet for research and manufacturing. It will establish Texas as a worldwide leader in wind power for many years to come.”

The Lone Star Wind Alliance includes the University of Houston’s Cullen College of Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, Texas A&M University, Texas Tech University, West Texas A&M University, the Houston Advanced Research Center, Stanford University, Montana State University, New Mexico State University, Old Dominion University, the Texas General Land Office, the State Energy Conservation Office, Lt. Governor David Dewhurst, the Texas Workforce Commission, Governor Rick Perry’s Emerging Technology Fund, Good Company Associates and the Wind Coalition.

“The Alliance possesses extensive world-class university research centers and expertise on all aspects of wind power,” said Ray Flumerfelt, Dean of the University of Houston’s Cullen College of Engineering. “What’s more, our proposal enjoys strong political support in Texas and in Washington, DC. That support will ensure the viability of the project, which will make the U.S. wind power industry more competitive on a global basis.”

In May, the Department of Energy announced it is seeking partners to build a new facility capable of testing blades up to 70 meters long.

The Texas General Land Office is the management agency for state lands and mineral rights totaling 20.4 million acres. This includes vast properties in West Texas, the Gulf Coast beaches and bays and other “submerged” lands extending 10.3 miles out from the shoreline, a variety of state agency acreage and timberlands in East Texas. Texas leads the nation in offshore wind development and is committed to establishing itself globally as a wind friendly state. Every penny earned by the Land Office from wind development projects is constitutionally dedicated to the Texas Permanent School Fund, which helps pay for public education in Texas.