First of all, the South is quite flat (sort of surprised at other response saying it's not.) That means that there aren't ridges where you can get some easy benefit from elevation. The South also isn't very windy.
Corrosion is also a huge issue. It's humid, and on the coasts, where there might actually be some wind, you get salt too. Think of how quickly cars fall apart in regions that salt heavily in winter. Now imagine doing that year-round to machines that have to be built with some measure of precision in order to extract the most energy reasonably possible.
The only place I've ever seen windmills in the South is Corpus Christi, and I can only imagine the unfortunate people who have to keep those working. That's pretty much it for the South; you don't see many more until you get into the mountains (some in VA and probably TN.) Texas has tons of wind power, but but only in the parts that wouldn't really be considered the South; they're all in the NW part of the state.
I won't purport to be an expert, but as I've driven around, the places that struck me as having pretty successful wind farms were Central valley in CA, Eastern CO, and Southern MN and WI.
First of all, the South is quite flat (sort of surprised at other response saying it's not.) That means that there aren't ridges where you can get some easy benefit from elevation. The South also isn't very windy.
Corrosion is also a huge issue. It's humid, and on the coasts, where there might actually be some wind, you get salt too. Think of how quickly cars fall apart in regions that salt heavily in winter. Now imagine doing that year-round to machines that have to be built with some measure of precision in order to extract the most energy reasonably possible.
The only place I've ever seen windmills in the South is Corpus Christi, and I can only imagine the unfortunate people who have to keep those working. That's pretty much it for the South; you don't see many more until you get into the mountains (some in VA and probably TN.) Texas has tons of wind power, but but only in the parts that wouldn't really be considered the South; they're all in the NW part of the state.
I won't purport to be an expert, but as I've driven around, the places that struck me as having pretty successful wind farms were Central valley in CA, Eastern CO, and Southern MN and WI.