About
Cactus Blum Ranch, LLC was founded in October of 2011 by Randy Cooper for the purpose of developing a test site for "small wind" turbines and equipment. The need for an economical site for testing came about as I was testing wind turbines that I was planning on importing from China for resale. I had been testing these in my backyard, on our 1.3 acre residential lot, just outside of the Houston city limits.
Houston is not that good of a place to test wind turbines due to the inconsistent wind we have. Some very good wind comes through when we have a thunderstorm, and about 4 months of the year the wind is what I would call marginal for small wind at around 3 M/S (7 mph). I begin searching for a test site that would provide consistent wind when I wanted it.... not just when a storm was blowing through.
What I found was that the closest test site was a 10 1/2 hour drive, in Canyon TX, (near Amarillo). The basic cost for putting a turbine under test there was several thousand dollars per month as well. I decided then, to start looking for property closer to Houston that I could set up my own test site, and even rent out spots to other's with the same need as myself (hopefully at a more affordable rate as well).
After searching for two years for an "affordable" piece of property with projected wind of least 6.5 M/S at 30 meter height I found what seemed to be the perfect spot right in the geographical center of Texas. This spot was just over 5 hour drive from Houston, and would even support the addition of a runway in the future.
So I bought it! ....that in itself is a whole other story. Suffice it to say, buying the place was not the easiest purchase I've ever made but what I went through during the process helped lend a name to it that it would not otherwise have acquired.