The Altamont Pass wind farm is located in the Altamont Pass of the Diablo Range in Northern California. It is one of the earliest wind farms in the United States. The first wind turbines were placed on the Altamont in the early 1980s by Fayette Manufacturing Corporation on land owned by cattle rancher Joe Jess. The wind farm is composed of 4930 relatively small wind turbines of various types, making it at one time the largest wind farm in the world in terms of capacity. Altamont Pass is still one of the largest concentration of wind turbines in the world, with a capacity of 576 megawatts (MW), producing about 125 MW on average and 1.1 terawatt-hours (TWh) yearly. They were installed after the 1970s energy crisis in response to favorable tax policies for investors.
Wind power in California had initiative and early development during Governor Jerry Brown's first two terms in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The state's wind power capacity has grown by nearly 350% since 2001, when it was less than 1,700 MW. In 2016, wind energy supplied about 6.9% of California's total electricity needs, or enough to power more than 1.3 million households. Most of California's wind generation is found in the Tehachapi area of Kern County, California, with some large projects in Solano, Contra Costa and Riverside counties as well. California is among the states with the largest amount of installed wind power capacity. In recent years, California has lagged behind other states when it comes to the installation of wind power. It was ranked 4th overall for wind power electrical generation at the end of 2016 behind Texas, Iowa, and Oklahoma. As of 2019, California had 5,973 megawatts (MW) of wind power generating capacity installed.
Making up over 62% of the state's generated electricity in 2022, wind power is the largest source of electricity generation in Iowa. In 2020, over 34 billion kWh of electrical energy was generated by wind power. As of 2022, Iowa has over 12,200 megawatts (MW) of installed capacity with over 6,000 wind turbines, ranking 2nd and 3rd in the nation below Texas respectively.
The Titan Wind Project is 25MW wind farm which had a proposed expansion to 5,050 MW, formerly known as Rolling Thunder, based in South Dakota. The project developers, Clipper Windpower and BP Alternative Energy, expected to build Titan in several phases and, when completed, it would have been one of the largest wind farms in the world.
Wyoming has one of the highest wind power potentials of any state in the United States. In 2019, Wyoming had wind powered electricity generating capacity of 1,589 MW, which produced 9.85% of its electric generation, with an additional 3,753 MW under construction. However, the wind generation in that year was Wyoming's third-lowest in the 2010s. By 2020, wind capacity increased to 2738 MW and 8448 gigawatt-hours of electricity were produced from wind in 2021, more than double 2019 production. Additional wind capacity and needed transmission lines are under construction or planned, despite political headwinds from Wyoming's strong coal and oil sectors.
Stockyard Hill Wind Farm is a wind farm project in Victoria (Australia). In May 2022 the project achieved its 5th hold point test, and was approved by the Australian Energy Market Operator and Network Services Provider to generate up to 400MW into the National Electricity Market. When it is fully commissioned, it is expected to produce up to 530MW, which would be Australia's largest wind farm.
Envision Energy is a Chinese multinational corporation headquartered in Shanghai that provides wind turbines and energy management software. Envision has long-term strategic cooperations in the area of battery manufacturing with Renault, Nissan, Daimler and Honda.
Wind power in Arkansas remains nearly untapped, with just a single wind turbine in the state. Arkansas does not have a renewable portfolio standard. Studies have concluded that while Arkansas is generally considered to have low wind resources, there are significant pockets of it throughout the state.
The HillTopper Wind Farm is a 74-turbine wind farm near Mount Pulaski in southeastern Logan County in the U.S. state of Illinois. The turbines were designed to generate a maximum of 185 megawatts of electricity. The complex was completed by Enel Green Power at a cost of approximately $325 million, and entered operations in 2018.
The Sugar Creek Wind Farm is a 57-turbine wind farm in western Logan County in the U.S. state of Illinois. The project was developed by Liberty Power, a subsidiary of Algonquin Power and Utilities.
The California Ridge Wind Farm is a 134-turbine wind farm in eastern Champaign County and western Vermilion County in Illinois. The project was developed by Invenergy, an energy holding company.
The Hoopeston Wind Farm is a 49-turbine wind farm in northern Vermilion County in Illinois. Investment capital for the project was organized by IKEA, which did so to earn clean-energy tax credits for the stores that it operates. IKEA hired Apex Clean Energy to build the complex.
The Pioneer Trail Wind Farm is a 94-turbine wind farm, established in 2011, in Ford County and Iroquois County in Illinois. The wind farm is headquartered in the Ford County seat of Paxton.
The Bishop Hill Wind Farms are three Illinois wind farms containing a total of 201 turbines in Henry County. Developed in 2012 through 2018, as a complex the three wind farms have a nameplate capacity of 424.0 megawatts of electricity.
