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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: 3, Interesting) by Phoenix666 on Monday May 07 2018, @11:20AM
A variety of explanatory factors suggest themselves. First, the Southeast doesn't have wind turbines because they don't want them, not because the wind magically stops at the East Texas border. Second, the states in the West that have fewer don't lack for wind, but they do for population. Third, clustering effects could drive greater concentrations in places where the wind farm reps have been able to talk to land owners and word of mouth in local communities has created a culture of acceptance when it comes to wind power (they have been a tremendous boon to communities in rural America that had been losing population for 50 years).
Another aspect that surprised me is how few wind farms line the Columbia River. It ought to be lousy with wind farms, because it has the strongest, most constant wind I have ever encountered. In fact, it's a wind-surfing mecca for that reason. So, again, buy-in from landowners and political climate probably play a part.
Finally, with all the cheap power in that band from Texas to Iowa it seems a natural place for industry to cluster. It's centrally located, too.
Washington DC delenda est.