All of California’s wind farms–6000+ megawatts producing 15,200 gigawatt-hours (GWh) annually as of 2021–are on land already zoned for wind energy production. Wind Harvest estimates that, if fully built out on existing wind farms in the Wind Resource Areas, H-type vertical axis wind turbines (VAWTs) could add 10 GW of capacity and about 31,500 GWh of energy per year to California’s grid, fulfilling about 23% of the state carbon neutrality goal. Alternatively, if these VAWTs were added to the Wind Resource Areas both around as well as within existing wind farms, California could add ~15 GW and 45,000 GWh of energy to the grid, or about 33% of what the state needs to reach carbon neutrality.
| Summary of onshore wind farms and H-type turbine potential | |
|---|---|
| GWs of existing (HAWT) wind farms in California Wind Resource Areas (CA WRAs) | 6 |
| GWs of VAWTs that could be added outside of existing wind farms in CA WRAs | 5 |
| GWs of VAWTs that could be added to existing wind farms in CA WRAs | 10 |
This data came from thewindpower.net and UL’s Windnavigator.
Publication: Wind Harvest International