ROSCOE, Texas (KTAB/KRBC) – Comptroller of Texas Glenn Hegar paid a visit to Roscoe on Thursday to tour the second-largest wind farm in Texas.

“The Roscoe Wind Complex is collectively one of the largest wind farms in the United States,” 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 more than 194,000 homes annually.” 

Hegar is currently on his ‘Good for Texas Tour: Energy Edition’ throughout the state, where he is discussing energy policy and the need for increased electric capacity as Texas continues to grow in population and in the industry. While there has been a lot of debate in Austin regarding renewable energy, he emphasized the importance of its impact on rural communities like Roscoe.

“Having another industry that can help provide jobs, economic opportunities whether it’s opportunities for our children as they’re going to school like here in Roscoe. Seeing that economic opportunity that there are other options for them out here in West Texas where they can actually prosper and actually make a decent living for them and for future generations,” Hegar said.

Wind energy jobs made a contribution of $1.7 billion to the Texas economy in 2021, and since 2008, the Roscoe Wind Farms have remitted more than $92 million in local taxes. As of 2022, the number of jobs in wind power generation in Texas stood at 26,135.

Meanwhile, Senate Bill 13, which went into effect in September of 2022, prohibits the state from contracting with or investing in companies found to boycott oil, natural gas, and coal companies. Hegar said he wants to encourage dialogue and spark honest conversations about the roles of fossil fuels and renewable energy.

“I think it’s really important that we don’t look at a policy where we only think, ‘Oh, we can only have wind, we can only have solar, we can only have gas, we can only have nuclear,'” Hegar said. “It really takes all of those components to make this economy, the great economy of Texas, operating and functioning every single day.”