Massachusetts’ governor wants his state to significantly step up its wind energy efforts over the next decade.

This story from RenewableEnergyWorld.com says Gov. Deval Patrick wants the state to produce 2,000 megawatts of wind energy by 2020, representing 10 percent of today’s electric load and a 300-fold increase from the current 6.6 megawatts currently produced in Massachusetts:

“With the growing interest in wind turbines we see in communities across the Commonwealth [of Massachusetts] and the abundant wind resource we have off our coast, wind power is going to be a centerpiece of the clean energy economy we are creating for Massachusetts,” said Patrick.

Massachusetts has been selected by the U.S. Department of Energy for one of just two Wind Technology Testing Centers in the country (Texas also was selected), poising the Commonwealth to become a national center for wind power research and development-and thereby offering the potential economic rewards of technology development, entrepreneurship and jobs, the governor’s office noted.

The announcement comes on the heels of the federal government’s approval this week of a massive wind energy project off the coast of Cape Cod (see my post from January 20, 2009).