Wisconsin
ranks 23rd out of 34 states producing wind power, according to a
report released late last week by the American Wind Energy
Association.

Over
the course of 2007, the wind power industry grew by leaps and bounds,
installing more than 5,000 megawatts of energy and putting the
U.S.-installed wind power capacity at 16,800 megawatts.

“The
numbers in this year’s rankings underscore the wind energy
industry’s strong growth and the fact that wind is a bright spot in
the U.S. economy,” AWEA director Randall Swisher said in a
statement.

According
to the AWEA’s report, Texas and California lead the nation in wind
power capacity, while Iowa and Minnesota lead the Midwest.

“If
you look at neighbors of Wisconsin that have a similar resource like
Minnesota and Iowa, you’ll see them higher on the list because they
had state policies that promoted wind energy even in the ’90s,”
said Kathy Belyeu, AWEA manager of industry information.

In
recent years, however, Gov. Jim Doyle has stressed the importance of
clean energy in Wisconsin, as the governor’s global warming task
force is currently exploring ways for Wisconsin to expand its clean
energy sector.

After
a unanimous vote by the Public Service Commission to explore offshore
wind energy production in the Great Lakes, the governor’s task force
encouraged the commission research the idea in conjunction with the
Department of Natural Resources.

According
to the AWEA report, the cost of offshore wind farming increases with
water depth. The offshore farms are popular in Denmark and Germany,
but have not taken hold in the United States.

“Going
offshore takes advantage of excellent wind conditions while
considerably reducing the potential impact of the environmental
footprint,” according to a statement from John Kourtoff,
president of an energy corporation that plans to build an offshore
wind farm in Ontario, Canada.

Some
studies estimate offshore wind turbines can produce twice as much
energy as their onshore counterparts, since winds over water
generally blow at a higher velocity.

Many
members of the environmental community were surprised that Midwest
states have not yet taken advantage of untapped wind resources of the
Great Lakes.

However,
others oppose offshore wind farms on an aesthetic basis.

“I’ll
fight this every way I can,” Algoma Alderman Ken Taylor said to the
Planning and Development Network. “The beautiful view we have would
be destroyed. … How many are going to come here if we have these
things off our coastline?”

Various
groups in Madison, including Sierra Club, the Center on Wisconsin
Strategy and the Wisconsin Public Interest Research Group, have
highlighted the potential of wind energy to reduce pollution and
greenhouse gases, as well as to create jobs for Wisconsin workers.

According
to Jennifer Feyerherm, of Madison’s Sierra Club, Sierra Club
promotes wind power and solar power production as the clean energy
options with greatest potential because they do not rely on drilling,
mining or fuel.