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Investments in and development of wind power in the US are very unevenly distributed. That is shown in four animated maps at Vox in their article, the stunningly lopsided growth of wind power in the US, in 4 maps. They explore why a huge swath of the country has almost no wind turbines at all.
[...] The major driver to invest in wind in many states is renewable portfolio standards, which mandate a minimum amount of electricity to come from renewable sources, like hydroelectric, wind, solar, and geothermal power plants. While federal incentives like the production tax credit, which benefits wind energy installations, apply across the country, state-level programs make a major difference on the ground.
“The states that have stronger RPSs are the places where you see renewables being deployed more actively,” said Ian Baring-Gould, a technology deployment manager at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. “In places that don’t have RPSs, the utilities don’t have as much motivation to develop renewables.”
Take a wild guess which states don’t have RPSs
Wind speeds are not even around the country, so turbine distribution is not expected to be either. However, there is a long way to go before the turbine distribution reaches parity with the potential.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by frojack on Monday May 07 2018, @12:39AM (1 child)
More careful reading will show that those sparsely populated states, Montana, the Dakotas Wyoming, and Nebraska are under populated with turbines.
Minnesota has as many as both North and South Dakotas, yet it has inferior wind potential. Then there's Iowa, for Pete Sake, as many as the Dakotas and Minnesota combines.
Clearly Montana, Dakotas, Wyoming are missing the boat, wind-wise, and should have far more turbines, and be selling power to anyone who would buy. Even the line loss at these distances would be sustainable expenses.
But those states wouldn't have to ship that power very far, Minnesota is looking into switching Taconite mills to Direct Reduced Iron [wikipedia.org] pellets. (Blast furnaces are old school).
And the logical place to build the new Electric Arc Furnaces is right next to the ore body. (No coal, no coke, no limestone to ship - Just Nat Gas and Electricity, and don't ship the ore any further than you have to.).
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Atatsu on Monday May 07 2018, @05:52PM
I'm from South Dakota and unfortunately there are a bunch of morons that live here (yay midwest). Your basic NIMBY shit.
https://www.argusleader.com/story/news/2017/07/19/lincoln-county-votes-down-wind-backers/488046001/ [argusleader.com]