A report released a few days ago by the American Wind Energy Association has shown the percent change from 2006 to 2008 in state-by-state wind turbine growthA report released a few days ago by the American Wind Energy Association has shown the percent change from 2006 to 2008 in state-by-state wind turbine growth. To no one’s surprise, Texas is cranking out the most with over 7,000 Megawatts, translating to 157% growth over two years. But California is noticeably slower, increasing from 2,361 Megawatts to 2,517 – only 7% growth. Their growth has been so slow that Iowa came out of nowhere and took 2nd place with 2,790 Megawatts in ’08, up from only 936 two years earlier (198% growth). So has California given up on their wind investments – likely to only grow slimmer in 2009? The blame is being thrown on regulators, who are trying hard to protect the interests of birds and bats, and keeping any more wind projects from emerging. Right now, it’s just simply easier to get utilities from outside of California.