32 texashighways.com
DRIVE | DETOUR
pads. Birds and bats fl y into them.” She
pauses, then adds: “But from a distance,
they’re like dancers on the horizon.”
To experience “The Great Texas Wind
Turbine Trail,” start in Sweetwater, where
the Welcome to Sweetwater offi cial greet-
ing sign on Interstate 20 is affi xed to a tur-
bine propeller blade. From there, search
west 66 miles on I-20 to Big Spring and
east 40 miles to Abilene, while looking 50
miles north and south of I-20.
The Abilene-Sweetwater
Wind Loop
Coming from the east, exit I-20 at Abilene
and drive southwest on US 277 to FM 89
and head west. On the left is the Horse Hol-
low Wind Energy Center, one of the biggest
wind farms on the planet with 421 turbines
dotting two counties and 35,000 acres. On
Map:Alan Kikuchi
Area of
Detail
Area of
Detail 50 miles50 miles
Abilene
Sweetwater
Roscoe
Snyder
Big Spring
Sterling City
Wingate
Ballinger
Austin
Fort Worth
San Antonio
Abilene
Sweetwater
Brazos
Wind Ranch Trent Mesa
Buffalo Gap Wind Farms
Horse Hollow
Wind Energy
Center
Turkey
Roscoe Track
Wind Farm
South Trent Mesa
Roscoe
Snyder
Big Spring
Sterling City
Wingate
Ballinger
Austin
Fort Worth
San Antonio
153
20
10 35
10
87
84
83