Is the answer blowin’ in the wind?

If “Green” is the next Red White and Blue, then Texas and California have an early lead in the race to redecorate. The American Wind Energy Association just released its 2006 status report, which includes a ranking of U.S. states by how much wind energy they generate. Last year, 2,400 new megawatts (MW) of wind ...

602560_windenergy5.jpg
602560_windenergy5.jpg

If “Green” is the next Red White and Blue, then Texas and California have an early lead in the race to redecorate. The American Wind Energy Association just released its 2006 status report, which includes a ranking of U.S. states by how much wind energy they generate. Last year, 2,400 new megawatts (MW) of wind energy came online in the United States. The 34 wind energy-producing states churn out a total of 11,603 MW. (For reference, the Three Mile Island Nuclear power plant is rated at 816 MW.)

The top five states for wind energy are:

  1. Texas (subject of FP article The Green Rose of Texas)
  2. California
  3. Iowa
  4. Minnesota
  5. Washington

These states are moving aggressively on wind, but I’m disappointed to see that North Dakota, which ranks as highest in wind-energy potential, still lags at number 14 (although that may be due to change soon). See the full list, as well as the 16 states with no wind power after the jump.

Rank State Installed MW
1 Texas 2,768
2 California 2,361
3 Iowa 936
4 Minnesota 895
5 Washington  818
6 Oklahoma 535
7 New Mexico 497
8 Oregon 437
9 New York 370
10 Kansas 364
11 Colorado  291
12 Wyoming 288
13 Pennsylvania  179
14 North Dakota 178
15 Montana  146
16 Illinois 107
17 Idaho 75
18 Nebraska 73
19 West Virginia 68
20 Wisconsin 53
21 Hawaii 49
22 South Dakota 44
23 Tennessee  29
24 Maine  9
25 New Jersey 8
26 Ohio 7
27 Vermont 6
28 Massachusetts 4
29 Michigan 3
30 Alaska 2
31 New Hampsire 1
32 Utah 1
33 Rhode Island 1
34 Arkansas  0.1

States with no wind power production:

  • Arizona
  • Alabama
  • Connecticut
  • Delaware
  • Florida
  • Georgia
  • Indiana
  • Kentucky
  • Louisiana
  • Maryland
  • Mississippi
  • Missouri
  • Nevada
  • North Carolina
  • South Carolina
  • Virginia

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