Here is a photo that I shot of the moon coming up next to a wind turbine on a wind farm near Sterling City Texas. The small West Texas town is now home to hundreds of wind turbines and promotes itself as “Windmill City”. For many years before wind turbines appeared on the horizon there were over 150 water pumping windmills within the City Limits and that is where the name began. These windmills included Aermotor Windmills and other models. Now a municipal water system has replaced the need for town residents, who number just over 1000, to have windmills. A few water pumping windmills can still be seen inside the city limits but above the town loom hundreds of large wind turbines as seen in the photo below.

Wind power is now contributing millions of dollars to the economy of states like Texas, Iowa, Indiana, New Mexico and many others. Much of the economic impact is felt through money spent locally by landowners, who typically receive between $1000 and $6000 per wind turbines like these near Sterling City Texas. Some ranches that have older oil wells are finding that they are now earning more from the wind turbines than from oil and gas royalties. While much of the United States is ill suited for wind farms, the open spaces and unique weather conditions of West Texas, which result in almost daily winds, make this region ideal for wind energy.

Below is a photo of the city limit sign of the small town of Sterling City Texas. In the distant background is a wind turbine above the town.

photo of Sterling City Texas

Below is a photo of an older water pumping windmill not far from Sterling City. This still working windmill provides water for cattle and goats on this ranch in Sterling County Texas.

If you love old windmills like the one in the windmill photo above there is a very well illustrated book of windmill history and photos called Windmills Of The West

I hope you enjoyed these photos of wind turbines and windmills. I love both kinds and enjoy photographing them in my spare time. You can see more of my wind energy photos at Energyindustryphotos.com