In article ,
says...

On Fri, 7 Sep 2012 06:34:13 +0000 (UTC), thunder
wrote:

On Thu, 06 Sep 2012 21:16:50 -0400, gfretwell wrote:

On Fri, 7 Sep 2012 00:15:58 +0000 (UTC), thunder
wrote:

Maybe not most of the power plants, but plans are for 20% by 2030.
South Dakota is already producing 20% of their needs with wind energy.
Iowa is right on their tail.

The Onan on Wayne's boat would provide 20% of South Dakota's energy
needs. The problem is really the population centers on the coasts where
real estate is at a premium.

And the coasts have very good potential for wind, albeit offshore.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
File:United_States_Wind_Resources_and_Transmissio n_Lines_map.jpg

Offshore in salt water becomes a maintenance nightmare. That is what
the dutch found out. They don't have hurricanes either.

The mid Atlantic coast of the US has really just been lucky. If they
had a Cat 2 or 3 skirt the coast, most of your windmills would be
fishing reefs.

Salt life would be a major maintenance problem for sure. But one could
easily be designed to withstand hurricane force winds. There just isn't
enough surface area to worry about that much.