Most of the investment into wind power has been by a global corporations out of Spain. Thanks to tax credits here, Spanish Iberdrola is one of several foreign-owned energy companies that have entered the United States wind market. Even coal rich Pennsylvania is working with the Spanish wind-energy company Gamesa Corp.

Let us start with a field of view of the nation’s wind resource maps, available for each state, and how they relate into the power grids. Start by looking at California.    http://www.eere.energy.gov/windandhydro/windpoweringamerica/wind_maps.asp

We have 3,000 counties. Most of the counties have marginal and fair wind resource ratings. Over 65% of the people live in 10% of those county, counties with populations greater than 80,000, those non wind zone counties. Over 85% of the people live in half of the States, those non wind zone states. Over 40% live in the coastal areas, those non wind zone areas. 

Wind power does little for Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Denver, Phoenix, Minneapolis, Chicago, Detroit, New York City, Miami, Houston, etc. The best practical solution for the super mega metro areas is putting nuclear in those high population density areas.

Wind power has always been practical in all those rural, remote from the power grid, those small counties with populations from nothing to 80,000, like in South Dakota, North Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming, Utah, Kansas, Alaska, or New Mexico. That 20% suburb wind resource is not 20% to all the people, but to 20% of the people. These States are already exporters of electrical energy to the likes of California and New York. Red conservative counties already export electrical energy to the liberal blue counties. Prime wind resource state like South Dakota is already an exporter of electricity, without putting wind turbines along the prime resources of the Black Hills.

Another point of view is knowing that the power created at the turbine source has a significant transmission loss by the time it gets to the distant home use. Think of the transmission line as a water hose. The longer the hose, the less the water pressure coming out. The closer to the source, the more efficient and the lower the cost. Most of California is imported energy. . Red conservative counties already export electrical energy to the liberal blue counties.

Then there is the environmental point of view. A 1 GWatt coal or nuclear base load plant needs less than 500 acres. An equivalent 1 GW base load wind power at U.S. average capacity of about 22 percent would require 45,000 acres, plus another 5,000 acres for transmission corridors. Wind turbines the size of the LDS Church Office Building would be required every 240 feet along I-15 and I-80, spanning Utah. Unfortunately at this spacing, the 250-foot-diameter blades of each turbine would intersect each other.

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