Mitch, what makes the wind-power white elephant extra useless and inefficient for North Carolina is something Daren’s report made explicit, but that is also implicit in T. Boone Pickens’ “altruistic” plan (which essentially is to have the state force people to buy Pickens’ wind-power in order to free up Pickens’ natural gas for use as automotive fuel when the next president gets Congress to force people to change their vehicles, preferably in his first hundred days).

Here’s what Daren wrote (especially perspicacious readers will discern that his report contains end notes detailing his source material, even though a press release announcing the report shockingly did not ? also, this blog post is not a “report”):


The Southeast generally is a poor source for wind power ? this is why only one state in the Southeast, Tennessee, has a wind power plant.

North Carolina, along with eight other states and the Southeastern Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, recently sent a letter to Congress opposing a federal renewable energy requirement, arguing: “The reality is that not all states are fortunate enough to have abundant traditional renewable energy resources, such as wind … this is especially true in the Southeast and large parts of the Midwest.”

In North Carolina, wind turbines would have to be on the coast or in the mountains. The latest United States Department of Energy (DOE) research ranks the wind potential for an area on a scale of one to seven (seven being the best). The Utilities Commission?s renewable energy consultant, La Capra Associates, recommended a four or higher ranking, with three being the absolute minimum.

Based on DOE maps, the North Carolina coast is not a strong location for wind turbines. There are some limited onshore coastal areas ranked as a three with some offshore locations and the Outer Banks being ranked as a four or higher. However, according to La Capra Associates ?[d]evelopable on-shore sites in the East are primarily Class 3 wind resource sites.?

The mountains have some small areas that are ranked five or above. As of now, the Mountain Ridge Protection Act (Ridge Law) likely prohibits construction of wind turbines in the mountains. However, wind power proponents will try to chip away at any protections.

Both Duke Energy and Progress Energy rejected the idea of using wind power in their 2003 annual plans. Duke Energy stated ?the levels of wind is not sufficiently high in the Carolinas.? Progress Energy, which ironically is involved with the wind power plant in Carteret County, argued: “The average wind speed in the southeast is below 14 miles per hour and is not sufficient for wind projects to be an economic alternative. … Further, because wind is not dispatchable, it is not a suitable alternative for peaking duty. As a result, wind was eliminated from consideration as a potential resource to meet future generation needs.”


Pickens’ plan makes the case for wind power in the Great Plains on the basis of wind speed, and it calls for “[b]uilding wind facilities in the corridor that stretches from the Texas panhandle to North Dakota” (to offset a whopping 20 percent of energy demand). He calls the area “the Saudi Arabia of wind” and provides this graph to illustrate his point:

Look away from that corridor and at N.C. If the Great Plains are the “Saudi Arabia of wind power,” then North Carolina appears to be the Djibouti of wind power.