Maps and Data

But maps aren’t very helpful if you don’t understand where to find them and how to use them. Read on to learn all about the WINDExchange resource maps. For more information, check out our wind resource maps video tutorial, find detailed descriptions below individual maps and charts, and read about wind resource assessment and characterization. 

At first glance, WINDExchange maps may look like other maps you’ve seen, with geographic boundaries (like state and county lines) and topographic features (such as mountain ranges and lakes). But wind resource maps show an additional feature: the quality of wind resources—or the potential amount of wind available—at a specific distance above the ground.

Searching through hundreds of maps to find the one you’re looking for could feel like battling a strong headwind. Luckily, these maps can be easily filtered by both region and turbine hub height (the distance from the ground to a turbine’s hub, or the point around which a turbine’s blades rotate). 

Produced using a combination of weather data and computer modeling, these maps estimate the average annual wind speeds 30 meters above the ground. They’re useful in determining if a location may be suitable for small wind power projects, which are typically installed at a 15- to 40-meter hub heights in areas with annual average wind speeds around 4 meters per second or greater and can be used for home-based renewable power systems.

This type of map displays the estimated wind power density, which is the average annual power available per square meter of the area swept by a turbine’s blades. Wind power density is an older type of wind resource data that has been replaced by wind speed data to accommodate technology advancements in the wind energy industry. Providing the estimated wind power density at 50 meters above the ground, these maps are suitable for distributed wind energy, which powers nearby users, such as communities looking to lower utilities costs.

Displaying the average annual wind speeds 80 meters above the ground, these maps provide useful data for utility-scale wind energy development. The average wind turbine hub height is growing, so turbines with 80-meter hub heights are among the smallest utility-scale, land-based turbines today. At 80-meter heights, areas with annual average wind speeds around 6.5 meters per second or greater are generally considered to have a resource suitable for wind energy plant development.

In addition to providing the estimated average annual wind speed 90 and 100 meters above the ocean surface, the WINDExchange offshore wind resource maps also display varying water depths. Because the depth of water impacts the type of wind turbine structure required (fixed-bottom or floating turbines), this information is important for offshore wind development planning.

As of January 2023, the WINDExchange database features maps displaying wind speeds at 100 meters above the ground for all 50 U.S. states. Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory developed these maps using the Wind Integration National Dataset Toolkit. Using three different sources of data and turbine power calculated for more than 126,000 sites in the United States, the toolkit provides powerful information for the next generation of wind energy development.

The maps in this category, along with the 140-meter potential maps, show land areas meeting a minimum “gross capacity factor.” This represents the total amount of wind energy actually produced versus the total amount of wind energy that could theoretically be produced in a region based on wind speed data and turbine specifications.

These maps display land areas with a gross capacity factor of at least 35%, which was the average capacity factor for wind energy in the United States in 2021. Calculations for the 110-meter potential wind capacity maps were performed using a 2014 industry-standard wind turbine installed on a 110-meter tower, which represents plausible wind resource potential with then-current wind turbine technology.

The maps in this category again display land areas with a gross capacity factor of 35% and higher; however, calculations for the 140-meter potential wind capacity maps were performed using a 2014 industry-standard wind turbine installed on a 140-meter tower. This represents wind resource potential that would likely be accessible with then-future wind turbine technology.