The panhandle is famous for strong winds, and as Texas continues to be the leader in wind power that could mean even better news for our economy.
Starting Sunday The American Wind Energy Association kicks off its annual conference in Dallas. That means local companies will be connecting with a growing industry and could potentially bring big business to our area.
It's great opportunity. Renewable energy is taking off, and by organizing and preparing for this, some industry analysts say it could be as big as the next oil and gas boom for this part of the world.
"While we don't have a huge amount of wind farms being put up as we speak, it's coming, and so we need to go out there and let these developers and these businesses that will be working here. we need to let them know that we're here and that we have great businesses to partner with and great people that you can can do business with," said AJ Swope, the Executive Director of Class 4 Winds & Renewables.
Texas already produces more wind than any other state, and with more business expected when transmission lines go up, in about 5 years, this conference could lay the foundation for the future.
"We have some of the best wind recourse in the world, certainly in the united states and we are placed in the wind corridor which goes down the western United States and east of the rockies and so forth. We're also in a location that makes it easier to construct wind farms so we are posed to really capture this opportunity," said Buzz David, the CEO of the Amarillo Economic Development Corp.
Next week, Alstom power, a wind turbine production company, will be breaking ground right here in Amarillo.
