The recent snow and ice storm here in SD illustrated one weakness of centrally generated electricity- when the utility poles are brought down, tens of thousands of people and their assets are put in potentially disastrous situations because of power outages.
Imagine if public policy mandated mating a 100 - 500 kW turbine with every utility pole. A broken pole and lines would be isolated failures; somewhere along the line of poles/wires the system would be whole and the turbines would be sending electricity to farms, ranches, businesses, homes, and health care facilities.
Local contractors and expertise would maintain the integrity of this dispersed power generation system. Thousands of utility poles might be broken and their turbines isolated, but many thousands more poles, wires, and turbines would be intact to deliver critical power.
Public policy can endorse- to the betterment of residents- the proven technology of wind turbines mated with an existing power grid infrastructure.
