California is known across the nation not just as the most populous state in the union, or the home of Hollywood, America’s entertainment capital, but also for having very progressive environmental policies. These ambitious policies have set California up to be the most environmentally friendly state in the nation as far as its power consumption goes. Last year, California, Oregon, and Washington all adopted a series of legally binding renewable energy targets, known as the Pacific Coast Action Plan on Climate and Energy (PCAPCE).

midamerican wind farm

Despite the fact that California has a population of more than double the other two states combined, it set the most ambitious targets for itself, dictating 33% of the states power must come from renewable sources by 2020 and 50% by 2030. This is a fine goal, but so far California is is not on track to meet this with just 27% of power coming from renewable sources.

This unmet demand in California is an opportunity for the nearby state of Wyoming. Wyoming is large  has vast plains abutted by mountains on it western end. This gives it some of the best wind power potential in the country. However as the least populous state in the union it had little use for alternative energy, until the implementation of the PCAPCE that is.

Now in Carbon County, an area once known for its extensive coal mines, the Power Company of Wyoming has broken ground on what will be the largest wind farm in the country. The completed project, which will create hundreds of local jobs and have 1,000 wind turbines will create enough energy to power 1,000,000 homes. That power will be transmitted by a specially built direct current transmission line to California. As it turns out the power of the future may well be supplied by areas which many Americans consider to be stuck in the past.