Wind Could Provide 25% or More of Electricity for Most States

November 8th, 2011 by John Farrell

At least 32 states can get 25% or more of their electricity from wind power within their own borders. This map is updated from a 2009 report by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, Energy Self-Reliant States. Click the image for a larger version.

State Wind Power Potential (% of Electricity Sales)

The only updated figure from the 2009 release is Maryland, due to a new report on its offshore wind potential.

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Tags: Electricity, Energy, US

About the Author

John Farrell directs the Democratic Energy program at ILSR and he focuses on energy policy developments that best expand the benefits of local ownership and dispersed generation of renewable energy. His seminal paper, Democratizing the Electricity System, describes how to blast the roadblocks to distributed renewable energy generation, and how such small-scale renewable energy projects are the key to the biggest strides in renewable energy development. Farrell also authored the landmark report Energy Self-Reliant States, which serves as the definitive energy atlas for the United States, detailing the state-by-state renewable electricity generation potential. Farrell regularly provides discussion and analysis of distributed renewable energy policy on his blog, Energy Self-Reliant States (energyselfreliantstates.org), and articles are regularly syndicated on Grist and Renewable Energy World. John Farrell can also be found on Twitter @johnffarrell, or at jfarrell@ilsr.org.

Anonymous

Why does the map in your article on Aug. 16, 2011 at:
http://energyselfreliantstates.org/content/updating-marylands-renewable-energy-potential

show different percentages from Nov. 8, 2011
http://cleantechnica.com/2011/11/08/wind-could-provide-25-or-more-of-electricity-for-most-states/

It stretch’s creditability, that so many states percentages could change, so much, in so little time.
Anonymous

There’s a problem with that map. It shows only onshore wind, not offshore. North Carolina, for example, shows only 2% but has excellent offshore wind available.

Another problem, state boarder lines are artificial. Areas of the continent that have hundreds of times more wind potential than they can use can ship that power to parts that have too little. We think little about shipping coal or oil all over the continent rather than requiring each state to produce their own.

A better title for this piece would be “Wind Could Provide 100% of the Electricity for All States”.