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Wind An Antelope Valley, California, USA story

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Energy
  1. Earthshots
  2. Antelope Valley, California, USA
  3. Wind
Description

The open spaces and high winds make the northern part of Antelope Valley an ideal wind energy center. It’s also close to Los Angeles, so the length and cost of transmission lines is relatively low.

Most of these turbines are grouped around the Tehachapi Pass, where air flow from the Pacific Ocean funnels through the Tehachapi Mountains.

Throughout this series of Landsat images, displayed in natural color, new lines are etched in the landscape, like a giant geoglyph. These roads connect to bright spots indicating the locations of wind towers. Most appeared between 2010 and 2014, but many new towers were built in the northern portion of the images at the foothills of the mountain range between 2014 and 2018.

The first wind towers, which stood 45 to 60 feet tall, were built in this region in the 1980s. New wind towers are up to 500 feet tall and each produce 1 to 2.4 megawatts of power.

The United States Wind Turbine Database shows locations and owners of every wind turbine in the U.S. According to the viewer, the number of wind turbines in this part of the Landsat images is 4,000 with a rated capacity of 2,557 megawatts (as of January 2019).

View Related Imagery & Stories

Location

June 9, 1988, Landsat 5 (path/row 41/36) — Winds farms, Antelope Valley, California, USA

June 9, 1988, Landsat 5 (path/row 41/36) — Winds farms, Antelope Valley, California, USA

June 22, 2010, Landsat 5 (path/row 41/36) — Winds farms, Antelope Valley, California, USA

June 22, 2010, Landsat 5 (path/row 41/36) — Winds farms, Antelope Valley, California, USA

June 17, 2014, Landsat 8 (path/row 41/36) — Winds farms, Antelope Valley, California, USA

June 17, 2014, Landsat 8 (path/row 41/36) — Winds farms, Antelope Valley, California, USA

June 28, 2018, Landsat 8 (path/row 41/36) — Winds farms, Antelope Valley, California, USA

June 28, 2018, Landsat 8 (path/row 41/36) — Winds farms, Antelope Valley, California, USA

June 28, 2018, Landsat 8 (path/row 41/36) — Winds farms, Antelope Valley, California, USA

June 28, 2018, Landsat 8 (path/row 41/36) — Winds farms, Antelope Valley, California, USA

June 9, 1988, Landsat 5 (path/row 41/36) — Winds farms, Antelope Valley, California, USA
June 22, 2010, Landsat 5 (path/row 41/36) — Winds farms, Antelope Valley, California, USA
June 17, 2014, Landsat 8 (path/row 41/36) — Winds farms, Antelope Valley, California, USA
June 28, 2018, Landsat 8 (path/row 41/36) — Winds farms, Antelope Valley, California, USA
June 28, 2018, Landsat 8 (path/row 41/36) — Winds farms, Antelope Valley, California, USA

Antelope Valley, California, USA Additional Imagery & Stories

Solar
Solar

After 2010, solar farms began spreading out in various places across the desert. The region has plenty of clear, sunny days, so solar energy makes its...

Read More
Urban Growth
Urban Growth

A population boom began in this region in the 1980s with increases in defense spending—military and aerospace industries became the area’s primary emp...

Read More
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