European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 16, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                The world s largest wind farm produces Energy from More than 5,000 wind machines spread Over 30,000 acres at one of California s windiest places Altamont pass 40 Miles East of san Francisco. To catch the wind the air plane propeller style machines Are mounted on top of 40 to 60 foot High poles harvesting the wind turbulent Days ahead byjoe Waschenbach National geographic o n certain farms the crops look like giant air plane propellers sprouting fro steel stalks. Some Tower 140 feet. Other resemble huge eggbeater. What they grow is Energy using the newest methods to cultivate an old resource the wind to produce electricity to Market to Public utilities. An awful lot of wind blows Over this country says Thomas o. Gray executive director of the american wind Energy association. But geography As Well As atmospheric and economic conditions dictates where it is worthwhile to farm it. The United states is windiest in new England across the great Plains from Montana to Texas along the West coast and throughout the hawaiian islands. There is a Small wind farm on a Mountain Ridge in new Hampshire but none in All of Windy Wyoming because the Cost of Power there is very Low. Nationwide there Are More than 13,000 commercial wind machines Gray says. The largest wind farms Are in three of California s windiest spots Altamont pass 40 Miles East of san Francisco where More than 5,000 wind turbines share 30,000 rolling acres with grazing cattle the Tehachapi mountains where 3,500 More Rise from the High desert and san Gorgonio pass where another 3,500 line the Highway to Palm Springs. Before 1981, there were none anywhere. A phenomenon of this decade wind farms blew in with the passage of Federal and state tax credits designed As incentives to develop renewable Energy sources. They created an artificial Boom Gray admits. Critics Call the new farms tax  advocates predicted that they could provide up to 10 percent of the nation s Energy needs by the end of the Century. The Federal tax credits expired at the end of 1985. Legislation pending in Congress to extend them does not include wind Energy. But Basic research will continue through 1987, says Jack Cadogan a department of Energy wind program manager. Gray estimates that production of new wind generated electricity this year will be half of 1985 s 500 megawatts which was More than double that of 1984. This year for the first time he says More than half the wind equipment sold in the United states will be foreign made most of it danish. Denmark second to the United states in use of wind Energy is offering subsidies to danish investors to boost exports. From the Start the . Wind Energy Industry has had problems stabilizing. The reason the wind itself. Wind is the single most unpredictable variable Energy source Gray says. It can change direction and Speed anytime. When it doubles in Speed 10 to 20 Mph it s eight times As forceful and this can happen in less than a second. Only in the last year and a half have wind machines been made to operate for a year without Blades breaking off and other  even with favourable winds All machines do not continuously spin at top Speed. At times actual Power produced is Only 20 percent of rated capacity. Wind farming has been most successful in California. In 1985, their Peak year All the state s wind farms together sold a total of 652.8 million kilowatt hours of electricity to Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas and electric enough to Supply 108,800 typical California Homes for a year. The wind generated electricity that Southern California Edison buys from the Tehachapi and san Gorgonio farms is less than 1 percent of the Energy needed for its cd stoners spokesman Bob Krauch says but it is helping postpone construction of another Power Plant. . Win Power largest operator of wind machines at Altamont pass plans to put 800 More turbines in the ground this year for a total of 3,000. A computerized communications network runs All the machines As a single Power Plant explains win Power spokesman Laurie Galbraith. A system of transformers and transmission lines generates and delivers the electric to the Utility s Grid. Although tiny compared with California Hawaii ranks second among the states in the use of wind Energy. Strong Trade winds that sweep across the islands most of the year make wind one of its most important Energy resources. Experts estimate that wind alone could provide 10 times the Energy needed to meet Hawaii s current demands. Hawaii s largest wind farm atop a Mountain Ridge that overlooks Oahu s North Shore was recently dedicated amid traditional hawaiian blessings chants and dances. The $24 million High tech farm named Makani Moa a which Means Trade winds is expected to produce enough electricity for the annual Energy needs of 5,200 typical residential customers on Oahu. It will save 62,000 barrels of imported Oil. Honolulu has the longest Energy Supply line in the country stretching thousands of Miles. We believe wind will be an essential part of Oahu s future Energy mix says c. Dudley Pratt jr., president of hawaiian electric industries. Wind machines also Are scattered around on the neighbouring islands of Hawaii and Maui. Among the _ 250 on Hawaii two Are positioned near the southernmost tip of the United states where the wind is so Strong and relentless that Trees there Are permanently Bent Over. Despite their potential in Hawaii and their Promise for the rest of the windiest part of the country wind farms face an Uncertain future Are they Here to stay or will they be gone with the wind by Century s end wednesday aprim6, 1986 the stars and stripes page13