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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: 2) by requerdanos on Monday May 07 2018, @01:33AM (2 children)
I would say that's right, looking at the graph. But in California there are also areas of orange and even a little red (6.5 - 7.5 m/s), whereas I don't see any visible signs of that south of about West Virginia and east of about Louisiana. And many of the wind installations look to be in those areas of higher wind.
Plus, California has a higher population density, which might skew the results--the graphs show total wind deployment and turbine capacity in the absolute, not relative to other electricity generation.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday May 07 2018, @02:14AM (1 child)
Thank you - and, yes, looking closer, I can see some of that orange and red. Makes sense!
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 1) by nitehawk214 on Monday May 07 2018, @03:35PM
It's not just you. The scale on the wind map makes no sense. There is a band of red between the two top-end blue bands. I think that is an editing mistake, but its Vox, so what can you expect?
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