As MIT Technology Review explains, Texas is leading the way in wind power generation.
Technological advances in energy storage, grid operations software, and wind turbines could make it possible to integrate more and more wind power. But how much? That answer will almost certainly be found in Texas over the next five to 10 years. And that will have profound implications for the future of wind power. Because if Texas can’t incorporate much more wind power, it probably can’t be done anywhere.
Beyond the transmission lines and the nearly statewide grid, Texas has plenty of unoccupied territory for huge, expansive wind farms. You don’t have that on the eastern seaboard, or in the deep South, or even in California, where real estate is expensive and nearly all the wind–generating capacity is clustered in three areas.
Offshore wind farms are another possibility, but they carry transmission and political challenges that have, so far, limited their scope in the U.S.
