[sverige]

Iowa is a terrible place to build wind farms since it still has some of the most valuable soil on the planet.

Better to build these things on land with steady wind, less agricultural value and nearer big population centers, such as Wyoming and Colorado (near the I-25 corridor from Cheyenne to Colorado Springs) or the barren hills on either side of the Bay Area.

[Robotbeat]

Have you ever been to Iowa? I suspect you haven't. Look at literally any wind farm in Iowa via satellite, and the vast majority of the land is taken up by crops: https://www.google.com/maps/@43.2818954,-93.8007446,2829m/da...

[sverige]

I grew up in Iowa. I inherited 160 acres of prime farmland from my grandparents and parents. I actively participated in the successful lobbying of the county commissioners in the county where my property is located to change the offset rules for wind turbines to make life livable for the people directly affected by them. I personally turned down the offer to build turbines on my land.

What skin do you have in the game?

[masklinn]

> Better to build these things on land with steady wind, less agricultural value and nearer big population centers

I'm sure developers would be happy to if that was the case, but it turns out the valuable locations simply tend to be west central, and the easternmost regions of the mountain states https://windexchange.energy.gov/maps-data/319

> such as Wyoming

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chokecherry_and_Sierra_Madre_W...

> and Colorado

Added a 600MW farm in 2018 (Rush Creek) following a 600MW farm in 2014 (Limon) and a 550MW one in 2011 (Cedar Creek).

> (near the I-25 corridor from Cheyenne to Colorado Springs)

That's a shitty place to put wind turbines: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/71/Colorado...

> or the barren hills on either side of the Bay Area.

You mean like Altamont? And turns out california has pretty poor onshore wind prospects: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_power_in_California#/medi...

[BurningFrog]

Can't you farm crops under a wind mill farm?

[Robotbeat]

Of course. Not only can you, but it's the most common thing to do under a wind farm in Iowa.

Zoom in to basically any random wind farm in Iowa, and the vast majority of the land area is crops. For instance: https://www.google.com/maps/@43.2818954,-93.8007446,2829m/da...

[matt2000]

Seems like it: https://www.awea.org/wind-101/benefits-of-wind/wind-in-my-co...

Maybe a slightly biased source based on the name, but probably roughly right at least.

[yostrovs]

The pads used for the turbines are quite large, they require an access road, power connections, and the turbines create substantial shade, reducing the productivity of the ground below.

[CivBase]

We need roads to get to farms. We need terraces and irrigation ditches to manage runoff. We have plenty of land that just isn't farmable.

There is plenty of space to put up wind turbines without reducing farm land.

[sverige]

Why can't we build them nearer to the population centers with high energy demands, then? Why not build them on vacant land near big cities?

There is a lot of prime wind farms land on the hills east and southwest and northwest of the Bay Area. There is a lot of vacant land in the hills above Los Angeles. The Olympic peninsula and western slopes of the Cascades have plenty of room for wind farms to serve Seattle. Same on the east coast: Cape Cod actually had a proposed wind farm that was stopped by the moneyed interests that live there, but that could supply Boston with all the power they need.

What is the answer for not pursuing those areas?