And they are just getting started building them.
Colfax is FULL of signs on yards, buildings and barns that simply say “No Wind Farms.” People have caught on.
I had to do some research.
The Wild Horse Wind Farm is what I’m thinking of. North of I-90 and west of Vantage and the Columbia River. 149 windmills generating 273 MW. (I’m not clear on the MW, but I think that is the maximum production when the wind is blowing hard). In one article it said enough electricity to power 50,000 homes.
The Columbia Nuclear Plant near Richland has a capacity of about 1,200 MW and is fairly constant except when they replace the rods. An article said that is enough for 1 million homes.
In your neck of the woods on the Lower Snake River they are talking about taking down four dams, each with an average output of about 1,000 MW - so each is similar to the nuke plant.
In the article about the dams it said that it take 5 MW of wind energy to replace 1 MW of hydroelectric energy. I have no idea why. Perhaps because the amount of water moving the turbines is more consistent than the amount of time the wind is blowing?? Or loss of energy as the windpower is stored in batteries??
That article about the dams also noted that all of the dams have fish ladders.
Washington State is nuts. No new diesel or gas cars will be able to be purchased OR registered in the state starting in 2036!