Next Texas Energy Boom: Solar
http://www.wsj.com/articles/next-texas-energy-boom-solar-1440149400
FORT STOCKTON, TexasA new energy boom is taking shape in the oil fields of west Texas, but its not what you think. Its solar.
Solar power has gotten so cheap to produceand so competitively priced in the electricity marketthat it is taking hold even in a state that, unlike California, doesnt offer incentives to utilities to buy or build sun-powered generation.
Pecos County, about halfway between San Antonio and El Paso and on the southern edge of the prolific Permian Basin oil field, could soon play host to several large solar-energy farms responsible for about $1 billion in investments, according to state tax records.
On a recent day, contractors for OCI Solar Power LLC erected posts for a solar farm that will be the size of more than 900 football fields. First Solar Inc. was negotiating to lease an adjacent property, its second project in the county. Last year, the Arizona company began capturing sunlight on 400,000 black solar panels in a separate project, converting the abundant sunlight into about 30 megawatts of power.
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