The power of wind

In the past few years the North Dakota landscape has changed ethanol plants and wind turbines now dot the prairie Today energy leaders in all different sectors are in Bismarck talking about the future of energy Brad Feldman caught up with one man who is focusing on catching North Dakotas most ubandant natural resource In the past few years one company has invested about half a Billion dollars into the state of North Dakota John DiDonato FPL Energy As far as renewable energy in North Dakota we havn t even scratched the surface yet DiDonato says when it comes to wind energy North Dakota has what we have all known for many years an abundant source John DiDonato FPL Energy If you look at just how much wind energy can be generated by wind resources in North Dakota that number would be in the thirty thousand megawatts range To give you an idea of how much energy this is One megawatt of energy would provide a constant source of energy to about eight hundred homes Now consider all of the projects Florida Power and Light has in the state the wind farms in Edgeley-Kulm Wilton Center and now in Langdon John DiDonato FPL Energy My company in particular is planning on thousand of megawatts in this region and thousand of megawatts in North Dakota over the next decade That represents somewhere between ten and twenty billion dollars in investment However there are some problems One there is not enough demand for wind energy in this region Therefore the energy produced by these towers has to be shipped so more transmission lines need to be built Its when this happens companies like FPL will be able to take full advantage of our abundant source of wind and power our homes businesses and more Brad Feldman KX News Didonato is at the University of Mary today as part of the 2007 Institute for Entrepreneurship