USDA ERS – chart details

Beginning in 2020, large-scale commercial wind energy development in the contiguous United States will focus on areas with consistently high wind speeds. Wind turbines are most visible in the Plains, followed by the Midwest and West. Although the regional distribution of wind energy development is influenced by energy policy at the state level, one of the most important development factors is the wind energy potential in the region. Some regions, such as the south, lack sufficient wind energy potential for large-scale development. USDA Economic Research Service (ERS) researchers found that 90 percent of wind turbines in rural areas were installed on agricultural land (crown land, pasture or pasture). Because the amount of land cover directly affected by wind turbines was small compared to the amount of agricultural land, and farmers and ranchers are typically able to continue agricultural production near wind turbines after their installation, land cover changed in only 4.8 percent of the land after installation. Part of this change involved the transfer of one agricultural use to another, for example from cropland to pasture. Estimated wind farm area was approximately 88,000 acres in 2020. For more information on rural wind and solar development in the contiguous United States, the regional distribution of renewable energy development, and land cover change associated with development, see the ERS Development Report Utility-Scale Solar and Wind in Rural Areas: Land Cover Change (2009-2020), published May 2024

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