California’s Wind Blow Slowing

Wind energy in California: The good news and bad news

Rob Nikolewski, August 28, 2017 (San Diego Union-Tribune) “…California has installed 5,656 megawatts of utility-scale wind, fourth-highest in the nation…[and it] ranks fifth in capacity for smaller, distributed wind energy systems since 2003, with 66 megawatts…[W]ind accounts for 36 percent of generation from renewable facilities — the most in the state, edging out solar…[But wind could soon be] going backward in total capacity in California...Texas leads] the U.S. by a wide margin in total megawatts of wind, with farm states like Iowa and Kansas moving up fast…California’s numbers have essentially remained unchanged since 2012…[I]nstalled capacity in California was actually 6 megawatts less in 2016 than in 2015…California’s desert areas are considered prime spots for wind farms and in the finals months of the Obama administration, a plan was finalized that set aside more than 10 million acres for conservation and recreation and designated 388,000 acres for clean energy development, such as solar and wind projects…[A]bout 80 percent of federal land in the desert is off-limits to wind farms…At the same time, a number of counties across the state have issued their own restrictions…Environmentalists in general favor wind projects, but some green groups have opposed individual projects…[and] solar power can beat wind power on cost now…” click here for more

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