It doesn't take long for anyone visiting South Dakota to discover what we encounter on a regular basis - wind and lots of it.

It's not just our imagination, even the Washington Post has us tabbed as the third windiest state in America, behind only Nebraska and Kansas.

So with all of that blowing across the Mount Rushmore State, you'd think we'd be one of the places raking it in hand over fist when it comes to cashing in on wind energy.

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Think again.

Recently, Stacker ran down the list of the states with the most untapped wind energy potential and South Dakota landed in the top ten.

According to data from the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, the state is ninth on the list, with less than one-third (32.9%) of our energy coming from wind power.

A lack of wind energy jobs in the state is a contributing factor.

In 2019, South Dakota was in the middle of the pack nationwide with 1,486 wind energy jobs in the state, but 300 of those jobs went away this summer when Molded Fiber Glass Companies closed their wind blade manufacturing plant in Aberdeen due to 'changes in market conditions, foreign competition and proposed revisions to tax policies impacting the wind energy industry in the United States'.

STATES WITH THE MOST UNTAPPED WIND ENERGY POTENTIAL (Stacker)

  1. Texas
  2. Montana
  3. New Mexico
  4. Kansas
  5. Arizona
  6. Wyoming
  7. Nevada
  8. Nebraska
  9. South Dakota
  10. Colorado

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