What does Texas, Iowa, and California have that is Priceless?

Wind Power Resources In America Are Abundant & Underdeveloped

Wind power might seem like a fringe source of electricity to some, and critics certainly have gone after it aggressively at times, but it's now a large source of electricity in the United States and many other countries.

From article, (Texas has been oil and gas country for such a long time it might be shocking to find out it is also the US state with the most wind power. The state is so big it has its own grid system, and the capacity of wind power there could reach 28,000 MW soon.

Wind power in Texas is not being supported because of favorable local political views. In fact, Texas has been a Republican stronghold for a very long time, so wind power has flourished there despite a general attitude that is not typically “green.” Economics are driving wind power installations in Texas, not environmentalism.

Has Texas wind power already gone mainstream enough that it transcended the “enviro” category? Well, it appears that it has. “Wind power, by one important measure, surpassed coal last month to become the second-largest electricity source in Texas, yet another milestone in the state’s march toward greater reliance on renewable energy.” One sourcestated that the 20,000 MW of wind power capacity Texas has right now is enough to provide electricity to about 5 million homes.

An Energy.gov page contains an astonishing figure: potential wind power capacity in Texas is over 1.3 million MW. If 20,000 MW can power about 5 million homes, then one million MW would easily provide electricity for everyone in state and well beyond — when there is adequate wind.

Iowa is another leading wind power state and is not nearly as conservative as Texas, but it has been leaning that way recently. By 2020, it could generate about 40% of its electricity from wind power. An Energy.gov source contains an estimate that Iowa’s wind power potential is 279,000 MW, which would be far more than it would need to provide all the state’s electricity.

California is a state which has been a stronghold for Democrats for years. Environmental awareness and state policies supporting renewable energy are common. Wind power is utilized at a large scale in this state and California is also a clear leader in this form of renewable energy.

Reportedly, the state’s wind power potential is 303,00 MW. At the moment, the installed capacity is about 6,000 MW. In other words, California has massive wind power potential, and wind power there could become a leading source of electricity eventually. (California also has considerable solar power potential and has already made a lot of progress installing solar power systems as well.) If we go back to the NREL national map, we see that California’s wind resources are not nearly as good as the ones in the central states, yet California winds could still eventually be tapped from hundreds of thousands of megawatts of capacity (theoretically).

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