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The Greening of IT
270 How Companies Can Make a Difference for the Environment

Table C.5 Top Wind States—Annual Wind-Energy Potential in Billions of Kilowatt Hours
Rank State Annual Potential (Billion KWH)
12 New Mexico 435
13 Idaho 73
14 Michigan 65
15 New York 62
16 Illinois 61
17 California 59
18 Wisconsin 58
19 Maine 56
20 Missouri 52
India ranks fourth in the world with a total wind power capacity of
8,000 MW in 2007, or 3 percent of all electricity produced in India.
The World Wind Energy Conference in New Delhi in November 2006
has given additional impetus to the Indian wind industry. The wind
farm near Muppandal, Tamil Nadu, India, provides an impoverished vil-
lage with energy.
ptg
In 2005, China announced it would build a 1000-megawatt wind
farm in Hebei for completion in 2020. China reportedly has set a gener-
ating target of 20,000 MW by 2020 from renewable energy sources—it
says indigenous wind power could generate up to 253,000 MW.
Following the World Wind Energy Conference in November 2004,
organized by the Chinese and the World Wind Energy Association, a
Chinese renewable energy law was adopted. In late 2005, the Chinese
government increased the official wind energy target for the year 2020
from 20 GW to 30 GW.
Mexico recently opened La Venta II wind power project as an impor-
tant step in reducing Mexico’s consumption of fossil fuels. The 88 MW
project is the first of its kind in Mexico and will provide 13 percent of
the electricity needs of the state of Oaxaca. By 2012, the project will
have a capacity of 3,500 MW.
Another growing market is Brazil, with a wind potential of 143 GW.
The federal government has created an incentive program, called
Proinfa, to build production capacity of 3,300 MW of renewable energy
for 2008, of which 1,422 MW is through wind energy. The program
seeks to produce 10 percent of Brazilian electricity through renewable
sources.