Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar today joined RWE and Advanced Power Alliance (APA) in visiting Roscoe Wind Complex, owned and operated by RWE and one of the largest onshore wind farms in the U.S., as part of his Good for Texas Tour: Energy Edition.
“Beyond providing cheap, clean power, renewable energy projects offer vast economic benefits, including by way of increased tax revenue to local jurisdictions, lease payments to partnering landowners, and jobs,” said Judd Messer, Texas Vice President of APA.
The Roscoe complex of wind projects, located in Fisher, Mitchell, Nolan, and Scurry Counties, have alone garnered over $92 million in local taxes, on top of significant investments in the local communities. Statewide, existing and planned utility-scale wind, solar, and energy storage projects will pay between $12.5 billion and $15.9 billion in total tax revenue and landowners will directly receive $11.8–$21.7 billion over the projects’ lifetimes. In 2022, there were 26,135 Texas jobs in wind-related electric power generation, and in 2021, wind jobs contributed $1.7 billion in gross domestic product to the Texas economy.
“We welcome the opportunity to show firsthand the tremendous power of wind energy in Texas and its positive benefits for local communities,” said Mark Noyes, CEO of RWE Clean Energy, a U.S. subsidiary of RWE AG. “With this visit we also cement our corporate commitment to adding more than 20 GW of renewable capacity to the U.S. power grid by 2027, increasing electric reliability and affordability for Americans across the nation.”
The Lone Star state is one of RWE’s largest markets, with the most installed capacity, including 4.3 GW of projects in operation with the Roscoe Wind Complex being one of the largest.
“Texas has led the U.S. in wind energy over the past 17 years, largely because its abundant space and optimal wind conditions make it an ideal location to capture this resource,” Hegar said. “The wind farm in Roscoe alone, which is the second-largest wind farm in Texas, has 627 wind turbines and is capable of providing wind-generated energy to over 194,000 homes annually.”
Roscoe Wind Complex has also added battery storage capacity to promote resiliency for the Texas grid.
“Battery storage delivers substantial reliability and resiliency benefits when our grid needs it most,” said Messer. “Energy storage set ten new records for contributions toward meeting demand in ERCOT this summer and confirms just how critical a diverse mix of resources is to achieving both reliability and affordability for Texas consumers.”
The tour began with a safety briefing followed by community discussions with local ISD leadership and landowners and concluded with facility visits and media interviews.
The Advanced Power Alliance is the industry trade association created to promote the development of wind, solar and energy storage as resources that can deliver clean, reliable, affordable power for American consumers.
RWE is a top tier renewable energy company in the United States. With more than 15 years in the U.S. renewables business, the company has an outstanding track record in developing, constructing, and operating renewable energy facilities. The 1,500-person RWE team in the U.S. is fully committed to forging ahead with the clean energy transition in North America. Together with our partners, we develop innovative solutions and drive technological progress for our customers to help re-shape the energy supply for future generations. RWE Clean Energy, a subsidiary of RWE AG, operates a renewable energy portfolio of about 8 gigawatts (GW) installed capacity of onshore wind, solar, and battery storage, making it the number four renewable energy company in the U.S. and the country’s second largest solar owner and operator, present in most U.S. states. RWE Offshore Wind Holdings, a subsidiary of RWE Offshore Wind, is also developing offshore wind on both the east and west coasts of the U.S., including the company’s first commercial scale floating wind project. As part of the RWE Group’s Growing Green strategy to expand globally its green portfolio to more than 50 GW of installed capacity and to invest globally more than EUR 50 billion gross by 2030, the company has earmarked up to EUR 15 billion to significantly increase its operating asset base in the U.S. This is backed by a project pipeline of more than 24 GW in onshore wind, solar and battery storage and more than 4 GW of offshore wind, which provides for one of the largest development platforms in the U.S.
