Table 1. Wind Turbines and Land Area Required to Supply 10 Percent of Demand

State Wind Capacity
Potentiala (MW)
Wind Energy
Potentiala
(billion kWh)
Available Windy
Land
Areaa (km2)
% of Total Land
Area in Statea
Number of 750-kW
Turbines Needed to
Supply 10% of
1993 Demandb
Land Area
Required (km2)
% of Available
Windy Land
% of Total
Land Area
North Dakota
Texas
Kansas
South Dakota
Montana
Nebraska
Wyoming
Oklahoma
Minnesota
Iowa
Colorado
New Mexico
138,400
136,100
121,900
117,200
116,000
99,100
85,200
82,700
75,000
62,900
54,900
49,700
1,210
1,190
1,070
1,030
1,020
868
747
725
657
551
481
435
100,700
123,700
108,700
93,700
97,300
90,100
63,400
72,900
61,100
56,700
45,700
46,600
55.0
18.2
51.3
47.6
25.8
45.4
25.2
41.0
29.7
39.1
17.0
18.8
402
13,595
1,859
255
701
1,017
647
2,202
2,674
1,745
1,794
810
49
1,651
226
31
85
123
79
267
325
212
218
98
0.05
1.33
0.21
0.03
0.09
0.14
0.12
0.37
0.53
0.37
0.48
0.21
0.03
0.24
0.11
0.02
0.02
0.06
0.03
0.15
0.16
0.15
0.08
0.03
12-State Totals
48-State Totals
1,139,100
1,230,000
9,984
10,777
960,600
1,040,000
29.9
13.5
27,702
154,833
3,363
18,798
0.35
1.81
0.10
0.24

a Values taken from Elliott et al., Assessment of Available Windy Land in the U.S., table B.1, pp. B.2-B.3. The values shown are for exclusion category 3, in this source’s terminology.
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b Values are based on a 28 percent capacity factor, no losses, and 30 acres per wind turbine.
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