In a state where being able to hunt, fish and camp is a way of life, worries about spoiled views, killed eagles and disturbed big-game animals have grown with the spread of wind turbines
Portrait photographer Anne Brande shoots graduation and wedding engagement photos at scenic spots throughout southeastern Wyoming’s granite mountains and sprawling sagebrush valleys, but worries what those views will look like in a few years. Wind energy is booming here.
Federal regulators gave the go-ahead to TransWest in April. The International Energy Agency and other experts say wind power is crucial to attaining a carbon-neutral world by 2050. Developers here estimate they’ll prevent between 7 and 11 million tons of carbon dioxide a year and provide enough carbon-free electricity to power 1 million homes.
The local opposition to a wind farm is a recent development in an area that previously welcomed the economic benefits with few questions, Carbon County Commission Vice Chairman Sue Jones said. Named for its coal reserves that once fuelled steam engines, Carbon County adopted an official seal in 2021 that features a wind turbine.
In just four years, wind generation capacity in Wyoming has doubled, adding about 600 turbines – the bulk of them in the southeast – since 2020, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Increasingly the state’s wind energy is coveted by utilities in California, Arizona and the Pacific Northwest. Wyoming wind averages almost 13 mph day and night, year-round, matching well with daytime solar generated elsewhere. But so far there aren’t a lot of ways to get wind power from Wyoming onto the western U.S. power grid, said Roxane Perruso, TransWest Express executive vice president and chief operating officer.
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