Don't anyone diss Texas.

[livingbyfiction]

You may have heard about Al Gore's 10-year challenge or T. Boone Pickens, but did you also hear that the great state of Texas has announced plans for $4.9 billion (!) in new transmission?  One of the biggest barriers to wind energy, besides pesky NIMBY lawsuits (Not-In-My-BackYard), is that wind blows out on the plains and mountains, and it takes

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[lesliesage]

Wow, go Texas. And California. (MN doesn't really count, because it's probably Canada.)

What would the world look like if it were all wind powered? Would that be too many turbines? What would an ideal wind/solar/wave/tide/geothermal whatever combo look like?

And what's this whole high voltage substation thingy? I thought being on the grid was being on the grid.

[lesliesage]

So what states are underusing their potential most? Is Alaska windy? I would have thought NV/UT/AZ would do better, but the east- how about them? And is Texas' 5,300 MW like, 0.001% of the energy used in there or what?

[livingbyfiction]

The world would not be visibly bristling with wind turbines if it were 100% wind-powered. The turbines would mostly be in the plains between the Dakotas and Texas (energy basket of America, just west of the breadbasket!), California, or offshore. The turbines are skyscraper-sized (about 20 to 30 stories high), but at that size you don't need so many of them. About 200 turbines would be necessary to replace the average power plant, so multiply the number of power plants you see by 200 turbines offshore or on the plains. :)

The real challenge with 100% wind is transmission and reliability. This is going to take so long to answer that I'm just going to make another post.

[livingbyfiction]

Texas's 5,300 MW is about 2% of total Texan MW, which is better than the national average of 1%. And all that MW is being used in Texas itself because Texas, Alaska, and Hawaii are the only states that do not grid up to the rest of the states.

Coastlines, the Plains, and the Great Lakes have lots of wind resources. The turbines are sited a good 20 stories up in the air, where wind is a lot steadier. Wind, like ocean currents, has been mapped for a really long time. Here's the map: http://www.eere.energy.gov/windandhydro/windpoweringamerica/wind_maps.asp