The wind resource in the Dakotas is the strongest and largest in the continental US.  It is reasonably well documented, though there hasn't been much micrositing to date because of costs.  Verification is easy if one looks just across the border into Minnesota, where a small terrain elevation called Buffalo Ridge already has 100's of megawatts installed.  If there is any sanity left in 'murka, the Dakotas will be developed for windpower on the grand scale proposed by techno.

The groundwork is already laid.  FPL has a hundred MWs already in place, with more under construction.  Local utilities like Otter Tail have signed further PPAs, on a small scale, but can't take more power. Development companies already have tens of thousands of MWs under lease, and there are any number of companies carrying it further.  The main problem is that the load is in the industrial mid-west, and there is virtually no transmission available.

The industry in general has been working the transmission issue overtime.  Xcel has nearly completed a new transmission line from the border and Buffalo Ridge to bring the power south, but it's a quite minor first step.  FERC has been negligent in setting transmission policy standards, hindering the process of building new infrastructure.  But they finally set a precedent in California, ordering Edison to build a 1500 MW line to carry an upgrade of windpower in Tehachapi.  Both users and customers will pay ultimately, but the utility must finance.

That will be the precedent which allows various first priority transmission corridors to be built, of which possibly the most important over the long term is from the Dakotas.  But market entrenched entities remain averse to the risk.  It will likely be more entrepreneurial entities whch take the risk, as we've seen on the former TXU line in West Texas.

Now to the level of turbine production.  The global industry today is not currently able to meet demand, and will likely not be able to meet growing demand for several years minimum, DESPITE that every company is ramping up production capacity as never seen before.  But it is not easy, one can't just invest, as Clipper is finding out the hard way.  And the major bearings, primarily for main shaft and to a lesser extent gearbox and yaw bearings, are sourced largely to two companies of which windpower is about two percent of their business.  No help there.  This is the primary bottleneck in today's industry.

There is a huge difference between establishing a new rotor blade facility at reasonable quality, and providing the highly sophisiticated (and LARGE) gearboxes required.  New blades can be turned out a year after investment decision, quality heavy steel perhaps three, if the raw material and advanced skills questions find solution.

But it's important to remember that the global industry is already highly involved in working the Gordian (Dakota) Knot.  It's also important to conjecture that free market capitalism will not solve the problem.

I would like to contribute more to the discussion, but it's past midnight thirty here in Europe.  I'm finishing due diligence on a major EU turbine manufacturer, and am pressed for time.

But i would like to add to US colleagues... stop thinking offshore for now.  It works in the North Sea for any number of reasons that don't hold water yet in amurka.  If the Long Island utility had spent it's money investing in even a mid-west project, it would already be reaping the electricity even with transmission fees, and if it invested in transmission, that would be far more useful at the moment.  (Despite the fact that the argument that offshore US is closer to the load being valid.)  Europe didn't begin to propose offshore on a large scale until it was seen that the top resource areas were BEGINNING to be filled.  Murka is a long way from that.

To develop the Dakota resource demands an Apollo-like project, which addresses issues from raw materials to transport to trained worker availability to transmission.

I'll try to add and respond more, patience please.

"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." - Anaïs Nin