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+ As a result of strong public policy, California was the first U.S. state in which large wind energy projects were developed, beginning in the early 1980's.
+ Wind energy projects totaling 3,141 MW of capacity are operating in California today, providing enough electricity to power about 829,000 California households. This represents a near-doubling of capacity since California's RPS law was adopted in 2002.
+ Wind energy projects comprise most of the development that has occurred under California's renewable energy law as of 2010.
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Read More Fast Facts >>>
An Editorial: CalWEA Executive Director Answers the Question: Is the RPS Working? Read more >>>
Nature Writer Bill McKibben -- “[W]hat we need to say is: every bird, and everything else that we know, is fundamentally at risk in the next few decades. In the name of birds, I want that windmill on my ridge. In the name of wild beauty, I want that windmill out my window……” Read more >>>
The Birds and The Breeze - from Sierra Magazine, “According to a 2003 study of 4,700 turbines located outside California, each killed 2.3 birds per year. That's a tiny number compared with the hundreds of millions of birds that fall prey to cats every year……and it pales in comparison to the number of birds and other creatures that would be killed by catastrophic global warming.” Read more >>>
CalWEA addresses wind energy’s reliability in this Energy Circuit Editorial – “The initial results from a California Energy Commission study show that the California grid has the technical capability to include 20 percent intermittent generation under a 33 percent renewable goal without the need for significant new resources to accommodate the variability of these intermittent renewables.” Read more >>>
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