Wind

New data from the U.S. Department of Energy shows that Kentucky has higher industrial scale wind potential than previously thought.

Every state that borders Kentucky operates utility-scale wind farms. Last year, Indiana's renewable energy production increased by over 400%, primarily from adding wind energy farms. Many of Indiana's wind turbines operate effectively in areas classified as poor wind sites on the outdated 50 meter assessments. Further, Indiana is continuing to invest in wind energy based on newer studies - over 500 megawatts of additional wind farms are now under construction throughout the state. It is time that we joined our neighbors in clean wind energy production. 

Wind technology is rapidly evolving, allowing smaller turbine systems to take advantage of lower average wind conditions, such as irregular gusts of wind in cities. It is very likely that Kentucky has significant potential for smaller scale wind to work in places throughout the state, but there also simply isn’t good data available to estimate the potential.

Reports and Resources

AWS True Wind. "Wind Resource Maps of Kentucky" (July 2008). Click here to access.

Carson Lambert, Susan.  "Renewable Energy Resources Inventory in Kentucky." Available by clicking here.

Inter-County Energy Cooperative.  "Wind and Solar in Kentucky." Available: www.intercountyenergy.net/images/intercounty/Wind_and_Solar_in_Kentucky.pdf.

Russell Area Technology Center. "Kentucky Tech Celebrates its own First-of-a-Kind Renewable Energy Project 'Wind Turbine Generator' presentation" (May 2008). Click here to access.