Mar. 4--While wind farms have been taking over West Texas for years, businesses related to the projects have been scarce. But Odessa could finally be changing that.

While it won't be part of the first phase of construction, a wind turbine transmission repair operation could eventually be added to a new facility Lufkin Industries has planned for developer Larry Lee's industrial park in East Odessa, said Gary Vest, economic development director for the Odessa Chamber of Commerce.

"On wind turbines, the No. 1 thing that causes problems is blown transmissions," he said.

Lufkin still has to approve a contract to build the facility, Vest said. Last month, the Odessa Development Corp. approved a $1 million grant to entice Lufkin to build a 25,000 square foot facility. The building would have an $8.5 million capital investment and provide at least 66 jobs.

The company currently works on wind turbines in Germany and Canada, as well as some in Lufkin, Vest said.

Efforts to reach Lufkin officials were unsuccessful Tuesday.

Though wind turbines are going up from Notrees to Bakersfield, companies who work on them have not been flocking to the Permian Basin, Vest said.

Vestas, the world's largest wind turbine manufacturer, recently announced plans to build two factories in Colorado.

While Vest said he recently heard preliminary word from the governor's office about a company interested in the area for wind turbine production, he said the area might be left looking for the "dregs" of the business.

"I think most of it's already in motion," he said. "I don't think there's much floating around for it."

But Greg Wortham, executive director of the Sweetwater-based West Texas Wind Energy Consortium, said several companies have placed wind-manufacturing operations in Texas recently, including turbine tower plants in Abilene and San Angelo.

"The wind companies are beginning to figure out these components are coming here," he said. "Why build them on the other side of the Rocky Mountains?"

He said Odessa's proximity to wind farms, railroad lines and access to Midland International Airport make it a desirable location for wind energy manufacturing businesses.

And with the recent federal stimulus package giving wind energy companies a four-year extension of production credits, Wortham said there's much opportunity still out there.

"We haven't even started," he said. "It's going to go from Texas into Canada."

One of Texas' problems in the past was an attitude of individual cities fighting for wind projects, not realizing it could benefit the state as a whole. Wortham said this allowed states like Pennsylvania to swoop in and take projects.

He said improvement would take consistent leadership from all statewide elected officials -- from "the governor on down."

"And if our Congressional delegation could vote for wind energy every now and then, that would be very helpful," Wortham said.

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