Turbine Time

AMERICA must pursue alternative energy sources by making a huge investment in wind-power infrastructure.

The country could build enough wind farms to provide 20% of the nation's electricity by 2030. Achieving this goal is by building wind farms throughout the windy corridor from Texas to the Dakotas. It would cost $1.2 trillion to build and connect them to places where the power is most needed.

Although a staggering expenditure, it would free up American natural gas, which now generates 22% of the country's electricity, to be used for motor vehicles. If all Americans switch to natural gas vehicles, then the country could stop importing so much oil.

The industry would create jobs and revitalise rural America. In 1999, wind power capacity in Texas was just 180 megawatts. Today it leads the nation with almost 5,000. The economic impact will be $315m this year. Wind has brought more than 1,000 new jobs to the area.

This boomlet has made an impression on Texans. Wind power accounts for 3% of the state's electricity, compared with 1% nationwide. But the tax credit that has been driving its growth is about to expire, and there is the question of the creaking grid. The state is mulling a plan that would enable the transmission of 17,000 additional megawatts at a cost of $6.4 billion.

Building wind power capacity will be a difficult task, but there is an emerging agreement in Texas that it is worth the trouble.

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