Iowa: Almost As Big As Texas  

TreeHugger reports that Texas is the leading state for wind power generation in the US, but Iowa is gaining on them - Iowa Moves Into Second Place, Behind Texas, In US Wind Power Capacity Race.

Texas still holds its lead in installed wind power capacity, with 7,118 megawatts, but according to the latest industry data, Iowa has edged pass California as the United States' number two wind power:

Iowa now has 2,791 megawatts installed versus California's 2,517 megawatts. Wind power now makes up 7.48% of Iowa's electricity mix. Taking up the rest of the top five positions are Minnesota in fourth place with 1,754 megawatts (7.1% of their electricity mix), and Washington with 1,447 megawatts.

The states with the fastest growth rate are Indiana (going from 0 to 131 MW in one year), followed by Michigan (48%), Utah (21%), New Hampshire (17%) and Wisconsin (6%).

The final tally for installed US wind power at the end of 2008 was 25,300 megawatts, an amount expected to generate 73 billion kWh in 2009—enough to power about 7 million average US homes.