New research by the National Renewable Energy Lab shows that modern wind technology could produce enough electricity to power all Indiana homes and businesses.
Purdue University has determined that biomass formerly considered as waste, such as crop, forest, mill and urban residues, could generate billions of kilowatt-hours of electricity per year.
Commercial-quality wind resources are distributed over more than two-thirds of Indiana's land mass. Furthermore, sites for methane digestion and biomass co-firing of coal plants can be found in counties throughout the state. Indiana also tremendous potential to be develop and install innovative distributed generation technology.
Indiana Wind Power Potential: Jan. 2006 Estimates
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory estimates that Indiana has at least 40,000 Megawatts of wind energy potential. That estimate is more than double the entire generating capacity of Indiana.
See the latest wind maps of Indiana, courtesy of NREL:
70 Meter Map
100 Meter Map
This estimate of wind power potential of Indiana takes into account a number of factors:
- Wind class
- The above estimate is based on summing up wind power potential for class 3, class 4 and class 5 winds. ‘Wind class’ is a measure of the power generating capacity of wind, and is defined with respect to wind speed, elevation and other characteristics of wind. The higher the wind class, the greater the power. Class 3 wind is considered suitable for commercial development.
- Energy loss
- The estimate above assumes that 12% of the power generated is lost (due to down time, icing losses, transmission losses).
- Tower height:
- 80 meters is the current industry norm. The estimate above is based on wind turbines at 70 m.
- 100 meters will become the norm in the coming years, and this means that the wind power potential may double in the coming years.
- Power potential per square kilometer:
- The study assumes that 5 MW of turbines are installed per square kilometer in areas determined to be windy. This is a standard assumption.
- Land area:
- The study excludes environmentally sensitive land as well as developed land such as urban areas, airports, wetlands, etc. It also excludes high sloping areas and areas with small, isolated pockets of wind resources.
